Easter Saturday is not necessarily the time you would expect me to be writing about spicy foods but my favourite Easter dinner is a rich yoghurt and spice marinated slow-cooked lamb dish called lamb raan, and it was thinking about this that led me to tackle once again the issue of wine and spice.

SCHOOL’S out so many families will soon be packing up the car and driving to France to stay at camp-sites or perhaps rented gites.

THESE are not good days to be a wine lover, but spare a thought for anyone foolish enough to turn their love of wine into a career.

THIS week I want to write about a wine region dear to my heart that is hardly known in Ireland, despite the fact that it is the nearest wine region to Ireland — the Loire Valley.

WHEN we think of Bordeaux wine we think of quality and the famous châteaux.