The claim that only wine evokes emotions and memories is just silly.

I searched for 'potable patriotism', a term coined by Roland Barthes. The AI told me it's a 'nonsensical pairing'. I always suspected it should be AunI. Artificial unIntelligence.

Per Capita Wine Consumption in France, Italy and Spain, 1835-2023

I refused another request to review a journal submission. As publishers’ profits are mouthwateringly huge, I feel counting on academics’ ‘good citizenship’ to offer free reviews seems utterly untenable. The review system is broken.

I keep being smitten by half points in wine scoring. Just heard 88.5. I so wish to hear an account of the difference btwn 88 and 88.5. Assuming scores are from 80, the scale has 40 points. I doubt it’s possible to discern differences btwn them. Only the 100-percent scale at unis is more idiotic.

Just bought the book. I heard Zientek talk about the book on a podcast. Fascinating stuff!!

Very pleased to announce that I'm doing a new book with @atlanticbooks.bsky.social who did such a great job with the last one. Title TBC but it's about 'Wine and class from Petronius to Partridge'. Publishing autumn 2027. They're also taking on Empire of Booze following collapse of Unbound.

My interview with wine writer and photographer Kevin Day about his new book. www.makerstable.com/p/opening-a-...

This op-ed isn't the worst thing I've read about beer in the @nytimes.com, but it relies on some very facile ideas about how the craft beer market works that don't hold up to basic scrutiny.

Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison. Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.

Porto is my re-kindled love. And I now belong to the tawny/colheita crowd. Apparently it’s either-or.

“Some perfumes are made to evoke emotions or places such as a meadow after a rain shower or even a circus” In the Ants and the Butterfly Chiara Brozzo argues that perfumes can be works of art. Do you agree? #thephilosophygarden #philosophyforeveryone youtu.be/d1B6RWajQWs #philsky #edusky

Podcast: 'Developing a roadmap for tackling alcohol harm in the UK' | @ias.org.uk instalcstud.substack.com/p/developing...

'The impact of alcohol minimum pricing policies on vulnerable populations and health equity: A rapid review' | @sciencedirect.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Delighted to see our new book - The Experience of Work in Early Modern England - out now, and open access (free!) doi-org.bris.idm.oclc.org/10.1017/9781...

Area Under Vines in the European Union in 2020; as % of total utilized agricultural area.

Per Capita Wine Exports of the World's Main Wine Exporters in 2023. New Zealand, the #1, exports wine worth $253 per capita.

Dated but might still be valid today? “Those who preferred beer typically drank to higher levels of intoxication, were more likely to drive after drinking and tended to consider driving while intoxicated to be less serious. With few exceptions, these findings were true regardless of sex, age, ...”

New on Notable — Wines for sweater weather www.makerstable.com/p/notable-la...

Main Grape Varieties in Alsace, 1968-2022. Riesling's amazing surge from #3 to the undisputed #1. And Sylvaner's abysmal decline from #1 to #7.

Thanks Jamie for a nice review - The Smart Traveller's Wine Guide is now 6 titles: Bordeaux, Rioja, Rhone Valley, Switzerland, Tuscany and Napa Valley - and more to come! @jamiegoode.bsky.social

Delighted to see this latest book in the Series now in print, and with a great endorsement from @literarti.bsky.social: 'As compassionate as it is razor-sharp, Writing Contested Illness will reshape our understanding of what illness narratives can be and achieve.'

The timeline for the projects discussed in this book roughly maps onto my time with @corpussocialsci.bsky.social and will stand proudly on my bookshelf. Was fun to write, too. www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

Our book 'Applying Corpus Linguistics to Illness and Healthcare' is out open access! We wrote it to share what we learnt in many years of research in @corpussocialsci.bsky.social, on topics such as communication about anxiety, dementia, cancer, obesity and vaccines. cambridgeblog.org/2025/08/appl...

Wrote a thing about the brilliant doc on from Chateau Chunder. Despite only being from 2012, it seems like it comes from another age. henryjeffreys.substack.com/p/chateau-ch...

Just heard on a wine podcast. ‘If you drink a 50-pound wine you ought to know what variety it is made from.’ What utter and irritating tosh.

Bravo Moldova that successfully resisted Russia’s efforts to buy and bully its way to swinging the election in favour of the Pro- Russia (not) Patriotic Party. Sandhu’s Pro EU Action and Solidarity Party won more than double the Patriotic Party’s votes. arthursnell.substack.com/p/has-russia...

Oxford BIOBANK + US FlatIron databases. Virus such as Covid and flu increase risk of cancer. New research suggests that respiratory viruses, including Covid-19 and influenza, can awaken dormant cancer cells and cause them to multiply and spread. www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/lif...

“Emerging epidemiological data and experimental studies have begun to reveal significant associations, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection may not only worsen outcomes for existing cancer patients but also potentially influence the incidence and progression of lung cancer”

“Here at Vajra, we work with science and consciousness. In Italian: scienza e coscienza. The root is about knowledge itself. You know the science—the scienza, technical things—and coscienza says you judge with your heart.” www.makerstable.com/p/an-afterno... #wine #barolo #italianwine

G.D. Vajra wines from Italy are fantastic. @megmaker.com what a great interview! If you are familiar with Vajra this is an interesting and educating read. If you aren't familiar you should be and this may help you get started.

Vaccinated for Covid again. As ever my wife suffers no side effects, i spent the morning wrapped up with cold chills. Flu vax taken in my stride, barely noticed.

Tonight’s shared-cost dinner. Vega and Riberinho sang, bloody hell how they sang. Cheval tried to match them but couldn’t. Incidentally, I am so sceptical about the ‘you drank it too early argument. Released wine should be eminently drinkable.

Wines of altitude. Catena and Musar sang, closely followed by Zorah and Sunal.

Fatsis: "...my wanderings through dictionary culture convinced me [of] the urgent need to save this slowly fading business. At a time when contentious words dominate our conversations...the need for dictionaries to chronicle and explain language, and serve as its watchdog, has never been greater."

I spoke to @stefanfatsis.bsky.social for his recent piece in the @theatlantic.com—and upcoming book, "Unabridged"—on the state of dictionaries, including on business trends, corporate ownership, and my editorial vision for dictionaries in the digital-first era: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Poland's Wine Trade by Volume, 1994-2024

My Wine Wall of Shame: The Heavy Bottle Dilemma in Wine Industry | the drunken cyclist thedrunkencyclist.com/2025/09/17/m...

Or as Andrew Jefford has said, “This fascinating, limpidly written and admirably researched book shines a light on the price we’re all evading: #wine’s strangely tentacular environmental footprint. Read it to understand – and to help.” Order from academieduvinlibrary.com/products/roo...

"If we continue down this path, we are not prepared, not just for pandemics, but for preventing chronic health disease, and we're going to see kids dying of vaccine-preventable diseases." - Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

This is so good I can’t imagine it being better. Unbelievable quality of wine. Truly wonderful. I am very happy I got a chance to drink it.

'Alcohol industry intimidation of researchers and advocates' | @ias.org.uk www.ias.org.uk/2025/09/16/a...

Patrick E. McGovern, a celebrated biomolecular archaeologist who revealed the deep history of wine, beer and mead, has died at the age of 80. His forensic investigations into residues on pottery reshaped our understanding of alcohol’s role in civilisation.

2016. Such an elegant and beautiful wine. Perfection…but somehow without soul.

Another text of mine on things wine. This time about the idea that wine represents a culture or a 'sense of place'. I am very sceptical. www.decanter.com/wine/dariusz...

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

This is very good, perhaps even excellent. But far from breathtaking. I al very happy not to have it again. Haut Brion and sauerkraut salad are a pairing made in heaven!

I keep being astonished by sommeliers’ claims of reading their guests’ nonverbal communication. Judging by considerable NVC literature it is highly unlikely. But I guess it’s cool as a claim to a superpower.