Casa Real 2021, from Chilean winery Santa Rita, is set to be released via the prestigious La Place de Bordeaux marketplace from September 2024. Expectations are high: it looks to be a phenomenal year for Chile and for this legendary Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alto Jahuel area of Maipo. Perfect conditions With the ideal combination of cool nights and warm, …
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Balkan winemaking at a glanceAlbania Albania is the Balkans’ rough but stunning diamond: a growing winemaking sector blending the modern with the charmingly rustic. Roughly 8,000ha of vineyards are planted here, producing almost 3 million litres of wine, 65% of it bottled. Most Albanian wine is consumed domestically; just 20% currently goes abroad. This is sure to rise, however, with …
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Vineyards of Côte-Rôtie. No matter how carefully you study a region, sometimes it’s luck, spontaneity or serendipity that leads you to the most exciting discoveries. I was reminded of this during my last visit to Côte-Rôtie. Les Epicurieux in Ampuis is one of my favourite local places to eat and drink, it’s a wine bar, restaurant and shop all rolled …
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Village of Neive in Langhe. Whether you eat at a white tablecloth restaurant or a humble trattoria or osteria, you will find numerous dazzling wine and food combinations in Barbaresco, typically at very reasonable prices. Offering among the finest dining experiences in all of Italy, the quality of the local ingredients is the equivalent of the zone’s most revered wines. …
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When cooking with fruit, let simplicity be your guide. Honest cooking begins with fresh, flavourful ingredients. It’s easy to improve almost any dish by tasting the ingredients first. In the case of fruit, this means tasting for ripeness and flavour. In the opinion of a dear friend who’s a sommelier, the best way to learn about wine is to drink …
Read More »The core of cherry, pomegranate and raspberry fruit is detailed with Tuscan scrub, iron, vanilla and tobacco notes as this intense red builds in power to the expansive conclusion, where its fruit, mineral and wild herb flavors converge. Shows fine balance and length; this just needs time to absorb the oak. Best from 2027 through 2043. 5,000 cases made, 2,000 …
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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. How Was Wine Blindsided by Recent Trends in Consumption and Demand? Pick a Reason.Jeff …
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Even in a theoretical future dramatically reshaped by climate change, it seems unlikely for Napa to lose its pre-eminence as the home of California’s most beloved Cabernet Sauvignons. Though the spotlight seems destined to remain trained on the ever-more-rarefied Napa, outside the gilt-edged glare of that performance, an understudy diligently waits in the wings, working twice as hard for half …
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Vineyards in France. France’s agriculture ministry has announced plans for a new scheme that would pay winemakers to uproot vines in the country. Global wine production outstripped demand by 10% in 2023, according to figures from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). That has contributed to a significant wine surplus, which has pushed down prices and threatened the …
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The sun-drying of grapes for the production of Monemvasia-Malvasia wines. It seems that everywhere you turn in the wine world, you’ll find a grape called Malvasia – according to the ultimate scientific grapevine database VIVC.de, there are as many as 290 of them. And many are delicious, so are definitely worth exploring. The name ‘Malvasia’ is widespread across the Mediterranean …
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Chardonnay harvest is underway in the Willamette Valley. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I think of 2024 as a relatively steady, somewhat cool summer, with a few hot days but no notable anomalies. I recognise that the weather where I live in Seattle is a bit different than that they receive in the Willamette Valley, and vastly different than that …
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The village of Laudun in the Rhône Valley. French officials have recognised Laudun as a communal appellation, and 2024 will be the first vintage for this new cru of the Rhône Valley. Classified at the lower level of Côtes du Rhône Villages with geographical designation since 1967, Laudun was promoted to cru level by the National Committee of the French …
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Pickers went to work at the Margaux third growth Château d’Issan this week (19 September), harvesting the crop for a new white wine due to be released next year. However, rather than picking Sauvignon Blanc or Sémillon, the two staple white grapes found in and around Bordeaux, they were instead collecting bunches of Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Rolle (Vermentino) – …
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Hot air balloons over Napa’s Oak Knoll. Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: full vintage report and top-scoring wines The ‘OKD’ as Oak Knoll District is commonly referred to in Napa, is also considered by growers to be the Valley’s ‘Goldilocks’ AVA, located as it is in a sweet spot at the southern end of the Valley, typically marked by a long …
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Pizza is one of Italy’s great culinary gifts to the world, with traditional pizza-twirling in Naples enshrined by UNESCO as a skill of intangible cultural heritage. Beer is sometimes seen as a classic go-to for pizza night, but there are many mouthwatering wines that can work brilliantly with a range of toppings if you’re planning to celebrate ‘the art of …
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Casa Bigote, by the mouth of the river, was one of the few bars still open. We ordered a half-bottle of manzanilla (priced just €7) while we waited for Thomas de Wangen of Sotovelo. The copas glistened; the wine in them was steel-green. ‘Oh no,’ said de Wangen, walking in a few minutes later. ‘Look at that colour!’ The remark …
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As someone exposed to an awful lot of wineries, wine brands, and their winemakers, it’s hard not to have something of a soft spot for the rebels and innovators, especially when they also happen to make excellent wine. Dan Petroski is a former magazine publishing executive who, after spending a career-reset year in Sicily helping out at a winery, decided …
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In a small corner of the Gavalas winery in Santorini, visitors can find the tools of the winemaking trade from around the turn of the century. Wine was often made in the large glass balloons known as demijohns, and grapes were weighed in their wicker baskets on an ancient scale. Old vintages of Gavelas wine can be seen in the …
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The Andes seen from Viña Cobos’ Zingaretti Estate in Villa Bastías, Tupungato Malbec and Carmenère may have become South America’s most emblematic red varieties, but in keeping with the rest of the wine world, the most-planted wine grape is actually Cabernet Sauvignon. With 50,677ha of vines in Chile and Argentina alone (2022), according to government data, this Bordeaux variety has …
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spelio has added a photo to the pool: From the Clare Valley SA Source : https://www.flickr.com/photos/spelio/54012684248/in/pool-14289677@N00
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