In Issue 18 of Club Oenologique, we welcome chef Hélène Darroze as guest editor. She shares her passion for the southwest of France and the importance of family to her food philosophy, before inviting us into the 30,000-bottle wine cellar beneath her London restaurant with The Connaught’s head of wine as guide. Elsewhere, she oversees stories on biodynamic viticulture in Bordeaux and the gastronomic delights of the Dordogne. The notion of place is explored further thanks to a meeting with a star supplier with a passion for the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a look at the chefs across France putting local, seasonal vegetables at the heart of their menus. As to be expected given Darroze’s family history, Armagnac is a recurring theme in this issue, including Joel Harrison’s review of Darroze Armagnac bottlings dating back to the 1960s and Clint Cawood’s look at the cocktail bars experimenting with French brandy. In the Review section, we go further afield in France with Pascaline Lepeltier’s stars of the Loire and Alistair Cooper MW’s report on the best bottles from the 2023 vintage in the Northern Rhône, plus the best of prestige rosé Champagne. In light of Darroze’s love of Japanese tea, Alice Lascelles investigates the blends increasingly offered at fine-dining restaurants, and the many qualities tea shares with wine. All this and more in the spring 2025 issue of Club Oenologique.