Great Fire of London: Wealthy buried wine to save it
Wealthy Londoners buried fine wines to save them from the flames of the Great Fire of London 350 years ago, according to the diary of Samuel Pepys.
Wine list or menu: what comes first? – Le Cordon Bleu
Your restaurant waiter has just handed you the wine list and the food menu together, but which do you look at first? Matthieu Longuère MS from Le Cordon Bleu London talks about a common conundrum...
Tasting notes decoded: Wax, vinyl, smoky, petrol
Get to grips with the some of the more obscure tasting notes used by wine experts, with graphics from the Decanter design team...
How long should you keep wine open? – ask Decanter
Had a party or just opened a bottle in the week without finishing it? Don’t be tempted to throw it away, it will probably last longer than you think…
The science of two alcohol free days per week | Discussion
Is it necessary to have 'several alcohol free' days every week and, if so, should those days be consecutive? Dr Michael Apstein, in the rare position of wine writer and liver doctor, gives his view to Decanter.
Are there any benefits to stemless glasses? – ask Decanter
Why are we seeing more stemless wine glasses...?
Smoke taint and wine – ask Decanter
What are the risk factors for smoke taint and what should you look out for in the glass?
Champagne corks – ask Decanter
Why do Champagne bottles have mushroom-shaped corks?
Does soil contribute to the flavour of a wine? – ask Decanter
Does it really make a difference...?
Why are there crystals in my wine? – ask Decanter
Don't panic, you're probably not about to die from eating broken glass; those little shards in your wine are more likely to be tartrate crystals. Gerard Basset OBE MW MS explains how they got there...