EXPLAINED SIMPLY, pisco is a grape spirit made in Peru and Chile. But then, things are rarely simple. The narrative of pisco can be as complex or as concise as the storyteller chooses, or the reader requires. That in mind, refer – or don’t – to the potted history of pisco at the end of this feature. Certainly, there is an empty seat…

THE ROLLS ROYCE. It’s a design icon and a euphemism for luxury quality – “It’s the Rolls Royce of (insert just about any word here).” Many believe it’s more than just a car, although when you look at it, with its four wheels, steering wheel, engine, seats… it appears it is, well, a car. The BMW-owned Rolls Royce company says it sold…

THE EBULLIENT HEAD of the Vinexpo exhibition company was recently dismissive of white wines, saying that the world and, more crucially, the huge emerging Chinese market, wants red wines. Robert Beynat was speaking at a briefing in London regarding the forthcoming Vinexpo Asia Pacific show in Hong Kong. To promote the importance and selling potential of the exhibition and to get…

CACHAÇA is a hulking heavyweight of a category. With a billion bottles sold a year it dwarfs the likes of gin, tequila and cognac (Euromonitor International). And, contrary to popular belief, Brazil’s national spirit more than keeps apace with production of rum in the whole of Latin America. Yet, despite its almighty scale, cachaça is a domestic deity. A lopsided 99% of consumption of…

A GOOD COCKTAIL is only equal to the sum of its parts – and, although that sum is often a matter of simple addition, there are times when a complex equation is called for. While some bars seek an edge to help them deal with volume turnover, for others it’s about the theatre of the cocktail and the alchemy of the finest ingredients. Some…

VODKA has a very easy association with cocktails – think the Bloody Mary, the Martini, more recently the ubiquitous Cosmopolitan and, further back, the Gypsy Queen – but unlike other spirits there is not a rich repertoire of classic cocktails to draw on. That said, in terms of the mixing firmament vodka stands on its own. Put simply it is without…

A POOR 2011 vintage, a rising dollar and stronger competition from rival countries: it all adds up to a recipe for crisis for Australia’s winemakers. “This is absolutely the hardest time that you could ever imagine the industry could be in,” Alister Purbrick, chief executive of central Victoria’s Tahbilk Wines, told the Sydney Morning Herald recently. “There is nothing else that could go…