I know, I know….I committed myself at the end of my last piece to recommending some fizz for V Day. Why? I’m not St.Valentine’s greatest fan. Time was when I could – did - wax lyrical about a Beaujolais Saint Amour, or a Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses.

But there’s only so much St. Amour a man can hold down. As for Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses, whatever the erotic story behind the wine, when was the last time you could afford one of the most expensive premier cru red Burgundies going?

In Spring, we five intrepid wine journalists who make up www.thewinegang.com visited South West France to make the most mouthwatering selection of wine favourites we could put together. We flew to Pau and drove the 120 kilometres to Irouléguy which is so far west it practically falls off the Pyrenees into the Atlantic. If the sprawling South West remains part of France’s route less travelled, then the same can be said, only more so, of Irouléguy.

After a topsy-turvy year in the vineyard, the question exercising the mind of Bordeaux and its customers is whether the 2012 vintage is a silk purse crafted from a sow’s ear. On two counts. Firstly was the weather good enough to make 2012 saleable en primeur, i.e. right now, before the wines are bottled in two years time? And if so, are prices attractive enough to have us reaching for our silk purses?

The exorbitant price rises for the great 2009 Bordeaux vintage focused global attention on Bordeaux as an investment vehicle as never before. In search of such a vehicle to place their newfound riches, the Chinese new wealthy fell for Bordeaux in general and Château Lafite in particular as the ultimate must-have luxury goods collectible.

It is not often that you spot the gentlemen of the wine press attired as if about to start their first day at public school, but smart suits and ties were the order of the day on a freezing cold February morning in the heart of London clubland.

A friend (Jancis Robinson MW) Michael Schuster can phone

The Graves is one of the few major wine regions in the world whose name defines a particular terroir, or location character. Gravel soils form the bedrock, literally of this ancient region, the northern part of which, Pessac-Léognan, is home to 16 crus classés châteaux, which, with their 600-odd hectares of vineyard land, lie south of the city of Bordeaux.

The Wine Gang Christmas fairs have come and gone, leaving a warm afterglow in the wake of the tremendous buzz generated by 600 tasters slurping their way through over 3,000 bottles under the giant Victorian brick arches

We’re looking forward to more of the same in London on 2 November, in Bath on 9 November and in Edinburgh on 30 November.

When Wines, Grapes and Vines by Jancis Robinson MW first came out to great acclaim in 1986, it was a book of its time. It was important because the New World was turning the European model of terroir on its head and placing the emphasis on grape variety. Until then, as Wine Grapes puts it, ‘virtually all wine was named after the region, vineyard, village or property where it was grown’. Not surprisingly, this simple and successful form of marketing (for consumers) was frowned upon by the snooty French.

The Wine Gang Christmas Fair buzzed and hummed in London's Borough Market yesterday. After a sampling of Roederer's Cristal Champagne with Mark Blingly MW, Allegra Antinori, Javier Hidalgo and Serge Hochar strutted their stuff on the masterclass catwalk. Throughout the day, 600 tasters spat (mostly) their way through over 3,000 bottles under the giant Victorian brick arches of the newly refurbished Vinopolis.

Jazz singer Carol Mae Whittick and partner Christian