Wines and rhymes with Felix

Biodynamic wine producers don't use so many chemicals - not necessarily a good thing

LAST UPDATED AT 09:43 ON Thu 2 Oct 2008

Wine, poetry and Felix Dennis take to the road this week on an unique tour. Felix is – as well as being the proprietor of both The First Post and The Week - a very affable fellow whose first exposure to fame came with the Oz Obscenity trial at the Old Bailey in 1971. He and his colleagues were initially sent to jail but quickly released, after a public outcry. (The sentences were quashed on appeal). I was a teenager at the time and he was one of my heroes – though he wasn't in my parents' pantheon!
 
As well as creating and owning a magazine empire, Felix has also become a well-known poet and something of a fine wine connoisseur. His poetry is colourful, topical and his latest book of verse, Homeless in my Heart, has just been published. Hence the tour, and the unique element: free wine for all those who come to the readings.
 
I went to a preview night last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the poetry – and the free wine, which was of a remarkably high standard,  just as it will be for the rest of his tour: excellent Sancerre, Puligny Montrachet, Aloxe Corton and Chateau d'Angludet, to mention but a few. All the wines were chosen by Felix from The Week Wine Club. An evening of splendid political incorrectness, and a rare treat to hear good verse on stage with a glass of fine wine in your hand.
 
Felix's view on wine is that like all good things in life it is there to be appreciated – and drunk. As ever, quality is everything and those extra few pounds buy a far better product that the increase in price would seem to warrant. Of course he is quite right – the £4.99 supermarket branded specials are really not very nice, not very good for you and likely to leave you with a headache the next morning.
 
The tour starts in earnest this week in London and then goes to Stratford, Warwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Brighton, Cardiff , Dublin and London again before finishing at Lake Windermere. Full details are at his website. Not to be missed… And register even if the website says 'Sold Out'; you may well find you get lucky. ·