Restaurant News Resource - Tony Aspler Restaurant Industry News

Recently a wine writer colleague (who will remain nameless to preserve his marriage) offered the following confession: "When my in-laws come over for dinner, I open my best red wines... Because they only drink white."

You've been invited to a dinner party thrown by an avid wine collector who considers himself a knowledgeable connoisseur. He's the kind of guy who serves all his wines blind and insists that everyone at the table guess the grape variety, region, producer and vintage.

A coffe table without legs by Ferran Adria, the Barcelona chef in charge of El Bulli, who has been widely acknowledged as the world's greatest and most influential living chef.

One of the ironies of the wine world is that sometimes small is beautiful and other times large is beautiful. It all depends on your perspective.

Image this Pythonesque scenario: French consumers take it into their heads that white wine is healthier than red. Almost overnight they turn their backs on red Burgundy in favour of white. The Burgundian farmers are left with enormous acreages of ancient Pinot Noir vines producing wines that no-one will drink. Zut alors, sacrebleu! What to do?