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The origins of Pago de Tharsys date back to 1808, when its original cellar was excavated into the limestone bedrock. In 1991, when Ana Suria and Vicente García rebuilt the property, the modern history of Tharsys began: an exciting revival that ushered the estate to the 21st as one of the region’s leading producers. Today, Pago de Tharsys has a …

Decanter Learning App Updates and some new additions have been made to the Decanter Know Your Wine learning app, which is available for download on both iOS (iPhone) and Android operating systems. Launched in 2018 in partnership with learning specialist Feed Your Elephant, the Know Your Wine app has received strong reviews and is intended to be a helpful additional …

There’s nothing quite as celebratory as a bottle of sparkling wine. And nothing more evocative of a celebration of love than a bottle of sparkling rosé. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we guide you through a selection of pink bubbles that will make an elegant statement and also work as perfect gifts. How is rosé sparkling wine made? …

Back vintages of Deutz’s prestige cuvées sleeping peacefully in the ‘berceaux’, deep in the house’s chalk cellars. Named the Deutz Berceaux Vinothèque, literally the ‘cradles of wine’, the collection is made up of 17,000 bottles, born and aged at the Deutz house in Aÿ, Champagne. Just under 7,000 of these bottles are now being released to the market. Sotheby’s fine …

I was with some wine students in Chablis, visiting the affable Guillaume Michel of Domaine Louis Michel. The 2018 vintage in Chablis was prolific, though Guillaume’s team pruned the vines as hard as normal. Guillaume has a little more than a half-hectare of the smallest of the grands crus, Grenouilles (8.74ha in production in 2018, most of which is controlled …

For the third year in a row, Ornellaia has launched the new vintage of its flagship SuperTuscan via international livestream, broadcast from the winery in Bolgheri. During the livestream, estate director, Axel Heinz described the 2020 as ‘a classic Ornellaia’. He also noted that, ‘for once, it was our only priority because we had nothing else to do,’ referring to …

Having been closed for several months, chef Michael Mina’s Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence–winning Stripsteak in Las Vegas reopened Dec. 30 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, with a revamped menu and a new design. “We opened Stripsteak 17 years ago. In fact, it was my very first steakhouse!” Mina, the founder and executive chairman of his …

Vineyards in Valpolicella. (Source: Wikimedia) In Wine Spectator, Robert Camuto looks at the young members of Valpolicella’s wine industry who are working together to craft the region’s future. In Wine-Searcher, James Lawrence delves into the “quiet revolution” going on in Rioja – a focus on white wines. In Wine Enthusiast, Sara Ventiera explores the Cucamonga Valley, a forgotten wine area …

Eskom power lines in the Cape Winelands region. Daily power cuts are wreaking havoc on South African wine producers as they struggle to irrigate and press grapes during the harvest. Electricity from state-run power company Eskom has gone down every day so far this year, and the rolling blackouts have left some producers on the brink. Christo Conradie, manager of …

While Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand’s calling card, it’s clear that New Zealand produces a diverse range of grape varieties and wine styles. In fact, on the North Island its Chardonnay which has reached full potential for white varieties with some outstanding examples being produced from Auckland to Martinborough. At the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards, ‘there were high expectations …

Saint Valentine is patron saint of lovers, beekeepers and even epileptics. Imprisoned for helping and marrying persecuted Christians, the demise of this most misunderstood of bishops was bitter: he was, accounts suggest, stoned then decapitated outside Rome’s Flaminian Gate by the order of his once friend, Emperor Claudius. Minus the gore, Valentine’s Day itself was later romanticised by Geoffrey Chaucer …

The last few vintages in Italy have cast a light on the precarious situation some wine regions find themselves in; at the mercy of increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather conditions. But in 2020, it was the human situation which marked the vintage. Scroll down to see the tasting note and score for Sassicaia 2020 Several lockdowns throughout the year threatened …

Cabernet Franc. (WIkimedia) Cabernet Franc is in high demand in California, reports Jess Lander in the San Francisco Chronicle, so much so that the grapes cost more than Cabernet Sauvignon. “The high cost, farming challenges, and limited supply could ultimately prevent the grape from becoming more than the latest fad…Growers are also unlikely to pull out more popular, lucrative grapes …

France’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced several measures this week designed to help ease a ‘crisis in the wine sector’. An initial part of the the plan is to offer financial support to winemakers wishing to drain excess stocks via a new distillation scheme – an emergency measure that has been used at certain times in the past.  The Ministry …

Introduction What’s behind the power of podcasts and how they evoke the theater of the mind? How can you use a hook to improve your communication skills? Why do stories help us remember what we learn about wine? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m being interviewed by Lawrence Francis, host of the Interpreting Wine podcast. You can find …

There’s 4,948ha of Pinot Noir across Australia (source: Wine Australia 2022), which represents just 3.7% of the total area under vine. It might be the fourth most planted red variety, well behind Merlot with about 8,500ha, but truly small fry when you consider the country has five times as many plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a whopping eight times as …

See our score table for all of Michaela’s Brunelo di Montalcino 2018 tasting notes, plus 2017 Riserva & late-release wines Value and Brunello are not necessarily two concepts that go hand in hand, however the price band for the denomination is large and the overall quality is high. This opens the playing field for those ‘entry price’ Brunello to be …

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. Ed Woodward’s transfer to wine: ‘Manchester United feels a world away’Interview by Guy Woodward …

Emily Wines, MS. In Decanter, Clive Pursehouse catches up with Emily Wines, the new chair of the board of directors for the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas. “For me, taking on the role of chair of the board of directors of the Court of Master Sommeliers was really my decision to step in when we were in a crisis. It …

This month marks a year since we launched the Decanter Wine Club in partnership with Wine Access. So to celebrate this milestone, we’ve taken a fresh look at our approach to ensure we’re giving our members both the best wines and the best value subscription.  We started the Club with a choice of two offerings, but after feedback from our …