If you're looking for advice on matching food and wine, there's no better web resource than Fiona Beckett’s Matching Food & Wine website. Fiona has written 15 books on subjects as diverse as champagne, cheese, steak, sausages and student food. She's also a contributor to Australian Gourmet Traveller, Bon Appetit and Decanter magazine.

It seems that Bordeaux is very worried about its image. According to Decanter magazine, Paris Hilton will be the new face of Bordeaux wines. She will be featured in a TV, poster and print campaign that will run in Europe and the US starting this summer. She is going to launch the campaign on the first day of Vinexpo which will be held between June 17th-21st, 2007. So if you weren't sure about visiting Vinexpo this year, now you have another reason to do so!

The St Emilion 2006 re-classification was suspended recently by an administrative tribunal in Bordeaux as a few wine producers namely, Chateau La Tour du Pin Figeac, Chateau Cadet Bon and Chateau de la Marzelle complained about the changes. Not surprisingly, these producers were demoted during the 2006 exercise. The St Emilion classification was established in 1954.

What does this mean for wine drinkers? It becomes a little harder to know a good St Emilion wine from a not so good one when you're shopping. The classification system served as a guide and gave lesser known vineyards with good wine more attention.

Chateau d'Yquem is bottling its wine in nebuchadnezzars for the first time in its history. These bottles hold 15 litres of wine or the equivalent of 20 regular bottles. Each bottle will cost €12,850 and only 120 such bottles are being put on the market. The bottle is named after Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of Babylon mentioned in the Bible

Ernest Gallo's death, just shy of his 98th birthday, leaves E&J Gallo number two worldwide in volume terms. Through the decades and with sheer hard work and commitment, the two brothers Ernest and Jullio (who died in 1993) established one of the most dominating wine empires in the world. Unlike many other large wine families, they were not born into wealth. Their father had started a winery but died a pauper.

As a result, the brothers' early motivation was to bring back honor to their family name and pay off family debts. They did that and much more not just for themselves but for the world of wine too. Today, E&J Gallo is recognized for bringing wine to the American masses. E&J Gallo wines are distributed by Radico Khaitan in India.

Read Ernest Gallo's obituary on the E&J Gallo website and Wine Enthusiast Magazine's coverage too.

In the last Sunday Observer magazine, Tim Atkins chose a selection of wines from unusual destinations, and he recommended the 2006 Sula Sauvignon Blanc from India (£7.99, Novum Wines). "By far the best Indian white wine I've ever had (and that's not faint praise), this is an attractive, nettley white with a vibrant, palate-tingling acidity."

It was one of 12 selected, and featured alongside an ice wine from Canada (2004 Jackson Triggs Vidal Icewine, Niagara) and a white 2005 Santorini , Hatzidakis, Greece. Our congratulations to Sula!

Thinking about the roots of wines culture and Europe pops up in our minds. France, Italy and Spain put together produce approximately 270 million hector litres of wine (2003) per annum and of which they consume 230 million hecto litres (approx 70%)of their produce so there is an excess of 30% that needs to be exported. Ashwini Avate tells us about a wine masters program in France.

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Wine thieves are all the rage in California. Recently, a collector's home was broken into and wine worth $500,000 was stolen. This included a 1959 Petrus worth as much as $6,000 and a difficult-to-assemble set of Bordeaux wines representing an unbroken line of more than 20 years of French harvests. Interestingly, the thieves left most of the cheap bottles. Not surprisingly, Bordeaux wine is the most popular among thieves because they fetch the highest prices at auctions.

Hugh Johnson the renowned wine writer and columnist was awarded the Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's New Years Honours list. His OBE was awarded for services to winemaking and horticulture. Johnson has been writing about wine since 1960. He has written for many magazines and published several books including an autobiography, A Life Uncorked (2006) and The World Atlas of Wine.

This book was co-authored with Jancis Robinson who writes a column for Sommelier India and is a much renowned wine writer in her own right. She was made an OBE in 2003.

Yoga and wine may seem a strange combination to most people but for a yoga instructor in Madison, Wisconsin (USA) it made perfect sense. According to The New York Times, Angela Gargano staged weekend long wine and yoga retreats last August and is now taking the concept across the United States. Ravi Hari Kaur Khalsa, a 20-year Kundalini veteran says that the key to pairing wine and yoga is moderation.

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A recently opened Indian restaurant in Covent Garden, London won a prestigious Food Oscar for having the best wine list in the British capital. Tamarai is operated by Old World Hospitality that runs Habitat World in New Delhi as also the Chor Bizarre chain of restaurants. Their wine list includes 150 wine scomplied by Tim Atkin MW (Master of Wine).

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Marilisa Allegrini of Allegrini wines was in India recently and Sommelier India caught up with her. The wines of Allegrini are from the north of Italy in Valpolicella near Verona. Compared to Piedmont and Tuscany, Valpolicella was undervalued for a time, although its viticulture dates back to Roman times.

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"Made in Italy" wine exports to the United States have increased by 7.6% nearly reaching one billion dollars. This is in part thanks to the effects of the Italian World Cup soccer victory according to data from the Italian Food & Wine Institute.

The Italians at 31% of the foreign wine market edged out the Australians at 30% and the French who were 14% of the total imports into the US. The current harvest is considered an excellent year quality-wise though slightly limited in quantity. Wine is Italy's principle food export to the United States.

Prince Charles has become the latest painter to feature on Chateau Mouton-Rothschild's label according to Decanter Magazine. The Prince joins a list of painters which includes Braque, Picasso, Miró, Chagall, Henry Moore, Warhol, Francis Bacon and Balthus. The chosen watercolour, of pine trees at Cap d'Antibes on the Cote d'Azur, was not painted specially for the chateau, but was selected by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild. It is inscribed, 'To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, Charles 2004'. The 2004 vintage of Mouton Rothschild was recently bottled and launched, at around £80 (€120) per bottle.

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The Indian wine market is not the only one growing. According to the US Wine Market Impact Databank Review and Forecast, The US market is to grow for the 13th consecutive year as people choose wine over beer. The annual growth is just 3% for the Americans but their total 2006 consumption is expected to be around 288 million nine-litre cases. At this rate, the US wine market will outpace Italy by 2010 as the second largest wine market in the world after France.