Planning guides: what is in season, which region to choose, and how to get there.
Real pesto - pesto alla genovese - is from Liguria and is ground, never blended: Genovese basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmigiano and Pecorino and Ligurian olive oil. What goes in it, why the mortar matters, and how to eat it.
A plain-English guide to German beer: Helles and cloudy Weissbier in Bavaria, crisp Pils in the north, Kölsch in Cologne, and the Märzen and Bocks - what to order where, and the 1516 purity law.
A plain-English guide to sherry: how the solera and flor work, and the difference between dry Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado and Oloroso and sweet Pedro Ximénez - with how to serve each and where to taste them.
How Spain's two great Tempranillo reds differ - elegant, oak-aged Rioja versus the darker, more powerful Ribera del Duero of the high plateau - and how to read Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.
The Cretan diet is the original Mediterranean diet - olive oil, wild greens, pulses, barley rusks and cheese. What to order (dakos, horta, snails, kalitsounia), the raki ritual, and where to eat it.
Nemea is Greece's largest red-wine appellation, built on the native Agiorgitiko grape - soft, dark-fruited reds from easy-drinking to age-worthy, an easy day from Athens among ancient ruins.
The three Valpolicella reds explained: light everyday Valpolicella, richer "baby Amarone" Ripasso, and the powerful dried-grape Amarone - how each is made, what it tastes like and when to drink it.
A plain-English guide to port wine: how it is made, and the difference between fruity bottle-aged styles (Ruby, LBV, Vintage) and nutty barrel-aged Tawny, with how to serve each and where to taste them.
How the Mosel and the Rhine make different German Riesling - the Mosel light, low-alcohol and delicate on slate, the Rheingau fuller and often drier - plus how to read the sweetness on the label.
Assyrtiko is Santorini's volcanic white - grown in ash on ungrafted basket-trained vines, bone dry, high in acid and intensely mineral, plus the sweet Vinsanto. What makes it unique and where to taste it.