Already the world’s largest wine competition, Decanter World Wine Awards continues to grow annually – the last edition seeing a record 18,250 wines judged from 57 countries. ‘It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that if the wine world does have a sort of unique benchmark, it might well be DWWA,’ said Co-Chair… Read More »
From the archive, a vintage review of Oswyn Murray’s The Symposion: Drinking Greek Style: Essays on Greek Pleasure 1983–2017. By Stuart Walton As part of a season of Hellenic-themed pieces, we have gone back to the archives for a book review first published in WFW63 in March 2019, in which Stuart Walton reveled in a magnificent compendium of scholarship on the… Read More »
Had a few glasses of this the other evening at a function, and once again came away impressed. Champagne Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV France (magnum) This has a significant proportion of reserve wines in the blend. The current release is based on the 2016 vintage with 46% reserve wines selected from more than 400 lots.… Read More »
Website: https://phelanfarm.com/ Californian winemaker and former sommelier Rajat Parr is renowned for Sandhi and Domaine de la Côte wines, which he produces with Sashi Moorman. However, he has embarked on two new ventures. One of them is Phelan Farm, a newly discovered passion of his. Phelan Farm is a small 4.7-hectare (11.5 acres) vineyard located… Read More »
The elegance, natural balance, and purity of fruit found in New Zealand’s Pinot Noir are the reasons behind the sudden popularity of this notoriously unpredictable grape variety in the south. Albeit the first commercial bottlings only began in 1987, today New Zealand is worldwide recognized for the quality of Pinot it produces. Noted stylistic differences… Read More »
Sarah Kemp is enchanted by Xinomavro and other fine wines made by an outstanding producer in the mountains of northwest Greece. By Sarah Kemp In an article first published in WFW64 in June, 2019, Sarah Kemp travels to the remote mountains of the Amyndeon appellation in the Florina region of northwest Greece to meet Angelos… Read More »
A guide to the ancient grape variety that has set the standard for fine Greek white wine. By Panos Kakaviatos Both on and (increasingly) off its original island home of Santorini, Assyrtiko merits attention as a hardy grape variety capable of producing white wines as exciting as top Burgundy and Riesling, says Panos Kakaviatos. A… Read More »
Superstar chef Tomos Parry opened the restaurant last summer after taking over a former Byron Burger site on Beak Street. Parry is renowned for applying Basque cooking techniques to high-quality British produce, with a particular penchant for flame cooking. The restaurant, Brat, was opened by him in a former Shoreditch strip club back in 2018,… Read More »
Chianti Classico has been recently separated into 11 UGAs (Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive, awkwardly translated into Additional Geographical Units). From the 2022 harvest, this permits winemakers to denote where the grapes originated within this broad appellation. It’s not a rigorous terroir-based classification (which would be excessively fine-grained to be practical), but it does give consumers a… Read More »
A “smoldering” 100 percent Pinot Meunier. By Anne Krebiehl MW A pure Pinot Meunier from a special site in Damery is Telmont’s successful first foray into single-plot winemaking, says Anne Krebiehl MW. It all started in 2011, with the arrival of seven large foudres in Champagne Telmont’s cellars in Damery. Each of them holds 5,000… Read More »