Newly released results for the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) 2024 include 117 coveted Platinum medals, representing just 0.64% of all wines tasted in this year’s competition. With more than 18,000 entries blind-tasted by nearly 250 world-leading experts in a rigorous, multi-stage judging process at DWWA 2024, consumers can be confident that Platinum award winners… Read More »
A solid day of judging wine followed by a tasting of Prince Edward County wines and dinner at the Two Sisters Winery in the Niagara River sub appellation. It was good to be back judging in the National Wine Awards of Canada competition, which is really well organized. 1800 wines this year, with a team… Read More »
Margaret Rand heads to newly fashionable wine-growing corner of Essex. By Margaret Rand Margaret Rand visits England’s most densely planted corner to discuss with John Atkinson MW the benefits of the area’s clay-rich soils and Burgundy-like climate, as well as the enormous strides made by the Danbury Ridge winery. “It was obvious 20 years ago… Read More »
It’s good to be back in Canada again. I arrived in Toronto late afternoon and drove through a thunderstorm to Big Head winery in Niagara, where I met up with fellow judges from the National Wine Awards of Canada for a welcome evening. It involved an informal tasting of the wines of five producers, followed… Read More »
Family-owned Antinori joined forces with Ste. Michelle to establish Col Solare as a 50-50 joint venture in Washington State in 1995. They have collaborated on the project for the past 29 years, but the parties have now announced that Antinori will take full ownership of the estate. Shawn Conway, CEO at Ste. Michelle, said: ‘It… Read More »
Last year was described as a ‘near perfect year’ in a recent report released by the Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) trade body, authored by Stephen Skelton MW. Data from the Food Standards Agency Wine Team indicated that total production hit 21.6 million bottles, nearly twice the volume of the previous year. Skelton predicted that… Read More »
Jim Clarke meets Mount Veeder winemaker John Giannini as the trailblazing Napa estate celebrates its 50th birthday. By Jim Clarke The drive to the Mount Veeder Winery is a journey into the past of Napa County. “It still has the feel of the valley from 30 or 40 years ago,” says newly-appointed winemaker John Giannini,… Read More »
Website: https://www.plaimont.com/en/ Plaimont have a thing about looking for disappeared (or nearly disappeared) grapes, and this tasting was a great chance to look at some of their latest research in the bottle. They are a large cooperative involving 600 winegrowing families, and specialize in Saint Mont (98% of the appellation is down to them), Madiran… Read More »
Researchers said their analysis suggests an ash urn dating back roughly 2,000 years contains the ‘oldest wine conserved in a liquid state’ that has so far been found. In 2019, archaeologists in the Spanish city of Carmona near Seville unearthed a Roman necropolis dating to the 1st century AD/CE. The site was unusual in that… Read More »
Simon Field MW attends the impressive, wood-themed Parisian launch of the latest edition of the house’s evergreen Vintage wines. By Simon Field MW The 2015 Bollinger Grande Année, pace chef de cave Denis Bunner, “expresses more of the soul of a Bollinger Vintage than any other year. It is more opulent, more powerful, and it… Read More »