It’s been fun

After nearly six years of writing and editing Canopy, it’s time for a change. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience, developing Canopy for William Reed and then transferring to the new company IWC Events last year.
I sincerely hope these won’t be the last articles of mine that you read. But 159 issues and nearly 800 stories is a fair innings.
My plan is to stay in the wine world and earn a crust through four avenues:

• Freelance wine and travel writing, with a focus on lesser-known grape varieties, lesser-known wine regions and innovative winemaking. This is something I did before launching Canopy in August 2019. I’m also hoping to contribute to Canopy’s successor, IWC Insights, which is due to launch mid-July. It will be great to stay in touch through this newsletter with the readers who have appreciated the insights into winemaking, wine business, and vineyard life provided by Canopy. You can also stay in touch through my Instagram posts (@ywine.press) and on my own website, ywine.press – which I may find time to update more regularly.
• Special projects. I’ll also be undertaking commissions for special projects – such as commemorative books and videos – for wineries and wine regions with something special to celebrate.

• Selling my limited-edition wines. The wine project I started so I could raise the profile of some rare grapes and unsung wine regions continues. The wines I made in Georgia, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary in 2022 are slowly becoming available. A premium red wine from Albania and a sulphite-free sparkling wine from Slovenia are undergoing élevage. This year, I aim to add white wines from Spain and Ukraine and a fortified wine from Madeira to the Crazy Experimental Wines label – to give top restaurants the full range from sparkling to rosé to white, orange, red and sweet. I’m writing up the full stories of each wine for a special booklet that will go into the Christmas gift collection: six distinctive, experimental, small-batch wines, available from October 2025. You can put your name down for a gift box of wines or request further information – or simply stay in touch – by emailing ywine.club@outlook.com. The gift box is being billed as the ultimate gift for adventurous lovers of wine. All the wines come from lesser-known grape varieties such as Viktória Gyöngye, Kisi, Laški rizling, Muscaris and Blaufränkisch. Low intervention, low sulphites, plus some experimental winemaking to bring out the best in these varieties.
• Scriptwriting. I’ll also be returning to scriptwriting. Before buying my little winehouse in Jeruzalem, Slovenia, in 2009 – an ‘investment’ that got me diving deeper and deeper into the world of wine – I wrote medical dramas for the BBC (Doctors, Casualty, Holby City). For the past decade, I’ve been totally devoted to wine and vineyard life, but the scriptwriting feels a bit like unfinished business. However, I’m working on a story that combines my love of wine, food, travel and drama – repackaged as a thriller. Currently, it’s set in Italy – but the producer is open to suggestions of other countries and locations with a stupendous wine and food culture.

I appreciate the people I’ve met and the experiences I’ve gained through Canopy. I think the latest articles are some of the best I’ve written. Enjoy them now. Perhaps with a glass of something unusual from an underrated wine region. Something well-made. Something highly sustainable. That’s what I’m going to do now…