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The gobelet-style head-trained vines draw from ancient Roman viticultural practices and while they may not be lush green and prolific, are perfectly suited to the terroir of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In fact, Beaucastel is one of the few producers in the region to grow all 13 ( technically counted as 18 now that Blanc, Rouge, and Gris are counted separately) varieties that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is permitted to incorporate into its complex blend. No surprise then to know that with the growing and alarm over the effects of climate change, the Famille Perrin as they are known to have been quietly several steps, indeed decades, ahead with their vineyards, going organic in 1950, and biodynamic in 1974. No better person to talk with perspective and widom on climate change than a member of the family – Francois Perrin, who helms the Perrin properities with his brother  Jean-Pierre. With the terroir-driven wines you make, long-standingrecognition of the importance of organic viticulture, is there any learning to be conveyed to other producers on climate change?

Guest columnist Brinda Bourhis looks into the boom in wine tourism and hospitality in Bordeaux’s beautiful land of ‘noble rot’ Having lived in Bordeaux for over twenty years, I’ve had the chance to immerse myself in the wonderful vineyards from the Left Bank and Right Bank. The appellation of Sauternes & Barsac, 50 km south of Bordeaux city, is home to exquisite sweet wines including 27 chateaux listed in the renowned 1855 classification of Grands Crus Classés drawn up upon the request of the French Emperor Napoleon III. To learn all about the history of the classification including those from Sauternes & Barsac www.grand-cru-classe-1855.com Bordeaux Wine Trip To book your wine tours online, the Bordeaux Tourist Office has developed a wine trip planner which is user-friendly and in English. www.bordeauxwinetrip.com. After five years working for a major Bordeaux wine merchant, British-born Brinda Bourhis has a solid knowledge and experience of the wines of the one of the finest regions in the world: Bordeaux.

This was true and I subsequently learnt a bit about wine through my history and geography lessons at Rugby School and joined the Wine Society at the London School of Economics, so by the time I was ready to find a job, I was determined that it would be in the wine trade. Time passed and in the mid-1990s I attended the Awards Evening of the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) and on being handed a glass of sparkling wine was asked what I thought it was. This put the ball in play and then when Ridgeview from Sussex, whose wine I had always liked, won the Decanter World Wine Awards for Sparkling Wine in 2009, this confirmed that England really had a future. When you are behind the table showing your wine, with only one, you question can only be “do you like my wine?

Steven Spurrier, wine expert extraordinaire, has penned his memoirs after 50 plus years in the wine world and it has caused stir and comment alike. The Judgement of Paris was a watershed event for the wine world and it was also an event whose time had come. It was an excellent package, but two things changed it from being a low-key event to an international one:  the fact that just two weeks earlier I had decided to turn it into a blind tasting and the fact that George Taber from the Paris office of Time magazine had nothing much on that day so decided to accept our invitation to attend, and that my wife Bella was there to take the photographs. On a un coup de pied la derriere”-Ed) and the needed recognition, was that it created a template whereby little-known wines of quality could be tasting blind alongside well-known wines of quality and it the tasters themselves were of impeccable quality, their would be respected.