“One of the few irksome things about fine wine culture–apart from its pretence, and its propensity for snobbery–is the sheer cost of getting through the front door,” writes Dan Keeling in Noble Rot’s action-packed Issue 38. “Noble Rot 38’s tongue-in-cheek cover feature, is a coup for readers looking for world-class wines with a limited budget. Having persuaded a crew of leading sommeliers, chefs, restaurateurs and wine writers to reveal their single favourite most undervalued bottle, it’s an eminently usable centrepiece to this issue’s theme of ‘simple pleasures’, featuring characterful cuvées from places like Rueda, Muscadet and south-west France.” Elsewhere in Noble Rot 38’s celebration of everyday miracles… …The Rotters raise a glass to the art of the leisurely lunch in ‘Wine, Dine, Recline, Repeat’. Featuring Fergus and Margot Henderson, Gary Lineker, Philippa Perry and a cast of other Rotters, it’s “the next best thing to being able to go AWOL for a day of hedonistic pleasures”. Also in this issue:...Mark Andrew profiles the Basque Country’s Txakoli and meets the growers reinvigorating Chianti Classico and Rioja, Alice Feiring celebrates house wine, Slutty Cheff reveals her homely delights, and The Yellow Bittern’s Hugh Corcoran hails a plate of homegrown green beans dressed in butter as the perfect lunch....We hear about Le Bernardin NYC’s Eric Ripert’s Greatest Meal, Keira Knightley tells us about her antidote to Fashion Week and we feature stories about Bangkok’s burgeoning wine scene and German Chardonnay, in addition to offering a gastronomic guide to the Basque Country, among much more. ...Felicity Cloake lauds salt as the most important element in good cooking, Simon Hopkinson revels in the perfection of eggs, and Stephen Harris asks why many diners consider drinking anything other than filtered tap water to be a pretentious waste of time.