Monthly Archives: May 2024

Navigating the Gap: The Journey Between Poverty and Plenty

Stuart Walton enjoys an authoritative, readable, compellingly ethical history of British food. By Stuart Walton Stuart Walton reviews Stuffed: A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain, by Pen Vogler. One of the most productive developments in recent food writing has been the amalgamation of contemporary food politics and its concerns with the… Read More »

Constellation Brands Acquires Santa Barbara’s Sea Smoke Producer

The deal encompasses 445ha of land in Sta Rita Hills, in which 104ha are presently occupied by vine. Moreover, it also includes a winery, inventory and the Sea Smoke brand. Constellation is known for brands like Robert Mondavi and Kim Crawford, and it’s been heightening its concentration on high-grade wines lately. The enterprise, based in… Read More »

Exploring the Evolution of Jim Barry Riesling Over Five Decades

A vintage piece featuring multiple vintages of the Barry family’s finest Clare Valley Rieslings. By Ken Gargett To complement Ken Gargett’s magisterial two-part survey of Australian Riesling published on worldoffinewine.com this week, we have returned to an article first published in WFW68 in June 2020, in which Sarah Ahmed reported from the Barry family’s 60th-anniversary… Read More »

Devastating Floods Sweeps Through Rio Grande do Sul Wine Region

The natural disaster has wrought destruction on homes, roads, and bridges, with the muddy brown water reaching as high as rooftops in some places. Over 250 individuals have been injured and at least 111 are missing according to the state’s civil defense unit, indicating that the death count may increase. ‘This level of rainfall in… Read More »

The 2023 Bordeaux Market Analysis: A Dramatic 30% Drop in Mouton Price

Château Mouton Rothschild 2023, deemed a possible 100-point wine by Georgie Hindle at Decanter’s, has followed the course of annual price reductions in the Bordeaux en primeur campaign, having been offered at €324 per bottle ex-négociant on Monday, May 6. This equates to a 37.2% reduction on the kick-off price for Mouton 2022 from the… Read More »

Exploring the Unquestionable Superiority of Certain Wines

My main role in wine communication isn’t as a critic who scores every wine in a region, but rather sharing my experiences and insights on them. Although Robert Parker wasn’t the first wine critic, he undoubtedly played a significant role in the rise of wine criticism. Initially, he was able to cover most of the… Read More »

Discovering the Underappreciated Gem: Australian Riesling

The first chapter of Ken Gargett’s comprehensive two-part analysis of the distinguished white grape variety’s past, present, and future in Australia. By Ken Gargett Although Riesling may still be striving for mainstream acceptance, it has demonstrated its potential to produce exceptional wines in Australia, as Ken Gargett explains, condensing the history and contemporary trends of… Read More »