Sophie Mclean

1 month ago | decanter.com | Sophie McLean |Sophie Mclean

While I was revising for my final WSET diploma exams, the only way I could commit to memory the 10 crus of Beaujolais was to come up with a mnemonic to prompt each one. In my case I turned this mnemonic into a princely romance, and to this day it still helps me identify the individual sites when needing to recall them.

2 months ago | arbuturian.com | Sophie Mclean

Snapshots of people of London. Like camera shutters flickering, catching a specific moment in time. The reality is that even with close observation you never really know what’s going on with a person until you step into their shoes. There are so many different London lives lived. Travellers, locals, those rushing around on a business dime. In Holborn you see an ample view of many of these contributors to the capital. Like a reality TV show but witnessed in real time.

Oct 7, 2024 | arbuturian.com | Sophie Mclean

Looking out onto a floodlit Duomo, Brunelleschi’s famous dome and arguably the most prominent symbol of Tuscany, streaks of magnificent, curvaceous, white and ochre hues frame a royal blue, warm, October sky. We are on the top floor of recently opened five star La Gemma, a new addition to the last word in luxury accommodation in the beautiful Italian city of Florence.

Sep 11, 2024 | arbuturian.com | Sophie Mclean

The problem with Italy is that it makes you feel things. For the last twenty years I have been travelling to this pretty Peninsula and I don’t think I can recall one trip that hasn’t moved me in some way. Even when I’ve sent friends here, unaccompanied or indeed chaperoned, there have often been tears. Not fat, ugly ones, as was recently the case for me, but happy ones too. Emotions here are charmingly, freely entertained.

Aug 16, 2024 | arbuturian.com | Sophie Mclean

Under Jacaranda trees, dropping pretty purple blossoms that create a sticky residue along the pavements that they mark, our eyes cast further up towards a trio of towering boat masts, grazing bright blue skies with their grandiose presence. Hugging the edges of Malaga’s marina, the Sea Cloud Spirit, a stunning 450 ft long windjammer whose bow is adorned with a golden-eagle, captures open-mouthed imaginations of passengers and onlookers alike.