I had been looking for a reason to drink this special wine for some time. It came a few months ago, when I was looking through some of my old wines with my friend Mark Walsh, and he said 1942 was the year my dad, John, was born. So that was it...... You can find Mark here, on Instagram @walshjewellery , and at www.walshjewellery.com John was born in 1942, so this wine was still a grape then. The day we arranged to drink the wine, 23rd July, just happened to be my late Mother'

We visited the newly opened Bar Rioja in the Regent Quarter in Kings Cross, London. It is part of the Camino group, which has a significant presence in this area. This bar is dedicated to some of our favourite Spanish wines from the Rioja region of northern Spain. La Rioja, Spain's largest and most popular wine region, was the first to become internationally famous. It is also one of the 17 provinces of Spain, and the smallest. It lies in the country's north, approximately 12

A FEW DAYS SPENT IN AND AROUND HARO IN LA RIOJA We arrived from Bilbao airport and checked into our hotel in Haro, the splendid HOTEL LOS AGUSTINOS Calle San Agustín 2, 26200 Haro, La Rioja +34 941 31 13 08 Founded as a convent in 1373, the building has been through various guises, including a Guarnición Military (Military Garrison) in 1809 Hospital Military (Military hospital) in 1811 Carcel (Prison) in 1839 and Hotel 1989. It is a beautiful building steeped in history.

LA RIOJA - LOGROÑO PINCHO BAR CRAWL On our recent trip to La Rioja, we decided to take a pinchos bar crawl down the famous Calle Laurel in Logroño. These were our favourite bars and bites on this hectic but pleasant November evening. BAR CID Travesía de Laurel, 1, 26001 Logroño, La Rioja It is quite literally a hole in the wall and easy to walk past. The traditional Bar Cid has vines and grapes dangling from the wooden beam ceiling above the same pair of men hanging out at th