I know I keep banging on about it but corked wines seem to be having a good run at the moment. We have just conducted a blind tasting of 3 white and 10 red Burgundies with the sole purpose of building on and improving our range. Three of the wines were badly affected by cork taint making the wine taste damp and mouldy and completely destroying the aromatics. Please also bear in mind that these wines were all £20- £30 per bottle! It was interesting to hear Tom Carson the Australian winemaker from Yabby Lake in the Mornington Peninsular on the subject. At a recent tasting in our Oxford shop he was asked by a member of the audience why his wines were in screwcap and not cork. He answered simply by turning the question round, "give me one good reason why they shouldn’t be?" There were some stumbling replies before Tom launched into the fact that he wanted his wine to truly represent quality and vintage and the only way to ensure this was by using screwcap (or stelvin as the closure is officially called). He stated very emphatically that all his wines were ageing beautifully under screwcap and he would never ever consider cork as a practical closure. So there!!

I was enjoying a glass of Viognier recently in the excellent company of the guys from Christopher Piper Wines in a local hostelry in Ottery St Mary in darkest Devon. I had met Chris 3 months earlier at the Harpers Top Merchant Awards and as I often take holidays in Devon it seemed appropriate to meet up and exchange views. We are both family companies with similar turnover and staffing levels so much useful information was shared. However the peace was shattered when Chris started laughing whilst consuming a steak sandwich. A piece of steak became firmly stuck in his throat. He was coughing and spluttering, turning red, then blue - the seriousness of the situation was becoming apparent!! I got myself in position, with my hands around Chris's substantial girth and attempted the Heimlich Manoeuvre. As I started to squeeze and jerk Chris was drinking vast quantities of the Viognier as no water was on the table. This seemed to do the trick and out popped the offending article. The affable Chris, watery eyed and hugely relieved, celebrated life with another glass of wine. Now that's what I call style!!

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 I see that Kate Moss has bought a vineyard in the south of France for her husband Jamie Hince. She joins a long list of celebrities who have done the same thing only to produce hugely expensive, average quality wines selling only on their name. One account says "Kate is planning on naming the wine after herself and has even suggested using the Merlot grape to produce the inaugural Vin de Mosset". I don't suppose for one minute that she will get her hands dirty but if she does she can use her own soap as she creates bars using her own flowers from the garden.

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A new Wine School has been set up in Oxford. Run by the Oxford Wine Company from their Botley Road shop, the initial course is designed for beginners who would like to get a basic grounding in wine in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Lee Isaacs will run the course, together with some guest speakers. The Oxford Wine School will evolve but current details can be found at www.oxfordwine.co.uk/wineschool.html