Bruno Loubet to showcase French wines at new Bistrot Bruno Loubet restaurant

The acclaimed Bruno Loubet, who helped lay the foundation for London's now-vibrant restaurant scene in the 1990s, has returned as chef-owner of Bistrot Bruno Loubet.

The chef had stints with the legendary Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. He took over as head chef at the Four Seasons in Mayfair, quickly gaining a Michelin star at the beginning of the 1990s.

In 1992, he set up his own restaurant, the acclaimed Bistrot Bruno, in Soho, followed by L'Odeon in Regent Street – an ambitious venture which required 55 cooks.Read more

Wine critic Matthew Jukes nominates New Zealand’s Pinot Noir ‘best in the world.’

New Zealand is making more good value Pinot Noir than any other country, said Matthew Jukes following the publication of his third Classification of New Zealand Pinot Noir.

Jukes, one of the UK's best-known wine critics, and Australian wine journalist Tyson Stelzer have published the classification for the last three years.

Awards are based on an average rating of the five most recent vintages. Entire ranges are tasted, but it is the producers' estate wines which set the standard, not the most expensive reserves or single-vineyard wines.Read more

Gallo duped into buying low quality wine

California's biggest wine company was duped by local French traders who sold them millions of bottles of mislabelled wine in the world's biggest wine con.
 
The president of the criminal court in the medieval walled town said that "there has been fraud".

In 2008, French customs found that during three years some 13.5 million litres of mislabelled wine had been sold to Gallo for its popular Red Bicyclette label deliberately providing the wine company with a far less expensive grape variety than it was paying for.Read more

Visit the famous Californian vineyards in the winter and spring

With harvest over and future bottles of wine resting peacefully in barrels and tanks, your chances of chatting with a winemaker when you visit a winery is higher. And, as temperatures drop, so do crowds and prices, making a getaway less stressful on your psyche and wallet.

Temperatures can be in the single digits Celsius in January, warming up to 15 or more in February and March. The weather transforms the valley from exuberant summer splendour to a moodier hue. Winter rains turn hillsides deep green; in the vineyards dormant vines lift spindly arms to misty skies.

It all makes for some good eating weather. Now's the time to feast on the hearty braises and roasts that go best with Napa's robust red wines.Read more