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Bordeaux 2024: St-Estèphe and St-Julien recommended wines
Despite the lower rainfall in St-Estèphe during the growing season compared with its neighboring communes, the wines from this appellation show much less consistency than the wines from Pauillac. This...
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Bordeaux 2024: Margaux recommended wines
The wines from Margaux are heterogeneous, like those from many appellations in this vintage. The best wines show poise and precision, with attractive, floral Margaux aromatics and wonderful purity....
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Bordeaux 2024: Pessac-Léognan and dry white recommended wines
PESSAC-LÉOGNAN The total precipitation during the critical harvest month of September 2024 in Bordeaux broke all records, and the commune that was hardest hit was Pessac-Léognan. While St-Estèphe and...
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Bordeaux 2024: Right Bank—Pomerol and St-Emilion recommended wines
The standout performers on the Right Bank in 2024 shared a common thread—their ability to master the timing. In the vineyard, Frédéric Faye at Figeac said, timing the treatments for mildew containment...
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Clos Rougeard: The lion in spring
With its wines made from Cabernet Franc in Saumur-Champigny and from Chenin Blanc in Anjou, Clos Rougeard represents “all that is good about the Loire,” says Simon Field MW. It was from Chinon rather...
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Geosensory tasting: The rebirth of an ancient art
Coined in the 1990s by Jacky Rigaux, the term “geosensory tasting” refers to a method practiced in Burgundy some nine centuries ago by the so-called gourmets. Without relying on the senses of sight or...
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Clos-ed minds
While a new manifesto by the Slow Wine Coalition has much to commend it, Nick Ryan finds a potentially fatal flaw. Lock a dozen people in a room and give each of them a tin of paint and a brush. Some...
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Domaine Pierre Vincent: Hitting the ground running
After a successful stint at Domaine Leflaive, during which he was instrumental in restoring its reputation at the top of the Burgundy pecking order, Pierre Vincent is now pursuing his ambition to make...
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The Maldives hotelier taking resort teams on global expeditions
To truly master anything, one must first understand the source, the origin, the starting point—where does it all begin? Perhaps the most obvious subject matter to discuss this around is the world of...
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From the vaults: Tavel, the popes’ rosé
Since the 14th century, Tavel has been an island of pink in a sea of red. But the Southern Rhône village’s style has always been about more than mere refreshment, and as Jacqueline Friedrich explained...
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Primeurturity in Bordeaux: Should it reconsider en primeur and blending?
Varieties may come, and varieties may go, but blending remains the key to Bordeaux. The wines of the Médoc in 1855 had a completely different composition from those of today, but the key to...
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Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at Hélène Darroze
A dinner at London’s The Connaught Hotel featuring an array of mature vintages from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti paired with specially created dishes by chef Hélène Darroze turned out to be the most...
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André Drappier (1926–2025): True to his roots
André Drappier, the creator of Champagne Drappier in the Côte des Bar, died on March 5, 2025 in his 99th year. I visited shortly afterwards to interview André’s and his wife Micheline’s only son...
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Kumeu River 80th Anniversary: 2002–2020 Chardonnay
To mark the 80th anniversary of Kumeu River estate, Paul Brajkovich was in London in Spetember 2024 to host a tasting of their estate and single-vineyard Chardonnays. The Brajkovich family are...
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Could Montrachet be produced with gene-edited Chardonnay?
Aki Kaji explores the rapid advances made in the field of genetic engineering and asks when—and why—we might get to see gene-edited Chardonnay and other varieties in some of the world’s most...
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At the table: Polvo à lagareiro
No one seems to doubt that polvo à lagareiro, octopus with potatoes and olive oil, is a traditional dish, a part of Portugal’s culinary heritage that is considered special enough to be served at...
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A century of Mercurey: The noble trade of immediate appeal
To mark the centenary of the village’s ascent to AOC status in May, 1923, growers in Mercurey hosted a year of celebratory events. Raymond Blake looks back on some of the highlights of the festivities...
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Challenging the WHO “no safe level” dogma
Dr Erik Skovenborg takes a skeptical look at the science behind the World Health Organization’s warning that there is “no safe level” of alcohol consumption. A national survey in France in 1954 showed...
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1924–1950 Vintage Ports from Raby Castle
Richard Mayson relishes the opportunity to visit Raby Castle in County Durham to taste exceptional, fully mature Ports, of which substantial quantities will be sold at Christie’s. When Michael...
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Enough Port to float a Cunard liner: Charles Dickens and wine
It was probably the scarcely bearable torment of Charles Dickens’ second American reading tour in 1867-8 that did most to hasten his untimely end at 58, two years later. The itinerary would have...
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