Letter from the Eurostar

London drinking, Wuthering Heights, the press release of the week and more

Over these weeks, I really did my best to make up for the dramatic global decline in drinking and yet, I’ve managed to post regularly. Just in case you’ve missed a few, of them, here’s a quick roundup. Please, click away.

Life, Anyway: Published the moment I landed in France.

Notes from Paris: Including where to eat.

A Dip into Burgundy: Visits with Chanterêves, Antoine Lienhardt and newcomer, Jean Marshall.

Burgundy’s Holding Pattern: Gossip as well as a trip to Aaron Ayscough’s Cave du Centre, and he kindly gave me a recipe I really wanted. A terrific orange fennel salad. You’ll want this one.

Notes from Berlin: A quick trip with some places you must go to, get your history and food and drink on.

RIGHT NOW I’m writing from the Eurostar from London to Paris.

I came to teach for the kickoff evening of the 2026 edition of Heidi Nam Knudsen’s “A Thousand Decisions.”

Heidi debuted this two-semester series of four classes back in 2018. Eight years later, it’s still going strong.

This time, my chosen topic was natural wine within the category that is called fine wine—or rather, the fallacy of fine wine.