Welcome to our site Home page, the start point for your enjoyment of our blog. We are currently focusing on Wine, Philosophy, and Buddhism, though in the past this has been quite different and has included Travel, English History, Personal Ancestry, Mountaineering, and our Education Aid work in Nepal. Most of these previous activities however are severely curtailed due to our age (!) and the Covid Pandemic. But, we still love writing so hopefully you will enjoy our current topics:

WINE: This has been a serious hobby for 50 years. Just click the drop down Wine tab above to see the full range of wines, countries and vineyards. We collect wine, incorporate vineyard visits into our travels, enjoy drinking it with friends, and have even written a book about our wine adventures in 2020 called It’s Not About The Wine with more details below. Our interest has led us to explore England’s wines recently and we are “touring” many vineyards virtually until we can move around and explore them in reality. Young estates, but surrounded by lots of history and culture too going back to medieval times.

PHILOSOPHY: This has been one of our areas of interest since we left university as scientists many years ago, an antidote to rigorous, logical and provable processes! Our interest ranges from Socrates to Scruton, from Epicureanism to existentialism and modern day thinking on aesthetics. We are not academics but have a deep interest in the things that influence our lives and the way we live. Wine and philosophy are natural bedfellows and features regularly in our posts.

BUDDHISM: We are both Buddhists. Dr C was raised as a Buddhist in Kathmandu, and I became following our marriage during student days in the 1960s. We both meditate daily, read Buddhist history and sutras, and do our best to follow The Eightfold Path. Our writing includes our continuing growth as Buddhists, “conversations” with Buddha who we call Sid, and recollections of Buddhist events and activities we have been part of with our family in Nepal.

It’s Not About The Wine

Released on November 30th, this is the way to learn about wine …… through experiences, whether you are young or old, a traveller or a  “stay at home” or a WSET student. This book is not a wine guide, nor is it a travel guide. It is a memoir of our wine experiences over half a century from student days to retirement and old age. Certainly this book involves and includes travel, mostly across the wine regions of France especially Burgundy, Loire, and Alsace which are our three favourite places to visit. Several chapters however may read like a guide, though this is only because of our experience with terroir, culture, history, appellations, philosophy, winemakers, wine tasting, wine collecting, neuroscience and on being a wine judge. But rest assured, everything is practical and has added to our enjoyment of wine, we hope you will learn from our experiences and mistakes and really hope It’s Not About The Wine will add to your enjoyment too.