Athens-born Savvas Symeonidis, found his way into wine by way of medicine. Moving to the UK seven years ago from his native Greece, Symeonidis took up the role of head sommelier at Thornbury Castle restaurant near Bristol. While continuing his WSET studies, he moved to London and has also held roles at the JKS Restaurant group before becoming head sommelier of Goodman Restaurant last year. How did you arrive at the position you are in today? I was in charge of the wines in Thornbury Castle just outside Bristol, and then relocated to London as a sommelier for the likes of Tamarind and Gymkhana,...

A study conducted by The University of British Columbia (UBC) claims that applying an agricultural spray made of phospholipids reduces levels of volatile phenols found in smoke-exposed grapes. Image: Johansen Wines Author of the report, Wesley Zandberg, assistant professor in chemistry at UBC Okanagan, called the results “encouraging”. Zandberg and his team tested multiple substances, finding that a spray composed of phospholipids – lipids that are usually used to prevent cherries from cracking – applied to grapes one week before smoke exposure led to “significantly...