- When did you first start making wine? - What type of wine was it? - What wines do you make/prefer now? - Why do you do it? I started making wine for a roomate. It was a simple grape juice, raisins and bread yeast wine. I now make Chinese style, medicinal rice wine. I do it because it's healthier for me, and I greatly prefer the quality. My favorite wine I ever produced was a gallon of Beet & Blood Orange Melomel. I poured shots for people at a party. As soon as they drank it, I would ask them to tell me what I made the wine with. The response was 'Berries?' from every single person. At 15 seconds (timed on my watch) I would ask them what they taste now? I could see the flash in their eyes as they went to respond and changed their answer. At 15 seconds, the flavor changed and a flash of strong orange would cross your tongue. LOL Freaking amazingly delicious, and then the furnace would start in your belly. I swear it was over 18% ABV. :D

I had always loved the idea of knowing about wine, but in the beginning, it felt massively unwieldy as a subject. One day, a chance visit to an Italian wine bar gave me a roadmap for learning about it: The first step they taught me? Start with the grapes and ignore everything else. For now. It was my eureka moment. I started to get to know the personalities of the world’s most famous wine grapes and then the rest sort of fell into place. Have you had a eureka wine moment? Please share! Helena x

This may be controversial, but with all that heavy food and all those flavours and textures, my go-to serve for festive turkey and all the trimmings is... premium Provençal rosé. Why? The top ones use a bit of oak - not for flavour other than a hint of spice, but to add a mouth filling texture. Posh rosé is one of the most versatile food wines you can get AND it will leave you feeling refreshed rather than too sleepy. I'd love to know your go-to festive wine. What is it and why? H x

I'm asked this all the time and the answer is very much - yes! There are however some rules of thumb: - Lighter reds like Beaujolais (Gamay grape) , Zweigelt or Pinot Noir will have less tooth-drying tannin and more overt fruitiness, so will work nicely with a slight chill as long as it's not too cold. - Heavier, more tannic or oaky reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Rioja and Malbec might feel out of balance and too dry with any fruit and aromas muted. These do less well with chilling. I'll be serving a chilled Beaujolais on Christmas day with turkey and all the trimmings. What about you?