In Noble Rot’s 30th Issue, Editor Dan Keeling asks, “Are the Sulphur Wars finally coming to an end?”. Keeling’s impassioned essay reels in the recent experiences of two talismans of the zero-sulphur movement, quotes the Bird (Charlie Parker) and, ultimately, argues for a cessation of hostilities. “We’re delighted that divisions over one of the most important methods for wine preservation and hygiene are fast giving way to a middle ground,” writes Keeling. Amen. Also in this issue…Saint-Joseph with Jean-Louis Chave and Jean Gonon, a profile of Corsica’s Sciaccarellu grape, France’s tiniest domaines, culinary legends Angela Hartnett and Delia Smith, Alice Feiring on temporarily losing her smell, and Brawn chef Ed Wilson on Beurre Blanc with Muscadet (RIP The Green Man & French Horn). All this, and more words of wisdom from columnists Marina O’Loughlin, Simon Hopkinson and John Niven, among much more.

In this issue, Dan Keeling reports on a 25-vintage vertical of Romanée-Conti, organised by the domaine to mark the reprint of Richard Olney’s seminal book Romanée-Conti: The World’s Most Fabled Wine. “As all wine lovers can attest, the last glass is often the best, and as the tasting winds down I return to my half-drunk set of wines,” writes Keeling. “There’s over half a million quid’s worth of BONA FIDE ROMANÉE-CONTI around the room. So watcha gonna do?” We wonder...Also in this Issue…+ Jon Bonné sketches Australian wine’s new generation.+ Dan Keeling profiles the northern Rhône’s mystical Château Grillet.+ Alice Feiring sees how Georgia’s ancient wine traditions are moving with the times.+ A spotlight on this season’s most on-trend grapes.+ Marina O’Loughlin heads to Porto to marvel at its gastronomic delights, and+ the Rotters team re-watches and rates the best and worst films about wine.+ much more

Victoria—feel the love. Following Noble Rot’s recent visit to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Issue 35’s ‘Ravenous for Melbourne’ chronicles founders Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew and executive chef Stephen Harris’s time in ‘Oz’s most gastronomic city’. During their short time here, they dined at an impressive array of iconic venues, old and new, including France-Soir, Flower Drum, Bacash, Tipo 00 and Carlton Wine Room, to name just a handful.Then, in ‘Pacific Vim’, Chef Stephen Harris gives his two cents on Australian restaurant culture, describing it as “one of the great places in the world to eat”. On the wine side of things, Dan Keeling’s ‘The Vine Twitcher’ salutes a few of Victoria’s artisanal producers―including our very own Lambert Wines and Place of Changing Winds.Also in this issue:“Old footballer and crisp magnate” Gary Lineker talks wine, football dads, the Hand of God, and becoming a born-again cook in ‘Gary on Regardless’. Norman Cook―or Fatboy Slim to all you ’80s babies out there―makes a valiant effort to remember his greatest meal, though admitting it could all have been “a beautiful dream”.Keira Knightley spends her 39th birthday reviewing an eclectic selection of wines, from 1995 Nyetimber to 1978 Château Giscours and Trediberri Barolo ‘Berri’ 2018, the latter described as “what you imagine Michael Corleone would drink before he becomes a mob boss”.Then, Marina O’Loughlin reviews the iconic Chez Bruce, Jon Bonné dives deep into the state of play in Californian wine, Hannah Crosbie gives a ‘How to’ guide for judging your date by their wine choice, and Alice Feiring reminisces on better days when Jura icon Pierre Overnoy threw her a party.

Dan Keeling shares a glass or three with Ridley Scott, the iconic director responsible for some of the greatest movies of all time – from Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise to Alien and Gladiator (the latter two of which Noble Rot pays tribute to with this issue’s special dual covers by Gary Taxoli). Scott is also a wine lover who owns vineyards in Provence and has a maverick perspective on everything from cooking the perfect scrambled eggs to how AI is changing the world.And while on the subject of AI, sommeliers may like to hear that they’ve got little to fear from it stealing their jobs – at least if Hannah Crosbie’s conversation with ChatGPT after asking it to mimic a quick-witted Noble Rot Lamb’s Conduit St somm is anything to go by (‘I Drink, Therefore I Am’).Also in this issue:…Noble Rot welcomes back Britain’s doyenne of home cooking, Delia Smith, who tries to choose between a visit to Auberge de la Môle and a Simon Hopkinson truffle extravaganza as her ‘Greatest Meal’....Alice Feiring speaks to The Four Horsemen’s James Murphy and Justin Chearno about a decade of their adored Brooklyn restaurant. Tragically, since the interview, the much-loved Justin has passed away and will be hugely missed by everybody who knew him.…Kermit Lynch tells us about his eye-opening encounter in a Paris wine shop; A visit to the late, legendary Italian wine and food writer Luigi Veronelli’s mythical Bergamo cellar; and stories about Chartreuse, great Languedoc growers, BYO in restaurants, and much more.

In this issue:- Dan Keeling profiles the Alpine terroirs of the Savoie and Switzerland’s Valais. “Traversing the winding roads around some spectacular mountainside vineyards both [in Switzerland], and in nearby Savoie days earlier,” recalls Keeling, “proved to us indisputably that Alpine masters … mean business.”- Keira Knightley reviews an eclectic selection of wines, from Envínate’s 2021 ‘Doad’ Lousas (“It would be impossible to find a person who wouldn’t like this wine”) to Blossom Hill (“If this is the taste of summer, we are all fucked”).- Marina O’Loughlin interviews British national treasure and comedy polymath Bill Bailey over lunch at Noble Rot Mayfair–and reviews Narbonne’s Les Grands Buffets, an amazing ‘all you can eat’ restaurant featuring, among many other wonders, “towers of lobsters”, “acres of oysters” and “foie gras in ten different iterations”.- Kate Spicer explores ‘Drunken Monkey Theory’ – AKA the reason why loving wine is in our DNA – and profiles François Chartier, the Atomic Somm who uses molecular science to improve wine and food pairing.Also in this issue:+ Joe Beef’s David McMillan recounts his greatest meal+ Jay McInerney recounts the tempestuous story of the Mondavi dynasty+ Levi Dalton considers when is the right time to drink BaroloPlus features from Jon Bonné on Bernard Ginestet, Alice Feiring on coastal Tuscany and stories about Dolcetto, Succession and wine cancel culture, among others.

“One of the few irksome things about fine wine culture – apart from its pretence, and its propensity for snobbery – is the sheer cost of getting through the front door,” writes Dan Keeling in Noble Rot’s action-packed Issue 38. “Noble Rot 38’s tongue-in-cheek cover feature is a coup for readers looking for world-class wines with a limited budget. Having persuaded a crew of leading sommeliers, chefs, restaurateurs and wine writers to reveal their single favourite most undervalued bottle, it’s an eminently usable centrepiece to this issue’s theme of ‘simple pleasures’, featuring characterful cuvées from places like Rueda, Muscadet and south-west France.”Elsewhere in Noble Rot 38’s celebration of everyday miracles: The Rotters raise a glass to the art of the leisurely lunch in ‘Wine, Dine, Recline, Repeat’. Featuring Fergus and Margot Henderson, Gary Lineker, Philippa Perry and a cast of other Rotters, it’s “the next best thing to being able to go AWOL for a day of hedonistic pleasures". Felicity Cloake lauds salt as the most important element in good cooking, Simon Hopkinson revels in the perfection of eggs, and Stephen Harris asks why many diners consider drinking anything other than filtered tap water to be a pretentious waste of time.