Readers may have discerned, behind the exemplary open-mindedness with which I approach the great issues facing mankind, a small residue of prejudice. For instance, I cannot deny that I harbour a prejudice in favour of white Burgundy, the philosophy of Hegel, the music of Schubert and hunting with hounds. Nor can I deny my prejudice against socialism, Vivaldi, Foucault and Australian Shiraz.

It is now time for some heart-searching, [...]

Every now and then, I become exasperated with cheap American wine. I recall our modest cellar back home, with those bottles of Burgundy and Claret, each tasting of a place and a terroir, sometimes with the aftertaste of some deeply rotted saint. Then I visit the little wine store here in Culpeper, Virginia, and go the extra few dollars for a bottle of something French. And I am always disappointed.

In my youth, when the god of wine first claimed sovereign authority over my life, it was unusual for good wine to be marketed. Official classifications existed, dating back to 1855 and beyond, which made it somehow disreputable to rely on a winemaker's self-opinion, or on the slogans concocted by his advertising agent. Wine had to stand the test of time, just as statues, sonnets and symphonies did. And nothing [...]

I have no doubt that majority opinion among our readers is firmly on the side of Barack Obama in the American presidential elections. And the same opinion prevails on the east coast of the United States. But where I am, in the heart of rural Virginia, it is permitted to express doubts, and as you travel inland the doubts get firmer.

Not that people have anything very precise to say [...]

Judging from the names of grapes, the vignerons of France suffer from congenital colour-blindness. The Pinot comes in three varieties called "white", "black" and "grey", the first of which is green, the next a reddish purple, and the last a subdued grassy yellow. "Blanc", "noir" and "gris" have stuck, with the Italians making Pinot Grigio into a household name. Yet one of the most interesting features of the Pinot grapes [...]

Very few great works of philosophy are also great works of art. However, Plato's Symposium is both. It is a vivid invocation of the Athenian polis and its leading characters, including Alcibiades, Aristophanes and Socrates. And it is without compare as a philosophical treatment of sexual desire - a topic that philosophers down the ages have largely avoided, with only Schopenhauer and Sartre venturing the kind of comprehensive account of [...]

When passing moral judgement, we often find it hard to distinguish cause from effect. Do violent movies produce nasty people, or do nasty people demand violent movies? Do pubs cause drunken hooligans, or do drunken hooligans gravitate to pubs? Does fast food encourage gluttony, or does gluttony give rise to fast food?

That kind of question is faced by all who strive, against hope, to defeat the plague of rubbish. [...]

Concerning August, the advice from Scrutopia has been consistent down the years: don't go trashing the planet and tanning your body. The first can still be rescued and the second is past all hope. So stay at home with your bottles, and explore the world in your thoughts. And for the person at home on a cold, wet day in an English summer, there is no place to visit more [...]

Czech wine is not obtainable outside the country that produces it. In encouraging you to drink it, therefore, I am going against my deeply held convictions. For years I have insisted that travel narrows the mind, spoils the planet and undermines the local identities without which travel is pointless anyway. And here I am saying that the Czech lands are worth a visit. My excuse is that the country still [...]

We acquired our cockerel when he was just two months old - a timid creature who was shy of the chickens and scared of everything else. A year later he was strutting his stuff, tearing feathers from the wings and throats of his companions, and pecking the ground and circling whenever we approached.

A few months on, it was unwise to enter the chicken run without a stick to protect [...]