I have been a bit of a fence sitter on the cork-screw cap debate, but last week something happened to make me wish a French monk called Dom Pérignon had never swapped the conical wooden plugs used to seal wine bottles in the 1600s for cork stoppers. Read more

The last wine has been tasted, nearly the last introduction written and the last technical sheet scrutinised for indexing: my involvement with the Platter guide for the 25th year will shortly be at an end. Read more

It somehow came to my attention that there is a real and no doubt admirable woman in California named Chardonnay Hooker Read more

The Cape Winemaker's Guild has announced the wines that will be on offer at its auction to be held in Stellenbosch on 2 October. Read more

Elegance and classy restraint in its wines mirror one of the finest Cape-Dutch restoration projects. Read more

The Nederburg Auction has been running for 35 years, during which time it went from being an unheralded and unrecognised event to the most prestigious occasion on the wine industry calendar. Read more