Category: Opinion

A cross-section of the soil, loess soil, in a vineyards in Austria

Terroir or Not Terroir? | New Brief #246

One word that stands out in all wine communication today is “terroir”. Wine drinkers claim to find it in the wine, and winemakers strive to express it in their work. All wine enthusiasts know roughly

Visiting the Glenwood winery in Franschhoek, listening to the winemaker, enjoying the vineyard landscape

Contrasts, people, experiences | New Brief #242

Our heads are spinning right now from all the impressions from the autumn wine tours, the wine regions we visited and above all the many growers we met. The Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Champagne, Tuscany, Ribera

The Economist Style Guide, a book with writing and style rules

Rules, rules, rules… | New Brief #241

Rules are helpful, but some of them are unnecessary. – Sometimes, we are asked if there is a lot of cheating among winegrowers. Our answer is no. Besides the fact that most of them are

Empty wine glasses in a row

Are we drinking too little wine? | New Brief #239

History always repeats itself. Now it is time for crisis distillation again in Europe. It has been a while since the last time. We remember Languedoc’s overproduction during large parts of the 20th century with

Langouste (spiny lobster) and langoustine at a fish market in Paris

Does umami exist? | New Brief #232

Waiting for the umami moment. — Will you taste umami in your Christmas food? For sure, if it’s savoury. And it often is. I recently learned that umami means savoury. And at the risk of

Sans sulfite Esprit Nature, "vin nature" is not allowed so producers try and cheat the system with clever wording

Wines with style: “style wines” | New Brief #224

There was a time when people were worried that wines would become uniform, taste the same, become streamlined. What instead happened was that wines that had been on the verge of being faulty disappeared thanks

Hermitage 1993 Le Pied de la Côte, label detail: 12.3%, no longer permitted notation

Every little detail matters | New Brief #220

Every little detail matters, whether it is for the environment, the taste of the wine or the sales figures. We have heard it many times from many wine producers. The details will play an even

Label on a wine bottle with New Zealand Certified Sustainable Winegrowing

“Sustainability”, the flavour-of-the-month? | New Brief #219

It seems everyone is talking about sustainability these days. We’ve recently been in at least three webinars on sustainability. Wine regions are announcing sustainability programmes. Wine producers and other wine industry companies (retailers, for example)

A walk in the vineyards with a winemaker in Roussillon

The Importance of Wine Tourism | New Brief #218

The importance of wine tourism is not that it can be a tool for producers to sell more wines. Although you sometimes get that impression when wine tourism is discussed. It is often talked about

Caviar from sturgeon in the Gironde in France

On price and prestige | New Brief #216

Why does a wine cost what it costs? It is never easy for a producer to put a price on his wine. It requires reflection. Not least, he has to decide how to position himself

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