Last modified on Sun 21 Feb 2021 14.49 EST
“Coronavirus is just not winetasting conducive!” Those are the words on the website of Michael Schuster, perhaps the most respected wine educator in the UK, explaining, almost apologetically, why he is not currently taking bookings for his much-loved, long-running courses in the City of London.
You can see what Schuster means. Hundreds of wine courses and clubs that used to run each week all over the country – not to mention large-scale events with audiences running in the hundreds or thousands such as Tesco’s Wine Fairs or
Decanter magazine’s Fine Wine Encounters – have not been in session for the best part of a year. With all that spitting and slurping, they’re the definition of a super-spreader event.
The baritone is back
Credit: Henry Bourne
Everything about the world-renowned bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is big: his voice, his burly 6ft 4in frame, his reputation and – following the birth of his fifth child, Alffi, last year – his family. Yet the 55-year-old’s first UK opera appearance after lockdown will be in one of our smaller, newer houses – as Verdi’s Falstaff at Grange Park Opera in Surrey in June.
‘As you can see, it’s tiny,’ he booms, gesturing at the rotunda, its 700-seat auditorium modelled on La Scala, which impresario Wasfi Kani erected in the grounds of a crumbling country house at blinding speed in 2017. We’re in his bare dressing room during a period of lockdown relaxation, windows and doors open, Terfel dominating the small space in jeans, tweed jacket and boots.
Decanter
Press enter or click on the search icon
Decanter is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
Eight excellent whiskies costing less than £100.
Hundreds of new whiskies are launched every year – some from young distilleries, others from established names introducing new core bottlings or releasing limited edition products.
Keeping up with this perpetual conveyor belt is even harder when you factor in all the countries now making their own whiskies and giving the old guard something to think about. Name a country – Australia? India? Denmark? South Africa? – and you can pretty much guarantee that it’s making some decent drams these days.
By Alec Mattinson2021-02-19T10:06:00+00:00
Private interest in Virgin Wines was thought to be strong, but the group is going public instead
The flurry of IPO activity so far in 2021 reached the grocery industry this week, with the confirmation DTC booze player Virgin Wines is seeking a £100m listing.
The e-commerce wine merchant, which split from Richard Branson’s Virgin empire in 2005, is seeking to capitalise on booming demand during the coronavirus outbreak, amid a spike in sales of alcohol online as restaurants and bars remain shuttered and at-home consumption has soared.
Its owners, which include the management team and private equity investors Mobeus Equity Partners and Connection Capital, first looked at taking advantage of the surge in demand by initiating a sales process in the autumn of last year.
Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder spectator.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from spectator.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.