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The story of Syrah in the southern hemisphere is believed to have started with the Scottish viticulturist and ‘father of Australian wine’ James Busby, who brought Syrah vines with him to the continent in 1832. Since then, Australia has become one of the world leaders in Syrah, and still has some of the original, ungrafted vines, planted in the mid-1800s. …

A friend of mine once described Chablis as both the best- and worst-value wine in the world. What he meant was the cheapest wines weren’t very good – but still fairly expensive in the grand scheme of things. But despite the quality of the greatest examples, the prices never (or very rarely) reached the heights of other top white Burgundies, …

You’re nearly there! Christmas is done and dusted and there’s just one more party left before the new year begins in earnest. New Year’s Eve is a time when friends and family get together to see in the next 12 months (and if it’s anything like the previous 12 months it will be filled with tax rises, political dogfighting and …

Social and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked, one being hard to justify and maintain without the other. The preservation of a territory and its natural resources is never fully possible without being considered in tandem with the needs and prospects of its communities. This is particularly true for regions where viticulture plays a central role in local economy and the …

Dosage is a small addition of sugar (in the form of cane, beet or grape sugar) and wine that forms the liqueur d’expédition added to a sparkling wine after disgorgement (removal of the yeast lees following second fermentation in the bottle). The vast majority of sparkling wines made in the traditional method (Champagne, Cava, Franciacorta, Trentodoc, English sparkling wine and …

Hello and welcome to my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I post them to my magazine on Flipboard, but for those of you who aren’t Flipboard-inclined, here’s everything I’ve strained out of the wine-related muck for the week. The stories that defined California wine in 2024Esther Mobley and crew run down …

When guests arrived at the 17th annual Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting on Dec. 15, they found an even bigger and better event than last year. The culmination of a four-day culinary extravaganza, the food and wine tasting, hosted at the Palm Beach County Convention Center and presented by Wine Spectator, offered a night of perfect food …

Kopke’s Quinta de São Luiz. Courtesy of Sogevinus. Starting one’s journey in the world of Port can be as daunting as it quickly becomes captivating. The variety of styles across producers and categories, as well as the identity of each vintage and estate – reflecting the nuances of the Douro river meanders and valley slopes – places it among the …

Rollin Soles got the ball rolling on sparkling wine at Oregon’s Argyle back in 1987. Who knows if – more than three decades ago – he could have foreseen the growth and quality of the wine style’s production in the Willamette Valley. There are now around 100 sparkling producers in the valley, based on self-reporting to the Willamette Valley Wineries …

Robert Mondavi at his wine growing estate at Napa Valley, USA 1991. Robert Mondavi coined the term Fumé Blanc in an attempt to boost the profile and differentiate a new style of Sauvignon Blanc he was crafting in Napa Valley. Sauvignon Blanc in the United States Plantings of Sauvignon Blanc date back to the early 1880s in California’s Livermore Valley. …

Vladimir Kojic has worked in the wine industry for 20 years. He started as a sommelier working for the Cunard cruise line and the Queen Mary 2, before moving to the Soneva Kiri hotel, on a remote island in Thailand. He passed the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Advanced-level qualification in 2012, and is studying for Master Sommelier. He is now …

As recently as five years ago it would have been hard to consistently find white Riojas on wine shelves. For many UK consumers, ‘white Rioja’ might in fact have sounded like an oxymoron, the region’s name being associated with the red iterations that have become pantry staples. Scroll down to see notes and scores for 18 best-value white Rioja wines …

The seemingly endless drive down the driveway opens up to the expansive Clos Apalta vineyard, from which the eponymous flagship wine gets its name. It sits adjacent to its architecturally significant gravity flow winery that has graced the pages of countless magazines. And just above the vineyard, dotted about the steep mountainside are 10 ultra-spacious casitas and villas – the …

Domaine Bousquet is Brilliant I love ANY wine coming from Domaine Bousquet, Mendoza Argentina. They’re based in Mendoza Argentina. Right away you think, “Malbec.” Well, okay, yes, they do make really delicious Malbec wines, however, they also make delicious everything else. And, I mean everything else, and they’re all organic. Domaine Bousquet has developed a […] The post Domaine Bousquet …

Gareth Birchley, Vincenzo Arnese and Arthur Coggill tasted 111 wines, with 10 Outstanding and 79 Highly Recommended. St-Emilion and Pomerol 2015: Panel tasting scores 111 wines tasted Exceptional 0 Outstanding 10 Highly recommended 79 Recommended 18 Commended 4 Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their 2015 vintage red Bordeaux grand vins from St-Emilion Grand Cru and …

Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently. This past week included one of the wine world’s most consistent values, the Soave Classico …

Created a mere two years ago, in 2022, the 50 Year Old Tawny category is the youngest of all legally approved styles of Port. It’s perhaps a surprise for many lovers of the storied fortified wine and it was a decision producers and shippers lobbied intensely for. The IVDP – Intituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto eventually conceded …

I like big botte and I cannot lie. There’s something different about standing in a winery filled with huge upright wooden wine casks as opposed to carefully manicured and artistically lighted rows of small barriques. Big barrels, like these from a cellar in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, have a presence, and they almost always suggest that when you taste the wine, you’re going …

Perhaps a daily glass of wine has been unfairly targeted. The panel of health experts tasked with studying alcohol consumption for the U.S. Dietary Guidelines has found with “moderate certainty” that people who drink alcohol in moderation have lower all-cause mortality than those who don’t drink. The report provides a strong argument that the current guidelines, which recommend men drink …

Véronique Sanders, Château Haut-Bailly, Bordeaux. Andrew Jefford’s October issue cover story, ‘The problem with Bordeaux, and how to fix it’, prompted a flurry of engaged and often passionate responses. Here we publish an edited selection, including the view from one of Bordeaux’s leading cru classé estates. Dear Andrew, In your article you pointed out that, for you, a great Bordeaux …