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Marcelo Pino is a new judge at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA). DWWA Judge, Marcelo PinoMarcelo Pino As a Chilean sommelier, Marcelo has been dedicated to wine and gastronomy for many years. Twice chosen as the best sommelier in Chile (2011 to 2017), second best in America in 2015, and number twenty-four in the world in 2016. He …

Vertical tastings are often a self-indulgent exercise through which producers try to assert the superiority, longevity and consistent quality of their wines. However, sometimes an invitation to taste all produced vintages of a given label comes with the enticing challenging of revisiting its evolution, consider the missteps and give feedback on the direction and goals of the current winemaking team. …

Larry Cherubino and Peter Richards MW It’s the end of a long day. The sun is setting over the ocean in a smug riot of pastels. I’ve been bombarding Larry Cherubino with wine questions all day, so now opt for a different approach. How would he describe his driving over the hundreds of kilometres we’ve travelled today from the Great …

Wine producers and trade members have had to withstand a storm of pressure in recent years, including climate change challenges, rising production costs, regulatory headaches and falling consumption linked to lifestyle changes. And yet, plenty of consumers continue to enjoy wines of all styles. Market research group Mintel estimated the UK wine market alone was worth nearly £15bn in sales …

Highland Park, one of Scotland’s oldest whisky distilleries, now in its 227th year of production, has released its latest landmark bottling, a 56-year-old single malt. The whisky, with a distillation date going all the way back to 1968, was part of a parcel of ten casks, which master whisky maker, Gordon Motion, identified as having both ‘exceptional complexity and vibrancy’, …

Nero d’Avola grapes at Bassham Wines, Riverland, Australia How times change. On my first visit to Australia in 2002, the wine scene was dramatically different from 2025. Yes: the energy, dynamism and world-class wines were there, but the drivers of the industry were not the same as they are today. ‘In 2002, Australian viticulture was characterised by scale, innovation 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. Gauging the gravity shift at GravnerIt’s not clear what will change, but something will. …

André Soltner, the dedicated French chef behind Lutèce who helped turn New York City into a world-class dining destination, died on Jan. 18. He was 92. From 1961 to 1994, Soltner led the kitchen at his French bistro on Manhattan’s East Side at 50th Street, teaching American diners what classic French techniques could do when coupled with fresh, first-class ingredients. …

When it comes to a distinguished wine like Brunello di Montalcino, value is a relative concept. The challenge in 2020 is finding less expensive examples that deliver the structure and complexity the denomination implies. As a reminder, value doesn’t simply mean the cheapest price. In this vintage, shelling out just a little bit more might result in a substantial increase …

Mourinho famously described himself as ‘The Special One’ after he was appointed Chelsea manager in 2004. The Portuguese coach had just led Porto to the Champions League title, and he vowed to bring success to his new club. Mourinho lived up to his self-styled nickname, as the Blues won back-to-back Premier League titles. The moniker stuck, so it seemed an …

Wines from Renegade urban winery in London. Renegade founder Warwick Smith said he has been speaking to prospective investors and that some capital had already been committed, as part of a fresh funding drive to take the London urban winery ‘to the next level’.  Renegade, established more than eight years ago, built a new winery in 2021 after a previous …

Juan Padilla among his tinajas. Modern winemaking, much like life at large, seems to exist at a crossroads. As technological innovation pushes forward, it also seeks the wisdom rooted in ancient tradition, creating a paradox where ‘progress’ often depends on looking to the past. In recent years, the revival of ancestral clay vessels – amphorae, qvevri, talhas, and tinajas – …

In the domestic market, sales declined by 7.2% to 118.2 million bottles. That represents the lowest sales rate since 1985. Exports fared even worse, as they decreased by 10.8% to 153.2 million bottles. Demand for Champagne has not been this weak since 2002, when the world was reeling from the dot-com bubble crash and the 9/11 attacks. Maxime Toubart, president …

Looking west from the town of Montalcino. ‘Riserva is the first wine I forfeit to make a better Brunello,’ declares Tommaso Cortonesi (Cortonesi). In 2019, he and his colleagues didn’t need to make such sacrifices. ‘2019 is unequivocally a Riserva year’. Given the sheer number of bottlings previewed – upwards of 100 – 2019 is unequivocally a Riserva year. Even …

A first look at the 2020 Brunello reveals graciously structured, seductive and immediately harmonious wines. The summer was hot and dry with nights cooling in September. Significant rainfall towards the end of the month divided producers in later ripening pockets in terms of who harvested before and who picked after. A comprehensive overview of the vintage highlights key weather episodes …

Looking towards Castello Romitorio. Brunello di Montalcino 2020 vintage rating: 4/5 A hot and dry summer, with nights cooling in September and rain towards the end of the month. Graciously structured, seductive and immediately harmonious wines promise immense pleasure now and over the mid-term. The global pandemic seems like a ghost of the distant past, yet as I tasted through …

Katherine Cole profile picture credit: She Saw Things This is absurd. A reasonable person should only own one style of wine glass. I don’t need a towering Pinot Noir, a cavernous Cabernet Sauvignon, a bulbous Chardonnay and an abstemious Riesling glass. And yet, here they all are, vying for shelf space. And now, there are new ‘must-have’ shapes on the …

As 2025 begins, I’ve received some really interesting press releases. The following are my 2025 best launches, so far. Why Doesn’t The W.H.O. Go After Pharmaceutical Side Effects? Why doesn’t the W.H.O. go after pharmaceuticals’ side effects or even poisonous plants? It vehemently as it goes after wine, beer, or hard liquor, yet pharmaceutical products […] The post Best Press …

The biodynamically farmed vineyards of Jo Landron. The river Loire drains into the Atlantic ocean on France’s western coast just south of Brittany. Stretching between the coast and roughly 120km inland are the vineyards of the Nantais. This area comprises four Muscadet appellations (Muscadet, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu), along with the …

Hello and welcome to this week’s 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 a couple of nice wines from the Margaret River, a once-obscure …