We are offering a personalised card for your Dad signed by Olly with every purchase of The Glass from ollysmith.com.

Click here to order.

Last orders for Father’s Day 8th June. (Personalised cards only available for Father’s Day offer).

The Glass is dishwasher-friendly and suitable for both red and white wine. Made by Zalto, a leading manufacturer of the highest quality wine glasses, The Glass has been specially designed by Olly for everyday use so you can get the most out of your wine.

A red grape variety grown in California, it’s been used since the Seventies to make ‘White Zinfandel’ – a so-called blush wine which, along with many fans, has a fierce army of detractors.

These folks dismiss the sweet pinky rosé as dross designed to appeal to lovers of fizzy pop and sweets.

Personally I feel relaxed about these things; White Zinfandel isn’t my cup of tea, but if you buy it and enjoy it, I’m just glad to hear there’s wine in your glass.

But I would definitely urge you to sample the beef, hoof and roar of a good old-fashioned red Zin.

Stylistically, red Zins tend to be boldly flavoured with a kick of spice – imagine a raspberry in the shape of a hand grenade and you’ll get the picture.

If you like Shiraz, you should definitely saddle up and ride a bottle all the way down Sip Street.

Zinfandel was brought to California in the Gold Rush, and proved popular with home winemakers during Prohibition, but for many years the grape had an aura of mystery.

Syrah Aymura 2009, Chile (M&S, £11.99) From high in Chile’s dazzlingly bright and wild Elqui Valley comes this outrageously intense and peppery red wine – smoky, rich, dark and laden with plump flavour.

BUY IN STORES

Top picks

Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel 2009 (Budgens, £9.83) A no-nonsense Zin with juicy, berryish fruit that’s a decent choice for everyday meals such as tomato pasta or meatballs.

BUY IN STORES

Bonterra Organic Zinfandel 2009 (Waitrose, £9.79) Expect muscle, spice, oomph, lasting flavour, a rich, chunky texture, boldness, dark fruit flavours and a warming thrust.

BUY IT

Frog’s Leap Zindandel 2009 (slurp.co.uk, £19.95) This has intense fruit flavours, sleek texture and a hint of Christmas spice about it.

BUY IT

Ridge Geyserville 2009 (thewinesociety.com, £26.00) An awesome Zinfandel-based blend that resonates with subtle spice along with raspberry verve and dark perfumed complexity.

BUY IT

These recommendations also appear in Olly’s column in Live, The Mail on Sunday.

All prices, stockists and availability correct at time of going to press.

Come and join Olly in The Glass House, where his inimitable and irreverent style coupled with his skills come alive in this unique award winning wine bar and restaurant. Here, Olly has personally developed the wine list and wine-tasting experiences, matching specially selected wines to each course.

Join the Three Wine Men in Manchester on 26 & 27th May.

Olly, Oz Clarke and Tim Atkin have come together as the Three Wine Men to get everyone in the country tasting, experiencing and enjoying wine.  They all love talking about wine, sharing wine and discovering wines and they want to share with you! Their events bring together wine and food retailers and producers to show you just how much fun your taste buds can have in a day.

Come to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry for two days of fantastic, fun filled wine tasting. There will be hundreds of wines on taste from around the world, as well as delicious local foods and masterclasses from the experts.

Olly’s Masterclass Olly Smith Waxes Lyrical will be on:

Saturday 26th May 12 noon and 4.30pm

Sunday 27th May 1pm

Book tickets online and visit the Three Wine Men website for full details.

See you there!

If you can’t make it to Manchester – you can join the Three Wine Men for more events in 2012:

23rd & 24th June – Edinburgh, The Signet Library

22nd & 23rd September – London, Lord’s Cricket Ground

6th & 7th October – Cardiff, The Parc Hotel

1st & 2nd December - Manchester, Museum of Science and Industry

8th & 9th December – London, Lord’s Cricket Ground

Join him for whisky tasting sessions and more on Saturday 2nd June 2012.

For full details and to buy tickets visit the website.

Olly brings back his solo show Cooking with Wine to the BBC Good Food Show Summer at the Birmingham NEC this June.

Olly cooks 3 dishes live on stage and shows how wine can be used as an ingredient or can match to a dish.  His show is more than just cooking……and even features a very special (digital) guest appearance from his hero Roger Moore.  Not to be missed!

Cooking With Wine in the Supertheatre.  Session times:

Saturday 16th June 1.30pm

Sunday 17th June 3.15pm

BBC Good Food Show runs from 13th-17th June.

Olly will also be hosting the Supertheatre throughout the show – click here for more details.

Visit the BBC Good Food Show Summer website to buy tickets

Olly will be hosting the Supertheatre at BBC Good Food Show Summer at the Birmingham NEC, 13-17th June 2012.

He will be cooking up a storm with his own show Cooking With Wine, where he cooks live on stage with wine as an ingredient as well as matched to the dishes.  Expect a special digital guest appearance from his hero….

He will also be hosting the Michelin Star Challenge where world class chefs go head to head in a spectacular cook off as well as Olly Smith Grills…. sessions with Michael Caines and Glynn Purnell,

Session times:

Cooking with Wine -

Saturday 16th June 1.30pm

Sunday 17th June 3.15pm

Olly Smith’s Michelin Star Challenge –

Wednesday 13th June 2.15pm with Tom Kitchen and Atul Kocchar

Thursday 14th June 2pm with Glynn Purnell and Theo Randall

Olly Smith Grills…. –

Friday 15th June 3.15pm Michael Caines

Saturday 16th June 2.45pm Glynn Purnell

For more information and to buy tickets for the show, click here.

Olly’s first book ‘Eat & Drink: Good Food That’s Great to Drink With’ is his personal journey into the world of flavour.

Olly loves finding recipes to match the wild cauldron of flavours bursting to get out of his bulging drinks cabinet.  Bubbling with excitement for all things flavoursome, Eat & Drink is a mouth-watering celebration of eating and drinking from a taste-sensation junkie.

Chapter by chapter, Olly takes you on a stimulating tour of tastes from citrus to sweet, via salty, spicy, meaty and more. Exploring the ways food and drink can be combined to create unforgettable taste-bud-tantalising experiences, Eat and Drink is filled with Olly’s own favourite recipes, drinks suggestions, and anecdotes and recollections from home and away.

With his infectious enthusiasm, Olly shares recipes for delicious dishes including Granny Smokey’s Blackberry and Apple, his own Cointreau Prawns and the world’s best ceviche recipe, which he smuggled back from Chile. Eat and Drink is an exhilarating adventure into the joy of taste.

Strap in and prepare for launch!

To buy your copy click here.

Olly is a senior judge at the International Wine Challenge 2012.

Boasting more than 10,000 entries, the IWC has cemented its place as the best and most influential blind tasting in the world.

At the DWWA, wines are tasted blind within their region of origin and price bracket to ensure that an expression of terroir is taken into account, and wines are compared like for like. Each wine is individually assessed and discussed by a dedicated panel before a verdict is recorded.

This year Olly will be part of the team tasting wines from Greece.

Congratulations to all the other winners.