Secateur or spraying plane? Early morning in July 2019. A pre-arranged schedule involves alarm clock and strong coffee to have the time to go on a bike morning session. On a mountain-bike, Mosel’s makes it a playful educational ride to exhaust the body. Very hilly and with innumerable trails and passes to follow. That the […]
Now is really the time to take a look at the South African wine scene. If you are mostly familiar with the easy going, inexpensive wines from this country, you will be surprised. Now much more attention is given to the terroir. To plant each grape in a suitable soil, to lower the yields and […]
We congratulate Fredholms Vingård! It is not often we have the opportunity to write about a Swedish wine winning medals internationally… This small winery in the south of Sweden has once again obtained medals in an international wine competition. Elsa, a white wine made from the grape solaris, received a gold medal and the red […]
A vineyard visit in Champagne “Down here in Aube, we used to be called ‘the bad boys of Champagne’” says Bertrand Gautherot, winemaker and owner of Vouette & Sorbée. “But not anymore,” he adds, smiling broadly. Actually, there is no time for either tasting or visits, work in the vineyards must be prioritized, said Bertrand […]
We’ve all seen them. (Or perhaps not.) The egg-shaped tanks in concrete or in terracotta. A few years ago, they were a sensation, now it feels like every other winemaker is investing in at least one. But does the shape and material of the fermentation tank really play a role in the character of the […]
It is difficult to convey a sense of what it is like to travel in a wine district. It is just as difficult to convey a sense of what you may experience when reading a book. But at least we want to try. Earlier this year, our tenth book was published, a new book on […]
Moldova, the small wine country squeezed in between Rumania and Ukraine, are making big efforts to make their wines more well known. Having been hampered in its dealings with the outside world during the Soviet years, it is now making up for lost time. Two of the biggest estates in the country, Purcari and Castel […]
The lord of the chateau who plays music for his wines A chateau in the Jura? Can there really be such a thing in this rural area with down-to-earth growers? Yes, there is at least one that fulfils all the desirable criteria for being called chateau. Dating back to the 16th century, a history of […]
Yes, turruntés, not torrontes. Rioja is best known for its red wines. But that is no reason to ignore the whites. You can find them in different styles. They can be seriously full-bodied wines with lots of mouthfeel or fresh and floral everyday wines. To put white wine in oak barrels is an old tradition […]
Aroma wines and structure wines Sometimes a wine has a very small nose, does not smell much. We sometimes say a discreet or shy nose. Is that always bad? There is so much talk about smelling the wine, swirling your glass so that the aromas open up, dipping your nose deep into in the glass. […]
Aroma wines and structure wines Sometimes a wine has a very small nose, does not smell much. We sometimes say a discreet or shy nose. Is that always bad? There is so much talk about smelling the wine, swirling your glass so that the aromas open up, dipping your nose deep into in the glass. […]
Uncorked: Under this heading, we collect various wines that we have tasted, and liked, recently. It can be wines that we have had during dinner at home, at wine tastings, press lunches, visits to vineyards, or other occasions. We describe the wines just with a few short sentences, tasting notes that we hope will give […]
The whole list of OIV book awards 2019 announced We worked for two years on the new book about Languedoc-Roussillon. Not full time, but when we could, and not least in the summers when we could go and visit vineyards. But on top of that, we had worked continuously for about ten years, since our […]
Here are some of our favourites The city of Bordeaux is a place where you can spend a lot of time. It is an elegant city with fabulous shopping, if that is what you are looking for. The food lover will not be disappointed either. If you like oysters, the ones from Arcachon close to […]
Moldova is not a new wine country. It has a very long history of wine making. But if feels new. More and more countries around the world are drinking Moldovan wines. But many wine consumers probably know very little about this small country, squeezed in between Romania and Ukraine. Since the breakup of the Soviet […]
The discussion about the future of glyphosate continues. It is very contested if glyphosate is dangerous or not at all dangerous (when properly used). In 2022, it will again be on the EU agenda, until then it is allowed. But France (at least the government, but not all farmers) wants to ban glyphosate before that. […]
We came to New Zealand in March earlier this year, just when the 2019 harvest was about to begin. We saw lots of fine grape bunches and we had the feeling that it would be a good harvest, a great vintage. And it was. In fact, 2019 is an exceptional vintage, in all regions, from […]
No summer without rosé wines? Well. Anyway, people will drink a lot of rosé wine this summer, worldwide. World rosé consumption increased by 32% between 2002 and 2018. France drinks the most. One-third of all rosé wines made in the world is drunk in France (don’t forget there’s a lot of tourists in France). France […]
Hail storms can be violent and the 20-minute storm that affected Crozes-Hermitage and part of Saint Joseph on June 15 was exceptionally violent. Some winegrowers saw their future harvest reduced by at least 50%. The hail storm then continued to Savoie and into Switzerland where the damaged continued. The hailstones were of a size that […]
Champagne’s largest cooperative Nicolas Feuillatte is getting even bigger. Feuillatte recently bought the champagne brand Henri Abelé, which, since 1985, has been owned by the huge Spanish cava producer Freixenet. Henri Abelé sells around 300,000 bottles annually. The house has beautiful cellars in Reims. It does not own any vineyards. Instead, it has long-term contracts […]
During flowering, the winegrower looks anxiously at the weather forecast. The flowering takes place, depending on the region, from the end of May until the end of June. This year it was early in some places in France, for instance in Bordeaux. When we were there on the first days of June it was in […]
No, we’re not going to tell you “stick to white” and certainly not “go for rosé”. But we all hope for a warm and nice summer. And the warmer it is, the more important it is to ensure that the wines are served well chilled. Wines are sometimes mistreated in the summer. Having a red […]
To use oak chips and oak staves as an alternative to oak barrels has been allowed in France for around 10 years now. And producers do use them. Not so much in the regions that have traditionally always used oak barrels, such as Burgundy, Bordeaux and the rest of the Southwest. But in south-eastern France, […]
The number 1 export country for champagne is the United Kingdom which last year imported 26.7 million bottles, followed by the United States with 23.7 million bottles, Japan 13.5M, Germany 12.1M, Belgium 9M, Australia 8.3M, Italy 7.3M, Switzerland 5.7M, and Spain with 4.1 million bottles. Sweden is still number ten in Champagne’s export league. In […]
It is important to choose carefully if you want to become a vineyard owner in France. If you are not staggeringly rich of course. One hectare of vineyard that is not in an appellation costs a reasonable (?) 14,200 euros. On average, the appellation vineyards cost 147,300 euros per hectare. But here too you can […]
China has become Australia’s largest export market. And the things you do to satisfy your customers! You even put natural cork in the bottles, despite the fact that you are Australian. Amorim, Portugal’s (and the world’s) largest cork manufacturer, tells us that the fastest growing natural cork market in the last 18 months has been […]
Experimenting with summer wines Do we drink differently in summer? To some extent yes. Especially if it’s a hot summer. Which is not always the case. But if it is hot and you eat outdoors, we think there are two important things to keep in mind: the first is the temperature of the wines and […]
Experimenting with summer wines Do we drink differently in summer? To some extent yes. Especially if it’s a hot summer. Which is not always the case. But if it is hot and you eat outdoors, we think there are two important things to keep in mind: the first is the temperature of the wines and […]
Robert Parker sold his Wine Advocate a few years ago but now he has officially retired. Even if you don’t see the advantages of scoring a wine on a 100-point scale you can’t deny the impact Robert Parker has had on the wine world. He was the lawyer who became a wine critic and who […]
It is generally known that the luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) dominates strongly in both Champagne and Cognac but it is still quite surprising when you see the figures. LVMH accounts for 22% of all champagne sales and an astonishing 46% of sales of cognac. In Champagne, LVMH owns Moët & Chandon, Dom […]
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