Home Authors Laurence Mccoy

Laurence Mccoy

Take a rain-check on English wines?

IT'S an exciting time in English vineyards. Read

Gin - it's a load of botanicals

THE late-departed Queen Mother was reputedly partial to a drop. Read

Matching your BBQ food with good wine

IT'S not hearing the first cuckoo, nor t he growl of countless petrol mowers coughing into life, but the wafting smoke of a million barbecues over garden fences across the nation, that finally confirms the beginning of the English summer. Read

Wine tourism has really taken off

THE film Sideways may have given wine tourism a shot in the arm - while not doing very much for sales of merlot. Read

Be proud of English wine

IT'S time to raise a toast to all things English this week, what with the Queen's birthday, Charles and Camilla in Brum and then St George's Day to inspire an overflow of national pride. Read

Sherry reigns in Spain

PENELOPE CRUZ, Antonio Banderas, Seve Ballesteros - they all know a secret that most Brits seem to have missed. Yes, you've guessed it - sherry! Read

A sweet surprise in store for you

NEW wine names are appearing all the time, but rather than actually standing out from the crowd many tend to taste disappointingly similar - not bad by any means, but perhaps just a little bit bland. Read

Going green - it's in the bag!

ALBANIAN shepherds and picnic enthusiasts will be very glad that bags of wine may well be losing their "plonk" image. Read

Lambs are in the mood for a break

DESPITE our mystifying weather patterns, spring can't be very far away now - those fluffy lambs gambolling in the fields are usually the first sign of a change in the seasons. Read

Don't punish us all for sins of the few

VISIONS of Britain becoming a cosmopolitan "cafe society" after the introduction of 24-hour licensing have been clouded by a government report this week which revealed "mixed results". Read

Let Mother's Day go with a bang!

FLOWERS and chocolates are the obvious choice, but a bottle of something a little bit different could make an ideal alternative for a Mother's Day present on Sunday. And if you're lucky she may well share it with you! Read

Reaping rewards after lots of work

THERE once was an ugly duckling...and it's name was Pinotage. Read

Break out the fizz... because you're worth it

FOR Valentine's Day romantics the candlelit dinner and the bottle of fizz chilling in the ice bucket has to have the edge over pizza in front of the telly. Read

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with a silky wine

THE WALL is coming down! Well, not quite yet, perhaps. China still has many walls - and not just the Great one - but it is quickly dismantling the barriers to becoming one of the most dynamic wine-producing countries in the world. Read

Sorted! A great way to make tasty wine

HE may be 80-yearsold but that doesn't stop Luis Canas taking his place at the sorting tables at harvest time. Read

Po-faced drinkers really get my goat

A HORSE went into a bar. "Why the long face?" said the barman. Read

The tooth doesn't bear examination

I'VE always been convinced that drink has magical powers - ever since late on that New Year's Eve when an angel flew down from nowhere and gently persuaded me not to attempt to scale the arch of the Tyne Bridge at Newcastle. Read