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Johnson Reserve Ascension is a single malt whisky that has been through a sequence of 33 casks during the painstaking maturation process. The casks included mezcal, Port, Madeira, Marsala, Armagnac and Pedro Ximénez barrels, each of which contributed to the diverse flavour profile. An adjudicator from the Guinness World Records confirmed that Johnson Reserve Ascension contains the greatest variety of …

Around 100 members of a union representing French grape growers began their blockade of the A9 motorway at noon on Tuesday. They parked their tractors across a busy toll booth in Boulou, which is close to the Spanish border, creating huge traffic jams in both directions. The growers seized a lorry carrying Spanish white wines destined for the Côte d’Or …

DWWA Winners’ Table. Credit: Chloe Hashemi The much-anticipated Decanter Fine Wine Encounter (DFWE) returned to London for its 27th edition. Held in the heart of Marylebone at the luxurious Landmark hotel, the must-attend event welcomed over 1,200 wine lovers. From insightful masterclasses to the curated Grand Tasting and the exclusive Cellar Collection, guests could enjoy wines from over 120 producers …

A sweeping view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, San Francisco Bay, and the city skyline. Americans have been celebrating Thanksgiving for around four centuries, and for as long as anyone can remember, it has been a holiday centered around a turkey dinner, leaving little room for culinary experimentation. In recent years, however, that seems to have changed, with …

Statistically, very old vineyards occupy a marginal place in the big picture of the wine world. Are those gnarled trunks and spindly canes uneconomical romance or the source of great wine and precious biodiversity? To try to unpack some of the complicated issues prompted by the question, I spoke to three people in Friuli-Venezia Giulia who work with old vines, …

The Tenuta Frecciarossa estate, southeast of Casteggio, where self-sufficiency is the goal. It’s a wine lover’s dream. Oltrepò Pavese, in southern Lombardy, has a fascinating hilly landscape, a mosaic of vineyards contoured by woodland, a sprinkling of castles and stone villages, and an intriguing variety of wineries making diverse wines. Pretty much undiscovered by tourism, it’s home to some of …

Beaujolais Nouveau Day Although Cru Beaujolais has been having its moment in the sun for a few years now, its younger, lighter-bodied ‘nouveau’ cousin is coming back into its own. How Beaujolais Nouveau Day started The tradition of Beaujolais Nouveau dates back to the 1800s. Winemakers would bottle their just-fermented wine, produced from grapes harvested just a few months prior, …

The legacy and the road ahead Saskia began the masterclass by taking the audience back over 150 years, to when the Rothschild family first started making wine at Château Lafite, the Pauillac first growth, in 1868. ‘These are vineyards nurtured by a family that has been living there forever. It’s a home for me and my father (Baron Eric de …

The legacy and the road ahead Saskia began the masterclass by taking the audience back over 150 years, to when the Rothschild family first started making wine at Château Lafite, the Pauillac first growth, in 1868. ‘These are vineyards nurtured by a family that has been living there forever. It’s a home for me and my father (Baron Eric de …

Mount Etna viewed from the estate of Ciro Biondi in Trecastagni. ‘The future of wine at world level is Italy,’ declared Luigi Moio, president of the OIV (International Wine Organisation), professor of oenology at the University of Naples, and owner of the Quintodecimo winery in Campania, during a conference on Etna in September. Moio emphasised the importance of late ripening …

New release: Cristal 2016 ‘2016 reminds me of 2002,’ says Louis Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, comparing the latest release to the ‘packed structure and concentration’ that characterised one of Champagne’s most lauded vintages of the last three decades. In fact, 2016 was a rather more difficult growing season, with mildew and frost leading to low yields. But the end …

Bodegas Riojanas Monte Real Gran Reserva Rioja wine Imagine it: it’s dawn, there’s dew underfoot, and the rising sun gleams through the mist. As far as the eye can see, there’s Tempranillo on the vine – awaiting harvest. This is Cenicero, in the very heart of Rioja Alta, and on mornings like this, it feels as though time holds its …

President-elect Donald Trump, Kid Rock and Elon Musk. Proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants could have a major impact on vineyards in particular, where vineyard owners, especially on the US West Coast, rely heavily on undocumented farm labour for their harvests. Tariffs could also raise prices on foreign wines, theoretically making US-made wines more competitive domestically. Uncertainty abounds, but many …

The origins of Zinfandel trace back to Croatia where it’s known as Tribidrag or Crljenak Kaštelanski. In the US, the variety is known as Zinfandel, playing a key role in the establishment of California’s wine industry, and in Italy it’s recognised as Primitivo where the region of Puglia is home. Though elegant, fruity and fresh styles exist, Zinfandel tends to include …

Six wine styles to try with beef: Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Malbec Nebbiolo (Barolo) Pinot Noir Chardonnay (oaked) Search Decanter wine reviews to find the perfect bottle Choosing a wine to drink with roast beef It’s hard to beat a delicious bottle of red wine with roast beef or hearty beef stew on a wintry afternoon, whether it’s Christmas Day or …

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. Yiannis Boutaris, Vintner, Animal Defender and Greek Mayor, Dies at 82RIP to a Greek …

The Thanksgiving table includes a myriad of dishes and flavours, starting with appetisers to graze on as guests arrive. The buffet lineup of traditional dishes typically includes roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, casseroles and cranberry relish. Plates are filled with these favourites, and in one bite, you might get turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy. So, how do you pair wines …

Joe and Pat Campbell founded Elk Cove in 1974, establishing the first vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The sub-appellation of Yamhill-Carlton is positioned due west of the much smaller Ribbon Ridge, and rather more famous Dundee Hills AVA. Just like the Dundee Hills, which was carved out of the Oregon wilderness by David Letts in 1965, Yamhill-Carlton is another pioneering …

It’s a sweet coincidence that today I’ve been going back and forth with Isabel Ramos, from my first trip in Évora and the Alentejo. Luís Ribeiro is another Portuguese friend, and we were also recently speaking. Arranging a meeting, while there, would have been icing on the cake, but it became complicated. The schedule I […] The post Patron Saint …

Alain Suguenot, Jean Reno, Eva Longoria, Zabou Breitman, Dominic West and Aurélie Vandevoorde at the Hospices de Beaune 2024 auction. While a far cry from the record set in 2022 of €29,788,500, the average price per barrel sold – €31,540 – represented a small increase from last year’s average, at €30,839 per barrel, even if bids were lower per barrel …