Like a classic espresso martini, but with the addition of vanilla vodka
This is our twist on the much-loved classic. It takes inspiration from a classic espresso martini, with the addition of vanilla vodka bringing with it an oaked edge that cuts the sweetness of the sherry.
There’s something refreshing about unfiltered or unfined wines. We filter through a selection …
Centuries ago, Geoffrey Chaucer observed that “ther is no newe gyse that it nas old”. This truth – that there is nothing new under the sun – certainly applies to wine: every year, a well-documented or ancient viticultural practice is repackaged for a mainstream that greets it giddily as an innovation. Orange wine! Wine in kegs! Chilled reds! And, in 2026, cloudy wine, courtesy of Marks & Spencer’s peachy-opaque organic rosé, Trouble (a name that means “cloudy” in French.
Trouble is the first cloudy still wine available in a British supermarket, a development that has seemed inevitable since pét nat – pétillant naturel – hit the big time; it’s an ancestral method of making sparkling wine that involves bottling before fermentation has finished. Typically, pét nats are not disgorged (that is, the dead yeast cells left over from fermentation are not removed), which is what gives them a cloudy appearance. They are also often fresh and tangy, so they suit warm weather, but it’s hard to imagine a better pairing for a pizza takeaway on an autumn evening, and without prosecco’s divisive sherbety notes, to boot. (That said, look out for rustic, cloudy col fondo – bottle fermented, undisgorged prosecco – a hazy, lively and bracing take on the nation’s most popular fizz.) M&S, ever quick on the uptake, has an own-label English rosé pét nat (currently out of stock), while Tesco sells a pét nat chardonnay from Argentina.
Gang breaks into cellar of Marchesi Antinori in Cortona and loads two trucks with 30,000 bottles before getaway
Thousands of bottles of wine worth €5m (£4.2m) have been stolen from a prestigious winery in Tuscany in what is thought to be the biggest heist of its kind in Italy.
A gang of at least seven masked individuals broke into the cellar of Marchesi Antinori, a family-owned winery dating back to the late 1300s, in Cortona after shutting off the alarms and surveillance cameras before using company forklifts to load two large trucks with 30,000 bottles of wine and making off.
As summer fades and our social and dining habits adapt to the cooling weather, so, too, should the white wine we drink. Here are some options best-suited to the season
The wine world is full of clubs, and I’m a member of the Just-Drink-What-You-Bloody-Like club, which makes even the thought of white wines for autumn and winter feel uncomfortably prescriptive. But, for me, as the nights draw in, there’s less standing, more sitting; less chugging, more swirling; fewer sprightly aperitifs, more wine with seasonal food that demands a little more body and complexity. After months of saying yes to rosé, I’m choosing wine with more intention – it’s time to hunker down.
I’m looking for whites that are like a good cardigan, at once coddling and breathable. I want ripeness, body and freshness, and the Atlantic-influenced wines of Galicia in northern Spain – a place that’s no stranger to wind and rain – deliver. Expressive, with a saline edge, albariño from the Rías Baixas appellation has become ubiquitous in supermarkets and rarely disappoints (try Aldi’s Specially Selected one at £8.99), neither does the fuller-bodied godello from nearby Valdeorras (the Wine Society’s Exhibition range offers a good one for £14.95), while the blend of both those grapes and other local varieties from Galicia’s Ribeiro DO in today’s pick is a cool-climate humdinger for the colder months.
This year’s harvest expected to be down 2% on mediocre yield in 2025, when production was lowest in nearly 70 years
France’s wine industry is facing a historic low harvest after the country was hit by a series of summer heatwaves.
At about 35m hectolitres, the total harvest would be down 2% on a mediocre 2025 yield and 14% below the 2021-2025 average, according to estimates published on Wednesday by the ministry of agriculture.
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