A Blog About Wine & The Senses

Jan 27, 20234 min read

What makes a wine "vegan"?

What makes a wine vegan? Isn't it just...grapes? Yes - and no. One of the great anomalies of wine is that despite being a food or...

Bluffer's Guide: How to act like a wine expert

Sophie Griffiths

Jul 12, 20225 min read

Bluffer's Guide: How to act like a wine expert

So you want to look like a wine "expert", even though being handed the wine list makes you break out in a cold sweat? Maybe you want to...

Sophie Griffiths

Jul 6, 20226 min read

36 Hours in Rome for Second Timers

This is not a post for Rome virgins. On your first visit, you have to pay your dues. Itineraries planned, tickets pre-booked. That bucket...

Travel Guide: Planning a Wine Tasting Day in Mornington Peninsula

Sophie Griffiths

Mar 23, 20224 min read

Travel Guide: Planning a Wine Tasting Day in Mornington Peninsula

Only 1.5 hours from Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula is a brilliant option for a day of wine tasting thanks to its compactness, focus and...

Prepping Your Palate & Mind for WSET Diploma Tasting Exams

Sophie Griffiths

Mar 23, 20227 min read

Prepping Your Palate & Mind for WSET Diploma Tasting Exams

How to prepare your palate for Diploma tasting exam - some practical advice and exam-day hacks to help you feel prepared and in control.

A Book Lover's Guide to Wine: Wines As Romantic Icons

Sophie Griffiths

Feb 3, 20222 min read

A Book Lover's Guide to Wine: Wines As Romantic Icons

1. Heathcliff A swarthy, formidable hero of exotic origins; brooding, earthy and untamed. The Lebanese icon has always been produced with...

Winter Wonders: Celeriac with Truffled Lentils & Roasted Hazelnuts

Sophie Griffiths

Jan 28, 20222 min read

Winter Wonders: Celeriac with Truffled Lentils & Roasted Hazelnuts

This was an 'I-can't-be-bothered-to-go-to-the-shop' riff on Ottolenghi's 'Celeriac and Lentils with Hazelnuts and Mint' and I think works...

Fragrant Yellow Thai Fish Curry with Prawn & Crab

Sophie Griffiths

Jan 17, 20222 min read

Fragrant Yellow Thai Fish Curry with Prawn & Crab

This fragrant and rich curry is perfect for off-dry fragrant whites like Riesling and Alsace Pinot Gris. The secret is not to hold back...

Sophie Griffiths

Dec 5, 20214 min read

The Christmas Gift Guide

All your Christmas gifting needs sorted! Each of these will arrive tissue-wrapped and presented in Flexi-Hex Honeycomb recyclable bottle...

WSET Diploma: How to survive D3 without losing your mind (completely)

Sophie Griffiths

Sep 13, 202117 min read

WSET Diploma: How to survive D3 without losing your mind (completely)

Updated Oct 2024. If you've come here because you're panicking about the WSET D3 module, I've got you. Take a deep breath and just know,...

Sophie Griffiths

Aug 26, 20217 min read

How to: Choose Your Wedding Wine.

Wine is an integral part of any wedding celebration in our western culture. It also represents one of the biggest variable costs in the...

THAT Baked Feta & Tomato Pasta recipe...

Sophie Griffiths

May 24, 20213 min read

THAT Baked Feta & Tomato Pasta recipe...

For a period of time over February this year, it was impossible to get hold of feta cheese. Did you notice? I certainly did. I had seen...

Black Garlic & Tomato Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks

Sophie Griffiths

Mar 24, 20213 min read

Black Garlic & Tomato Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks

A warming, deeply moreish Lamb recipe and a great twist on the usual Easter Lamb roast for your Easter Sunday lunch. This will warm your...

Women in wine: 5 moments that reshaped wine in 2020

Sophie Griffiths

Mar 7, 202110 min read

Women in wine: 5 moments that reshaped wine in 2020

The last live event that Vignette Wine hosted in 2020, before the pandemic hit, was an #International Women's Day celebration of women...

Sophie Griffiths

Sep 14, 20203 min read

Recipes from Sicily: Pasta alla Norma

A real Sicilian classic, you can barely go wrong with this recipe which is pure, indulgent comfort food. The name comes from the opera...

Recipes from Sicily: Tonno all’Eoliana - Aeolian-style Marinated Tuna with Capers & Fresh Tomato

Sophie Griffiths

Sep 14, 20202 min read

Recipes from Sicily: Tonno all’Eoliana - Aeolian-style Marinated Tuna with Capers & Fresh Tomato

Capers, these spicy, pungent little buds are commonly found in Sicilian cooking, seeing as they are cultivated on the island of...

Recipes from Sicily: Orange & Fennel Sicilian Tuna Ceviche

Sophie Griffiths

Sep 14, 20203 min read

Recipes from Sicily: Orange & Fennel Sicilian Tuna Ceviche

One morning while anchored up in a bay on the island of Vulcano, we were greeted by the sight of a fishing boat offering us to buy some...

7 Ways To Quickly Chill Wine & Keep It Ice Cold

Sophie Griffiths

Aug 11, 20204 min read

7 Ways To Quickly Chill Wine & Keep It Ice Cold

Sacre Bleu! You forgot to put a bottle of wine in the fridge earlier! Here are my tips for cooling wine down pronto...

Sophie Griffiths

Jul 21, 20208 min read

What the hell is natural wine?

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO ASK ABOUT NATURAL WINE So now that we've dealt with some of the claims of Cameron Diaz's new Avaline "Clean...

The Genius and The Disingenuity of Cameron Diaz’s new "Clean Wine"

Sophie Griffiths

Jul 21, 20209 min read

The Genius and The Disingenuity of Cameron Diaz’s new "Clean Wine"

Last week Cameron Diaz and her business partner Katherine Power launched a ‘clean’ wine brand: Avaline. “Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power...