English wine experts

The reason I have been silent and ‘blogless’ the past few days is that my wife has gone off to the South of France to visit her sister. So obviously, in her absence, everything has fallen apart; dishes are piling-up in the sink, dogs are peeing (and worse) all over the house and we are rapidly running out of wine.

I had given my wife a draft copy of my new book ‘The Booklover’s Guide to Wine’ to take with her as a present to impress my in-laws However, just this evening when I was hoping for a little sympathy (and advice about doggie hygiene) I learned that my brother-in-law is the son of somebody who has already written all that needs to be said on the subject of wine.

I am distraught.  (And they wonder why I drink!)

Mind you, long before I met my wife or her sister met Roger, George Ordish had already written another book, called "Wine Growing in England" – 1957. In any event, I am proud to be associated in however an oblique and indirect manner with such a visionary. He obviously knew all about Climate Change - and the incipient English wine industry in which the wines of the South Downs would eventually surpass those of Champagne.