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The intense, gelatinous lamproie à la bordelaise may not be for everyone. But as Joanna Simon says, this classic Bordeaux dish is as rich in history and wine-matching possibility as it is in flavor. I should say at the outset that lamproie à la bordelaise is not an out and out crowd-pleaser (and this may… View Article
The world of sparkling wine has been transformed in recent years, says the author of an important new book on the subject, Anthony Rose. No longer dominated by Champagne, it has never been more thrillingly diverse. In 1985, a piece about what wine would be like 25 years on gave me a leg up to… View Article
In the third installment of her ongoing series on wine and the climate crisis, Katharine Swindells examines the response to the historically small 2021 vintage, and asks how the wine world should best address the instability caused by the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Last year saw Europe fall back on its old, much-criticized… View Article
Each vintage, bottles of Château Mouton Rothschild feature the work of a world-leading artist. Sarah Kemp tells the stories behind the labels. It must have been quite a moment when the glamorous Baroness Philippine de Rothschild stepped off a small boat in the middle of a steamy Mexican jungle, there to meet the legendary film… View Article
Joanna Simon’s journey through classic wine country cuisines takes her to Portugal, and one of the country‘s signature rice dishes: arroz de pato. The Moors introduced rice (arroz) growing to Portugal in the early eighth century and rice has been grown and eaten in the country more or less ever since, although for a long… View Article
In the second part of his review of the latest Riesling releases from the Mosel producer Carl Loewen, Terry Theise goes “ga-ga with bliss”. 2020 Ritsch GG (Full name Thörnicher Ritsch Riesling Trocken) ++ And once again we rejoice in 12.5% alcohol. Maximum flavor with minimum alcohol is the recipe for the highest satisfaction. Cards on… View Article
Chloe Ashton looks back on the Bordeaux en primeur 2020 campaign and picks out the wines that represented the best value and are still available to buy. As summer wanes, the Bordeaux en primeur 2020 campaign seems a distant memory. The season began hopefully, with Cheval Blanc an encouraging starter gun on May 11, 2021,… View Article
Joanna Simon’s journey through classic wine country dishes takes her to Alsace, where the meat, potato, and vegetable stew baeckoeffe matches with the local Pinot Noir (and Gris). It’s not just the cultural richness of Alsace cuisine or the number of Michelin-starred restaurants that makes eating in the region such a pleasure, it’s that there… View Article
Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of Châteaux Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut Brion, has opened a new Bordeaux visitor center and shop: Le Pavillon Catelan and La Cave du Château, Bordeaux. After a four-year renovation project overseen by Prince Robert Luxembourg, Domaine Clarence Dillon has finally announced the opening of an important new attraction in the… View Article
In the second part of her climate crisis series, Katharine Swindells explores the practice of reducing carbon emissions in wine packaging and distribution. The wine bottle as we know it has been around for centuries—but as the wine world comes to terms with its carbon footprint, and sustainability becomes an ever more urgent issue, many… View Article
Alex Kongsgaard tells Kelli White about his latest venture, The Alexes, a range of three Chardonnays that has already attained mythic status in Napa Alex Kongsgaard builds surfboards, then he builds boats to carry those boards to the waves. Sometimes he creates these items from scratch. Other times, he attempts to make an existing vessel better. On the day of our tasting,… View Article
The 2020 en primeur campaign in Bordeaux was once again colored by Covid-19. But as Chloe Ashton reports, there is plenty of scope for optimism. It’s hard to believe the pandemic has imposed a second, virtual Bordeaux en primeur season. While lessons from last year’s unprecedented campaign have served well thus far—Zoom tastings and sample-sending… View Article
With Schloss Gobelsburg marking its 850th anniversary this year, Terry Theise spent a week tasting the great Austrian estate’s latest releases. Today, in the final installment of his three-part account of a profoundly impressive and affecting tasting, Theise presents his thoughts on Schloss Gobelsburg’s Rieslings. You can read Theise’s thoughts on Schloss Gobelsburg’s Zweigelt, rosé, and sparkling… View Article
The latest in Joanna Simon’s series on wine country cuisine focuses on a variety of traditional Catalan snail dishes, including snails a la catalana— snails tossed in an onion, garlic, and Mediterranean herb tomato sauce—a particularly good pairing with fresh, perfumed Garnacha. With its combinations of meat and seafood, sweet and sour, savory and sweet, a… View Article
With Schloss Gobelsburg marking its 850th anniversary this year, Terry Theise spent a week tasting the great Austrian estate’s latest releases. Today, in the second installment of his three-part account of a profoundly impressive and affecting tasting, Theise presents his thoughts on Schloss Gobelsburg’s Grüner Veltliners. You can read Theise’s review of Schloss Gobelsburg’s Zweigelt, rosé, and… View Article
With Schloss Gobelsburg marking its 850th anniversary this year, Terry Theise spent a week tasting the great Austrian estate’s latest releases. In this, the first installment of a three-part account of a profoundly impressive and affecting tasting, Theise presents his thoughts on Schloss Gobelsburg’s Zweigelt, rosé, and sparkling wines. In Part II, Theise presents his… View Article
This week, as the 2020 Bordeaux en primeur campaign hots up, The World of Fine Wine is publishing the in-depth analysis and detailed tasting notes of our longstanding Bordeaux critic, Michael Schuster, based on his extensive tastings at the châteaux this Spring. One of the world’s most experienced and respected Bordeaux critics, Schuster has been… View Article
This week, as the 2020 Bordeaux en primeur campaign hots up, The World of Fine Wine is publishing the in-depth analysis and detailed tasting notes of our longstanding Bordeaux critic, Michael Schuster, based on his extensive tastings at the châteaux this Spring. One of the world’s most experienced and respected Bordeaux critics, Schuster has been… View Article
This week, as the 2020 Bordeaux en primeur campaign hots up, The World of Fine Wine is publishing the in-depth analysis and detailed tasting notes of our longstanding Bordeaux critic, Michael Schuster, based on his extensive tastings at the châteaux this Spring. One of the world’s most experienced and respected Bordeaux critics, Schuster has been… View Article
This week, as the 2020 Bordeaux en primeur campaign hots up, The World of Fine Wine is publishing the in-depth analysis and detailed tasting notes of our longstanding Bordeaux critic, Michael Schuster, based on his extensive tastings at the châteaux this Spring. One of the world’s most experienced and respected Bordeaux critics, Schuster has been… View Article
Here we go again. It’s early May and Covid-19 is far from behind us. I visited Bordeaux just once in 2020, to make rounds on a few producers across both banks towards the end of harvest. Looking back now, I stupidly tempted fate, thinking to myself how wonderful it would be to taste the 2020… View Article
In the first of a monthly series exploring classic dishes from the world’s great wine regions, the award-winning wine and food writer Joanna Simon reflects on the Piemontese rice dish, Risotto al Barolo—and selects some accompanying local wines We may think of Italians as pasta eaters but, in the north, rice rules. Italy is Europe’s… View Article
Global wine consumption decreased slightly in 2020—with Covid-19 triggering a downturn similar to that seen in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. New data from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) shows that after a strong decline in consumption in the first half of 2020, the latter half saw some recovery. Higher value wines, and… View Article
What can the ancient history of wine tell us about the role of alcohol in modern human society? Andrew Jefford explores the fascinating work of “the combination chemist and archaeologist” Patrick McGovern, the world’s foremost authority on the earliest beginnings of alcoholic drinks Illustration by Dan Murrell A glass of wine poured at the end… View Article
