Chenin Blanc

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The Telegraph has been carefully selecting wines for our readers for years. Now in response to requests from our readers and wine enthusiasts, we are launching wine tours.

Tuscany will enable you to savour the sumptuous vin rouge, blanc or Rosé on offer, all the while absorbing the cultural, beautiful surroundings in which you find yourself.

With this in mind, the Telegraph has joined forces with Cox & Kings, the longest established travel company in the world, to offer a unique collection of three expert-led wine tours for travel in 2010. The tours will take you through some of the most picturesque countryside in France, Spain and Italy, where you will explore vineyards, visit atmospheric cellars and get to know the people who spend their lives perfecting some of the world’s best wines.

Wine tours: wine-tasting holidays in Europe - Telegraph.co.uk

Petit Verdot is not a grape that I am accustomed to encountering as a solo act. Traditionally, it is a very minor supporting player—kind of like the oboe—in the symphony which makes up the traditional blend of Bordeaux grapes. A classic Pauillac might have 1% or 2% Petit Verdot, a late-ripening red which is very dark in color and very tannic.

So imagine my surprise when I encountered two separate 100% Petit Verdot bottlings on the North Fork of Long Island—not exactly the expected setting for late-ripening red varietals.

A friend who has recently caught the wine bug after a trip to Napa asked me if I would come along on a little tour of the North Fork, and I left the itinerary to him. My first encounter took place at Jamesport Vineyards, a winery of growing reputation with which I was not terribly familiar. We tasted some good stuff, including a very fine ’09 Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a successful 2007 Sarah’s Hill Pinot Noir—a very rare beast out here, a rather delicate example which bore no resemblance to the Sonoma fruit bombs but might pass for a Monthelie.

Yet another surprise was the 2007 Petit Verdot. It was so purple as to be almost black, intensely tannic and concentrated and it reminded me more than anything of a very young Petite Sirah. It wasn’t nearly ready to drink, though I wouldn’t mind trying it again in three or four years.

Finding Petit Verdots in North Fork - Wall Street Journal (blog)

Many high-end brands are tasty and widely available at supermarkets. Count on these picks from Katherine Cole to help make your summer get-togethers affordable and more carefree.

While there was nothing in this blind tasting to compete with Chateau Lafite, these tasters, including Katherine Cole (right), found some decent wines among higher-end box brands.

With just one month of summer left before school starts and we all get busy again, it's time to plan that big backyard blowout, potluck picnic or grilling get-together you've been meaning to host.

Because, whether it's due to a poor economy (better grapes going into bargain boxes) or simply a growing demand for wine among supermarket shoppers, there are more tasty boxed options on store shelves than ever.

These box wines don't cut corners - OregonLive.com

I’m good at sharing; being one of five children I’ve never really had a choice. However, I discovered in adult life that there are different types of sharers, those who are fair and those who just pretend to be. The worst are the faux food sharers with their ‘oh no I couldn’t possiblies’ rapidly followed by their ‘oh go on then’ as they take the last olive or, especially galling, the delicious crispy chip you’d been saving for last.

Grandma's wisdom doesn't quite cut it with the younger generation as I know only too well. As a mother of three I am an expert at dividing anything and everything into perfectly equal thirds and as such make a good dining companion when it comes to sharing platters and, my current favourite way of eating out, tapas.

Not an obvious location to find tapas I grant you but that’s exactly what I discovered at Charlotte’s Bistro. Instead of the more traditional bar menu, Alex has introduced a number of small plates which make for a perfect lunch – especially with a glass of sherry – or a light meal in the evening at the bar.

I took a friend, who is particularly partial to a sharing platter, to Charlotte’s as a birthday treat. We perched at the bar, a perfect vantage point for people watching, and deliberated over the tapas menu.

Tasty Tapas On The Terrace - ChiswickW4.com (blog)

The B.C. Day long weekend is in full swing and that usually means organizing or attending some sort of garden party or barbecue soiree. Such invitations can be perplexing. For instance, what is one to wear? Will it be shorts or khakis, flip-flops or loafers? If you tend to agonize over such things you might be interested to know that in a city full of budding oenophiles which wine you bring to the bash may say more about you than how well you are dressed.

Okay, maybe it's not quite that crucial, but if your bottle of Fuzion Malbec is the 10th to arrive at the party you might as well not show up. Know that you can be as adventurous as ever in summer with wine and the sooner you drink something different the more fun you are likely to have.

There is something about eating and drinking outdoors in the summer that is hard to resist and bottles that offer instant gratification are usually a great fit in an al fresco environment. Certainly if the warm weather continues, it's the fresh, aromatic flavours of wine that will have wide appeal.

Remember light and fruity doesn't have to mean flavourless and flabby, nor should the wine possess a finish that is longer than the waiting times at the Peace Arch border crossing. The perfect summer sipper should be equipped with a balance of fruit and acid, moderate alcohol, low or no oak, and a clean, crisp, refreshing finish.

Lose the loafers, grab the Gamay - Vancouver Sun