Many wine-lovers fantasise about making their own, a courageous few take the plunge David Williams David Williams Sun 3 Nov 2024 06.00 GMT Share The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Gutter & Stars Star 69 Chardonnay Crouch Valley, England 2022 (£33, Gutter & Stars) Like many wine lovers, I sometimes contemplate making my own. But my soft-focus daydreams of tenderly tending vines in a gently sunkissed valley only ever get as far as a few back-of-a-crisp-packet sums before the precarious reality of making a go of Château Williams brings me back to earth. So I can only admire those brave souls who do have the will and talent to turn their idle fantasies into something concrete. A journalist by trade, Chris Wilson still writes for a variety of wine magazines and websites. But, he also runs Gutter & Stars, an urban winery he set up in a converted windmill in Cambridge in 2020. Wilson recently sent me a sample of his chardonnay, which he makes from grapes bought from the Missing Gate Vineyard in Essex’s Crouch Valley and which I am happy to report is outstanding: a vivid, fluent, subtly oaked dry white with pristine stone fruit and a cool-stream freshness. Vinos del Viento Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Spain 2021 (£14.50, Oxford Wine) Many of our British winemakers, dismayed by the erratic summers of southern England, end up pursuing their vinous dreams in more reliably sunny climes overseas. Such as, for example, Calatayud in Aragon in northeastern Spain, where the Scottish master of wine Norrel Robertson makes a range of superb and always reasonably priced wines from high-altitude old vines. Manda Huevos Carramainas Macabeo 2021 (£15, Wine Society), a gloriously mouthfilling, pithy, Burgundy-esque oaked white, is a new-to-me highlight. And it’s not just British vinous émigrés who are drawn to the remote mountainous beauty of Aragon: the man responsible for the effortless flow of strawberry juiciness that is Vinos del Viento Garnacha is the Californian Michael Cooper. The Long Road Syrah, Walker Bay, South Africa 2022 (£18, Tesco) If you were looking for a tale to illustrate just how risky a business starting your own winery can be, then it’s hard to look past the recent story of Samantha O’Keefe. It’s a tale of hair-raising ups and downs, which begins in 2000, when O’Keefe swapped California and a career in television for a new life for her young family in a disused dairy farm far from any vines in Greyton, in South Africa’s Western Cape. Despite having no winemaking experience, O’Keefe had managed to turn her Lismore Estate into one of South Africa’s most admired wine producers. But then disaster struck and wildfires destroyed her home, half her vineyards and all of her 2019 vintage. As well as being a typically elegant, finely stitched, refined expression of syrah, then, the Long Road is a tribute to her resilience. Follow David Williams on X @Daveydaibach Happy Feasting from Nigel Slater Hello, The Guardian has just launched a brilliant new app, Feast, full to the brim with recipes and ideas to help you make a feast out of anything. There are recipes from all your favourite Guardian and Observer cooks and smart features to make everyday cooking easier and more fun. Inside, you will find ideas for: • the evenings you arrive home to find little in the cupboard • pleasing midweek meals for even the most finicky of children • delicious vegan and vegetarian dinners for the unexpected dinner guest • those overwhelming supermarket trips when you forget to write a list When you simply haven’t a clue what to make for dinner, Feast is here to help. Full of inspiration, advice and packed with recipes, this is the cooking app you have been waiting for. Feast makes mealtimes much easier too, enjoy cook mode, which gives you step-by-step instructions and keeps your screen on for as long as you need it and enhanced search, by ingredient, cuisine, meal type, diet or chef. To celebrate our launch, we’d love you to try it out with a 14-day free trial. Click the button below or scan the QR code to get started. Nigel Slater