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Does terroir exist?
Before I get myself into trouble with the title of this column, let me say straightaway that I absolutely believe in terroir based on my experience of tasting wine, but I have never been convinced by...
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Wine in history: Buchette del vino
Stuart Walton celebrates Florence’s buchette del vino, the tiny “wine windows” that have helped supply the city’s wine drinkers since the 1500s. First-time visitors to Florence who have not yet...
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At the table: Peposo
Peposo is everything one expects of traditional Tuscan cooking: simple, rustic, nourishing, flavorsome, and frugal in its ingredients. It takes time to cook—you really can’t hurry it and it’s best...
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Have a breather
Tom Stevenson asks if we should let sparkling wines breathe. The benefit of allowing a wine to breathe is inevitably discussed in the context of a still wine and almost always it will be a red...
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The wines of Gunter Künstler and the value of interesting friends
Terry Theise dips into the vast range of Weingut Künstler in Hochheim, and comes away impressed anew by Gunter Künstler’s ability to express the many different terroirs of the Rheingau region....
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Pitch perfect centenarian splendor: 1924 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny
Nick Ryan is enchanted by the astonishingly viscous marvel that is 1924 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny. The University of Queensland’s School of Mathematics and Physics is home to the world’s...
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Notes on a Cellar Book: Why such a hit?
George Saintsbury’s Notes on a Cellar-Book has been unaccountably in print ever since it was published in 1920, nurtured by Macmillans, who must have made a pile out of the old prof over the years. I...
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Burgundy’s grand vineyard merry-go-round
There is nothing new about vineyards changing hands in Burgundy. Were it so, much of Burgundy would still belong to the Church. Nor does the acquisition of choice vineyards by outside investors—luxury...
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Down to earth: A refreshingly candid, cautionary vintner’s tale
Raymond Blake reviews Climbing the Vines in Burgundy: How an American Came to Own a Legendary Vineyard in France by Alex Gambal. Gambal looks like he’s suffering from a week’s jet lag. A sense of...
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Past lives
Celine Song’s wonderful movie prompts Harry Eyres to reflect on a lifetime of Burgundy. The beautiful, exquisitely shot and acted, heartbreakingly poignant film Past Lives, directed by the...
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2012 Billecart-Salmon Louis Salmon Blanc de Blancs and Elisabeth Salmon Rosé
We do not put our ancestors’ names lightly on a bottle,” said Mathieu Roland-Billecart of Champagne Billecart-Salmon. The seventh generation of his family to run the Mareuil-sur-Aÿ-based Champagne...
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2021 Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista: La Generosità
Robin Lee appraises the latest vintage from Ornellaia, and its special-edition label by Italian multidisciplinary artist, Marinella Senatore. A not uncommon phenomenon is when two people, most often...
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2015 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Rosé: Optimism through color
Simon Field MW is greatly impressed by Veuve Clicquot chef de caves Didier Mariotti and the latest vintage of La Grande Dame Rosé. Madame Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin has been variously described...
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2023 Bordeaux Field notes: Mixed blessings
Two questions underpin every en primeur campaign: What is the quality of the wine, and how is the campaign going? One of the increasingly obvious anomalies, and one which should at the very least be a...
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A wine-writing achievement of monumental importance
Nick Ryan reviews The Australian Ark: The Story of Australian Wine by Andrew Caillard MW. Before anything else, a disclaimer: The impartiality a reviewer requires is beyond me here. The first time I...
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The Judgment of London: Honors and pleasures shared
Anne Krebiehl MW reports from the Judgment of London, a blind comparative tasting inspired by Steven Spurrier’s 1976 event but one that had a reassuringly closer result. When the invitation came to be...
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2020 Château Angélus Grand Vin Blanc Vin de Pays de l’Atlantique
Raymond Blake savors the first release of Château Angélus Grand Vin Blanc, the Bordeaux estate’s white micro-cuvée. As expected, the centerpiece and standout wine of a Château Angélus dinner I...
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2023 Bordeaux: Reflections on an en primeur twilight
Chloe Ashton considers whether the Bordeaux en primeur system has fallen so far out of favor that it is perhaps not much longer for this world. This is not another Bordeaux en primeur article. By the...
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2023 Bordeaux: Enigma decoded
The region may be battling challenges on numerous fronts, but the 2023 Bordeaux vintage, while seldom scaling the heights of its immediate predecessor, nonetheless offers many very elegant, refined...
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2023 Bordeaux tasting notes: Left Bank Part I
2023 Bordeaux: Enigma decoded ST-ESTÈPHE Château Le Boscq Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel (47% CS, 46% M, 6% PV, 1% CF) SF | Deeply pigmented, near opaque at the core. Then a nose of cassis, spearmint,...
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