Or indeed, reverse snobbery — Wine snobbery is really weird because it often doesn’t come from the people you expect. You expect Sommeliers and other wine trade fanatics to be snobby. People like me. Except when you speak to these people, they’re not especially snobby unless you’re at some fake fancy joint or perhaps an…

Clothes can just be clothes, y’know — If I have to sit through another social media video telling me there’s a difference between wearing clothes and styling clothes, I’m going to reach through the screen to bash them with their cross-body fanny pack. Yet here we are, a recent trend that has been viewed on TikTok over…

It’s coming for your glass — Ask a winemaker about climate change and they’ll react in one of two ways. Either they’ll tell you about all the ways they are adapting or they’ll tell you how scared they are. Often both. Talk to a wine snob — old-school Somms and customers alike — and they’ll probably…

Just because a restaurant looks good doesn’t mean it is — After a while, you learn how to spot them a mile off. Restaurants that are all style over substance. The back bar looks beautiful but stocked with bottom-shelf spirits complete with a bartender who can’t mix a Gin and Tonic. The wine list is long and in a leather-bound book…

So why do we still believe they are? — If you were desperate for kids but found out you couldn’t have them, do you think you could have a great life regardless? As I — very publicly — wade through the quagmire that is infertility, I’m finding a lot of people assume I’m a miserable, desperate woman who will…

Take it from me, it absolutely is — I have never been healthier, better paid, and more satisfied with my career than when I owned my wine store and bar. And yet I took so much crap for my choice of career. I took it from customers who looked down on me for working in hospitality. From family…

It’s time to let them — and my trauma — go — You and me, Charlie, we’ve got big foreheads, we need to cover them up. I was 12, as was she. She was my best friend yet it was an unhealthy relationship, most of which centred around scrutinising our appearances and prodding each other’s self-esteem issues. I had so many to…

Trust me on this — I once threw a $1200 bottle of wine down the drain. Over 30 years old, improperly stored, it tasted like crap. I could have sold it. This was a highly sought-after, very rare wine that was kindly gifted by one of my wine bar’s customers. …

Did we ever? — As a Europe-loving, Brexit-hating Brit who lives in Portugal, I feel deeply conflicted about my European identity. On the one hand, Brits tell me you’re not European anymore, we voted out of that (I try to argue we left the EU, not Europe, but that technicality doesn’t seem to matter). …