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 »
“`html Paul White delves into the history of the world’s oldest continually produced wine, and travels to Cyprus to taste some exciting contemporary examples of the style. By Paul White Cyprus’s sweet Commandaria is reckoned to be the world’s oldest continually produced wine and probably its most ancient surviving style. Its story predates ancient Greece… Read More »
Hermitage Cognac said its new ‘Siècle d’Or’ vintage expression spent 100 years ageing in Limousin oak barrels in the heart of Cognac‘s ‘Grande Champagne’ region. The house said it believed its new offering to be the oldest barrel-aged Cognac so far released. Company founder David Baker described it as a ‘masterpiece of smoothness and quality’.… Read More »
I tasted these wines over dinner with Julien Bréchet of Domaine des Bosquets. He took over the family domaine in 2006 and has made great strides in terms of pushing quality and refinement. He farms 26 hectares in the appellation, covering the lieu dits of Jasio, La Colline, Le Plateau, les Bosquets, Roche, Les Routes,… Read More »