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Joanna Simon’s latest excursion into wine-country cuisine features a contemporary recipe from an historic region: Mangalica tomahawk with parsley root cream, spring rolls, pear and apple concassé, and Aszú jus, from Ádám Taskó, chef at LaBor restaurant. We’re on a virtual visit to one of the wine world’s great and most historic wine regions, Tokaj,… View Article
The World of Fine Wine is pleased to announce the global winners of the World’s Best Wine Lists Awards 2022, with Champagne’s Domaine Les Crayères and NYC’s Eleven Madison Park taking the two top prizes. Widely regarded as the finest restaurant in the Champagne region, Domaine Les Crayères became the first French establishment in the… View Article
The dry Chenin Blancs of Saumur, Vouvray, and Montlouis are too often overlooked. But as Andrew Jefford says, after a tasting with Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose, each appellation has wines that are well worth seeking out. This is an extract from an article first published in Issue 77 of The World of Fine… View Article
The price of Malbec is rising fast, with rampant inflation only one part of a complex, multi-stranded story that has important consequences for lovers of Argentina’s signature wine. Christiana Sciaudone reports. Argentina’s economy is, for lack of a better word, a mess. The country’s financial situation is wreaking havoc on almost every aspect of the… View Article
The fine-wine auction market is steeped in tradition. Its recent history, confronting globalization, a new generation of collectors, and digitalization, has resulted in some revolutionary (and likely permanent) changes to its operations and to customer expectations. Chloe Ashton speaks to ten prominent names in today’s brave new auction world to find out more. Auction elders:… View Article
Forget sanitized modern versions, a true harvest festival is a wild and unbridled celebration of the culmination of the agricultural year, says Stuart Walton. The completion of the wine harvest has been a time of hectic merrymaking since antiquity. In the northern hemisphere, most of its festivals have traditionally taken place in late September. Certain… View Article
In part two of a candid and wide-ranging interview to mark the publication of his superb new book Drinking with the Valkyries, WFW contributing editor Andrew Jefford opens up about the art and craft of (wine) writing, his abiding love of wine, and his hopes and fears for its future. David Williams puts the questions. An interview with Andrew… View Article
In part one of a candid and wide-ranging interview to mark the publication of his superb new book Drinking with the Valkyries, WFW contributing editor Andrew Jefford looks back over his distinguished career. David Williams puts the questions. An interview with Andrew Jefford part two: Discovery and astonishment. Andrew Jefford on Drinking with the… View Article
Stephen Brook on Acaibo, a promising release from Gonzague Lurton and Claire Villars-Lurton’s young project in Sonoma’s Chalk Hill AVA. A mutual fascination between Bordeaux and California is nothing new. Opus One and Dominus are established examples: the former a collaboration between Philippe and then Philippine de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi; the latter an investment… View Article
Kathleen Burk reviews On California: From Napa to Nebbiolo… Wine Tales from The Golden State, edited by Susan Keevil. This is the most difficult type of book to review, consisting as it does of 39 essays of varying length and type, most of them very interesting and all of them well written. It is not… View Article
Liber Pater is the most expensive wine in the world. Simon Field MW attends a rare London tasting to ascertain why. What is the most expensive wine in the world? A vulgar question perhaps, and a moving target. Le Pin, maybe, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, possibly, or how about Screaming Eagle? Few will answer, confidently,… View Article
From Rome to Eger, and Saumur to Campania, Alex Maltman traces the complex intertwined etymology and geology of tuff, tufa, tufo, and tuffeau, soil types that were named after—but are not necessarily synonymous with—the original Roman tophus. Alex Maltman on limestone Alex Maltman on flint Alex Maltman on clay Tangled indeed. And to these… View Article
A tasting of luminous sweet wines (plus an impressive dry bottling) from the AXA Millésimes-owned Tokaj estate Disznókő was testament to the rigor and sheer hard work required to produce them, says an enchanted Simon Field MW. “In the communist era, even the grapes were considered as equals.” So says the director of Disznókő, László… View Article
Alex Maltman investigates clay, a crucial wine soil type that is simultaneously familiar and mysterious. Alex Maltman on limestone Alex Maltman on flint Clay is familiar stuff. As children, we probably all took a lump of clay and modeled a little animal or something. We probably all know that it’s baked to make… View Article
Wine was a gift of the gods in most antique Mediterranean civilizations, says Stuart Walton. And for those of us willing to listen, these ancient myths still resonate today. We do not have a pre-eminent archetypal myth for the origin of wine. Its status as a gift from one deity or other is common to… View Article
Joanna Simon explains how to prepare chakapuli, a traditional stew of lamb or veal with sour plums from Georgia, and chooses the Georgian (and Italian) wines to drink with it. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has been to Georgia and not fallen in love with the country almost immediately, from Carla Capalbo, author of… View Article
After a tasting of ten vintages between 1995 and 2018, Margaret Rand finally falls in love with the Super-Tuscan Merlot, Masseto. I have a terrible confession to make: I have always admired Masseto—well made, good balance, complexity, all that—but I have never really loved it. It’s always seemed a bit too much of an Identikit… View Article
Jim Clarke reports from Snake River Valley in Idaho, an under-explored, but increasingly exciting corner of the Pacific Northwest’s winemaking scene. If you grow up elsewhere, the phrase “the Pacific Northwest” typically refers to two states, both with reputations for cool climates and rain: Washington and Oregon. For residents of the region, there is a… View Article
The latest temporary exhibition at Bordeaux’s La Cité du Vin traces the importance of wine and other drinks in the life and work of Pablo Picasso. Paige Crawley reports. At the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, the intersections of wine, religion, history, and—of course—art are on display in the temporary exhibition Picasso: The effervescence of… View Article
Provence rosé is the commercial success story of 21st-century wine. But is the style capable of greatness? Andrew Jefford is joined by Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose for the WFW’s first-ever rosé tasting, which revealed a set of nuanced, drinkable wines marked by consistent quality and deft winemaking. Well, here we are—and not before… View Article
The 2022 edition of La Terracotta e il Vino / Terracotta & Wine once again brought amphora wine producers together from all over the world to Tuscany to share both experiences and wines. In the second part of his coverage of the event, Paul White picks out some of the clay-made wines that impressed him the… View Article
Discontent with wine tax was one of the catalysts for the French Revolution, says Stuart Walton, who wonders if taxes on pleasure can ever be justified. The seismic events of July 1789 in Paris have tended to turn on one historical focus: the storming of the Bastille, the largely empty fortress that nonetheless symbolised the… View Article
Joanna Simon finds the right wines to go with a new South African classic dish of rack of lamb with chakalaka from the restaurant at Creation Wines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge appellation in Walker Bay. In Europe’s wine regions, it is generally taken that local wine and cuisine have evolved together, resulting in a harmony… View Article
Raymond Blake greets the latest, Bordeaux Place-released vintage of Santa Rita Casa Real, a Chilean Cabernet on the up under winemaker Sebastián Labbé. More than a decade has passed since the bright, bitter morning of Tuesday, January 17, 2012, saw me in London, along with a host of colleagues, for a vertical tasting of eight… View Article
In the first of two reports from the 2022 edition of La Terracotta e il Vino/Terracotta & Wine, the annual Tuscan festival of amphora and other clay-pot winemaking, Paul White celebrates the crucial role played by family firm Artenova in the development of the global amphora winemaking movement. Back in the early 2000s, Artenova—like the… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW enjoys the wine—and music—at the launch of the 2017 Amarone vintage at Amarone Opera Prima in Verona. The annual Amarone Prima in Verona, at which the latest release of Amarone is tasted, was traditionally held in the the short cold days of January, when many a wine lover is tempted to curl… View Article
Anthony Rose on the latest resurrection of Champagne Charlie, Charles Heidsieck’s much-loved, American market-conquering prestige cuvée. The retro label of Charles Heidsieck’s much-anticipated new prestige cuvée, Champagne Charlie is homage to a gloriously nostalgic past covering two distinct periods and two remarkable men in the history of this Champagne house. Who was Champagne Charlie? In… View Article
Ken Gargett enjoys the latest single-vineyard Shiraz releases from the great Barossa and Eden Valley family producer, Henschke. ”A vintage graced by vitality.” The Henschkes do love their vintage designations. From 2017, they found wines “more composed,” with the “elegance and vitality to endure.” The annual release of the Henschke portfolio has long been a highlight… View Article
Simon Field MW’s tasting notes from the Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tastings concludes with the wines of Sauternes and Barsac. Clos Haut-Peyraguey 1er Cru (60% SM, 40% SB) SF | An attractive, softly honied aromatic, exoticism reined in for the time being, the firm structure promising a lot more; composed and elegant, zesty and rich,… View Article
Simon Field MW’s tasting notes from the Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tastings continue with wines from St-Emilion, Pomerol, Lalande de Pomerol, Côtes de Bourg, and Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux. Bordeaux 2021: St-Emilion Château Angélus 1er Grand Cru Classé A (60% CF, 40% M) SF | And so to the last Angélus under the label of Class… View Article
Simon Field MW’s tasting notes from the Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tastings continue with wines from the Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Moulis, Graves, and Pessac-Léognan. Bordeaux 2021: Médoc / Haut-Médoc / Moulis Château Belgrave 5ème Cru (65% CS, 30% M, 5% PV) SF | A signature wine from the Dourthe stable, with all of the fruit-forward generosity… View Article
Simon Field MW’s tasting notes from the Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tastings begin with wines from St-Estèphe, Pauillac, St-Julien, and Margaux. ST-ESTÈPHE Château Le Boscq Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel (50% CS, 42% M, 6% PV, 2% CF) SF | Located on a small gravelly outcrop close to Calon-Ségur, Le Bosq has excelled itself in 2021, the… View Article
After a run of warm years, 2021 Bordeaux was initially typecast as a “challenging” vintage, but it is perhaps better summarized as heterogeneous, says Simon Field MW, with pockets of excellence among the elegant reds and some outstanding white and (though tiny in number) sweet wines, and with a “classical” cooler-vintage character throughout that inevitably… View Article
A twist on sliders with slaw by Dominic Orsini, the winery chef at Napa and Alexander Valley producer Silver Oak Cellars, provides the inspiration for Joanna Simon’s latest exploration of wine country cuisine. I could have picked a dish that shows off the finer, higher, more serious—call it what you will—side of California wine-country cuisine,… View Article
In his final blog from his Bordeaux 2021 en primeur expedition, Simon Field MW attempts to summarize the unsummarizable. “The only thing we knew,” says Nicolas Glumineau at Pichon Lalande, “is that we knew nothing at all about what nature had in store for us in 2021.” Very Socratic, and let’s not forget that one… View Article
In the penultimate blog from his Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tastings, Simon Field MW reflects on the quality of the white wines, including his wine of the vintage. The Bordeaux 2021 vintage has garnered more blame than praise, overall—a fair reflection of the fact that this was never going to be the final act in… View Article
The caricature of Bordeaux is of a cautiously conservative region. But, during three weeks of intensive tastings and visits while preparing his Bordeaux 2021 en primeur report, Simon Field MW finds a decidedly adventurous and progressive winemaking culture. The image of a Bordeaux ossified within the formality of its own success, petrified in the face… View Article
Over the past two decades, The World of Fine Wine’s annual reports on the Bordeaux en primeur tastings have become definitive statements on the latest goings on in the region. For the first 17 years of the magazine’s existence, the reports were written by the globally respected author and wine educator, Michael Schuster. As Schuster… View Article
An experimental sparkling wine project by Slovenian producer Radgonske Gorice has thrown the spotlight on the effects of lightstrike and how to avoid them, says Anthony Rose. At a Zoom tasting in October 2020, the Slovenian winery Radgonske Gorice launched its new fizz, Untouched by Light, a sparkling wine in a black light-proof bottle in… View Article
The World of Fine Wine’s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In the latest of his dispatches from the region, he reports from Pichon Lalande, where the steady conversion to biodynamics is taking effect. The Baron stares silently at the Countess. Pale neutral stone and the secrets of nearly 200 years, now… View Article
Over the past two decades, The World of Fine Wine’s annual reports on the Bordeaux en primeur tastings have become definitive statements on the latest goings on in the region. For the first 17 years of the magazine’s existence, the reports were written by the globally respected author and wine educator, Michael Schuster. As Schuster… View Article
Bordeaux, a region not always associated with the cutting edge of viticulture, has spent much of the past 30 years upgrading its vineyards with a marked shift to organic, biodynamic, and sustainable methods. James Lawther MW reports Bordeaux’s mercantile image often obscures the viticultural aspect of the region, an imposing château or state-of-the-art cellar a… View Article
Over the past two decades, The World of Fine Wine’s annual reports on the Bordeaux en primeur tastings have become definitive statements on the latest goings on in the region. For the first 17 years of the magazine’s existence, the reports were written by the globally respected author and wine educator, Michael Schuster. As Schuster… View Article
In the latest dispatch from his Bordeaux 2021 en primeur tasting trip, Simon Field MW reports from Sauternes, where winemakers are doing their best to transcend a very difficult set of circumstances. Sauternes today is not enjoying the best of times. Nature’s caprice means that some blights are more welcome than others. The somewhat perverse… View Article
The World of Fine Wine’s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In the latest of his dispatches from the region, he reports from Domaine de Chevalier, where the Pessac-Léognan white wine is the star of the vintage. “Le bon Dieu a bu beaucoup de Merlot en 2021,” says Rémi… View Article
The World of Fine Wine’s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In the latest of his dispatches from the region, he gives his verdict on the “last of the garagistes,” St-Emilion’s Le Dôme. “We are poor peasants,” says Jean-Pierre Morgues of Le Dôme, pointing up the hill towards… View Article
Wine has long been thought to have medicinal properties, says Stuart Walton, who looks at the ways in which it has been used as a tool of the medical profession and as part of a healthy lifestyle since the 19th century. Long after the medical profession had ceased to lend credence to humoral theory, wine… View Article
The World of Fine Wine‘s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In the third of a regular series of dispatches from the region, he gives his verdict on St-Emilion’s Châtaeu Pavie. The reconstructed Château Pavie resembles a Spanish hotel. A five-star hotel. Make that five stars deluxe: An… View Article
The World of Fine Wine‘s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In his latest dispatch from the region, he gives his verdict on Pomerol’s Vieux Château Certan. It seems reprehensible in the extreme that my last visit to Vieux Château Certan was over 20 years ago. Nothing much… View Article
Over the past two decades, The World of Fine Wine’s annual reports on the Bordeaux en primeur tastings have become definitive statements on the latest goings on in the region. For the first 17 years of the magazine’s existence, the reports were written by the globally respected author and wine educator, Michael Schuster. As Schuster… View Article
The World of Fine Wine‘s Simon Field MW is in Bordeaux for the 2021 vintage en primeur tastings. In the first of a regular series of dispatches from the region, he gives his verdict on St-Emilion’s Château Figeac. Figeac’s natural atmosphere of calm and classical decorum was never likely to be especially perturbed by something… View Article
Joanna Simon‘s series on matching wines to wine country cuisine moves to Australia, and a complex contemporary calamari dish by chef Dan Hunter of Brae in Birregurra, Victoria. I have two abiding food memories from visits to the Barossa Valley around the turn of the century. One was having dinner with Peter and Margaret Lehmann… View Article
Jon Wyand, a regular and key contributor to The World of Fine Wine since the magazine’s inception, has been named the Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year, part of the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2022 awards. Wyand’s winning entry, a depiction of a vineyard worker at the Corton Les Bressandes vineyard on… View Article
Some 30 years on from Priorat’s astonishing re-emergence as a fine-wine producer, Jim Clarke catches up with the original “Gang of Five” producers behind the renaissance to discuss how the Catalan region has evolved in the three decades since each made their first solo vintage. Three decades ago the Olympics came to Barcelona, placing an… View Article
Despite difficult growing conditions, global wine production in 2021 was not as bad as previously feared, with annual production just slightly lower than in 2020. The newest data on 2021 global wine production and consumption, announced on Thursday by Pau Roca, the Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), also showed… View Article
Geographically and culturally closer to Chablis than Épernay, the distinctive Champagnes of the Côte des Bar deserve their new-found respect, says Essi Avellan MW, who introduces a tasting shared with Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose. This is an extract of an article from Issue 75 of The World of Fine Wine. For the full… View Article
From Ancient Greek and medieval strictures on serving sizes, to modern anxieties about serving temperature, Stuart Walton negotiates the elaborate history of wine etiquette. The wine connoisseur is a figure of fun in the popular imagination—a floridly complexioned old soak in a bow-tie, or perhaps an undernourished aesthete with a developed proficiency in the poetic… View Article
Vingt Vingt Vingt vingt: vin vin, you said, as we looked out into a new year, and for a moment we could see clearly —20/20—we could see vines laid like wool blankets over sheep stations at Bendigo and all around the Bannockburn basin; we could see vines rolled out like picnic rugs over paddocks at… View Article
The conditions were certainly challenging for the 2017 Barolo vintage. But as Michael Palij MW discovers, in a tasting shared with Bruno Besa and Andrew Jefford, they did not prevent skilled growers from producing some impressive and surprisingly balanced wines. This is an extract from an article first published in Issue 75 of The World… View Article
Joanna Simon delves into the unexpected origins and preparation of carne de porco à Alentejana—and picks out the best wines to serve with this classic Portuguese dish. Of the two things you would think it was safe to assume about carne de porco à Alentejana—that it’s based on pork and is from the Alentejo region—one… View Article
Chloe Ashton presents all the latest data from the thriving auction and fine-wine market, where both demand and prices have continued on their dramatic upward curve. Wine prices have never been higher. Following an initial stumble at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic (March 2020), Liv-ex indices have risen continually over the two years since,… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW continues her reassessment of Crémant de Bourgogne by profiling some of the style’s leading practitioners and their wines. Crémant de Bourgogne: Burgundy’s bubbles are rising Simonnet-Febvre, Chablis Simonnet-Febvre general manager Paul Espitalié met me on a chilly Saturday morning over a breakfast of warm brioche. Crémant de Bourgogne from Chablis is crisp… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW takes a fresh look at Crémant de Bourgogne, and finds a sparkling wine style developing its own, distinctively Burgundian identity. Crémant de Bourgogne: The producers and their wines Although I’ve been trotting to and from Burgundy for more than 20 years, I had never visited a crémant producer until recently. Crémant de… View Article
German wine-lovers don’t always love Alsace Riesling, and vice versa, says Stephan Reinhardt. But a tasting of top single-site wines shared with Andrew Jefford and Anthony Rose illustrated the merits of both places. For full coverage of this tasting, including detailed tasting notes on all 45 wines tasted by the panel, subscribe to The World… View Article
Tom Stevenson brings out the fascinating details in one of his favorite paintings, Le Déjeuner d’Huîtres or The Oyster Luncheon by Jean François de Troy (1735), which among other reasons is notable for featuring the first sparkling Champagne captured in art. It could be said that Jean François de Troy’s Le Déjeuner d’ Huîtres or… View Article
David Williams reports from the online launch of the latest release of the annual artistic project from Ornellaia. The process behind each vintage of Ornellaia’s Vendemmia d’Artista sounds straightforward enough. In the words of the estate’s director Axel Heinz, speaking from the winery in Tuscany at the online launch of the latest, 2019 edition, in… View Article
Some of Europe’s finest wine estates are the focus of a series of very special wine dinners at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught in Mayfair this year. The historic London hotel will welcome guests to six events, featuring vertical tastings matched with dishes devised by French star chef, Hélène Darrozze, and her resident executive chef,… View Article
Kathleen Burk reviews Wine and the White House: A History by Frederick J Ryan, Jr. The long-ago origin of this book is a touch unexpected. When the author was an undergraduate at UCLA, he carefully planned a first date that he knew would sweep the chosen woman off her feet. He booked a table at… View Article
A lockdown collaboration between French chef Fréderic Ménager of Burgundy’s La Ferme de la Ruchotte and Édouard Parinet of Château du Moulin au Vent inspired Joanna Simon to think anew about how to make and match coq au vin. You might wonder what of interest could possibly be added to the discussion (written and otherwise)… View Article
The wines of the 2008 Champagne vintage beat those from 2009 convincingly in a panel tasting hosted by The World of Fine Wine in 2016. But how do the two vintages compare today? Essi Avellan MW introduces a tasting shared with Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose. For full tasting notes on all 32 Vintage… View Article
After years providing fruit for some of the Napa Valley’s best producers from their Vine Hill Ranch vineyard, Bruce Phillips and family decided to make their own wine, with a first vintage in 2008. Margaret Rand caught up with Phillips for a mini-vertical of VHR, including the latest release. In magazine publishing, publishers often want… View Article
After the keenly anticipated annual tasting at UK agent Corney & Barrow in London on February 3, 2022, Michael Schuster reports on the 2019 vintage wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a most particular style and expression of the Domaine’s vineyards in what is clearly a very grand vintage, fully worthy of a special anniversary… View Article
Terry Theise tastes—and drinks—the wines of Cedric Moussé, a Champagne producer at the forefront of the revolution in Meunier in the Marne Valley. You’ll have noticed, if your life is so drab and wretched that you’ve had time to read my previous reports, that I talk about the distinction between “tasting” and “drinking” wine, how… View Article
The World’s Best Wine Lists Awards, the global awards program created by The World of Fine Wine in 2014, has launched the 2022 edition with a call for entries. Judged according to a rigorous protocol by independent, international panels of leading professionals, including World Champion Sommeliers, Master Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, and highly respected wine… View Article
The late 2010s saw an unprecedented run of fine harvests in the Douro, each producing exceptional Vintage Port. But which of the four vintages from 2016 to 2019 is the greatest, asks Richard Mayson, who was joined by Simon Field MW and Andrew Jefford for a comprehensive tasting, first published in issue 74 of The… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW continues her coverage of the 2020 Burgundy vintage with detailed tasting notes on the wines of the Côte de Beaune. More in this series 2020 Burgundy: Classic wines from an extreme season 2020 Burgundy: A guide to the sub-regions and villages 2020 Burgundy: Chablis tasting notes 2020 Burgundy: Côte de Nuits tasting… View Article
The combination of chocolate and partridge, perdiz con chocolate, is a classic Spanish dish with many regional variations that works best with some very contemporary Rioja red wines, says Joanna Simon. That partridge cooked with bitter chocolate is a Spanish recipe is not in doubt but, as so often, a question hangs over whether one… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW continues her coverage of the 2020 Burgundy vintage with detailed tasting notes on the wines of the Côte de Nuits. More in this series 2020 Burgundy: Classic wines from an extreme season 2020 Burgundy: A guide to the sub-regions and villages 2020 Burgundy: Chablis tasting notes 2020 Burgundy: Côte de Beaune tasting… View Article
Sarah Marsh MW continues her coverage of the 2020 Burgundy vintage with detailed tasting notes on the wines of Chablis, a sub-region that enjoyed “a very good year.” More in this series 2020 Burgundy: Classic wines from an extreme season 2020 Burgundy: A guide to the sub-regions and villages 2020 Burgundy: Côte de Nuits tasting… View Article
Terry Theise concludes his immersion in the latest releases from the great Mosel estate Selbach-Oster with a look at the Spätlesen and Auslesen, as well as the wines of Weingut Alfred Merkelbach, where the Selbachs also oversee production. Click here for Theise’s notes on Selbach-Oster’s Spätburgunder and Pinot Blanc. And here for Riesling Trocken and… View Article
The World of Fine Wine’s Burgundy critic, Sarah Marsh MW, continues her comprehensive coverage of the 2020 Burgundy vintage with an overview of Burgundy’s sub-regions and villages. More in this series 2020 Burgundy: Classic wines from an extreme season 2020 Burgundy: Chablis tasting notes 2020 Burgundy: Côte de Nuits tasting notes 2020 Burgundy: Côte de… View Article
Despite the hot, dry conditions, 2020 Burgundy is characterized by “joyously” fresh, vibrant, classically styled wines, with consistent quality in the whites and many fine reds, says The World of Fine Wine’s Burgundy critic, Sarah Marsh MW, who introduces WFW’s comprehensive coverage of the vintage based on her extensive tastings in the region in late… View Article
Simon Field MW on a trio of special wines from Lustau, one from each of the towns that make up Sherry’s Golden Triangle, which have been released to mark the house’s 125th anniversary. 1896 was not an especially auspicious year in Spain. Farther afield, the Jameson Raid underlined tensions in the Cape which were to… View Article
As the Sicilian wine authorities approve an official change in name for the island’s most widely planted white grape variety from Catarratto to Lucido, Jim Clarke looks back on the recent history of grape re-christening in Italy. One doesn’t have to spend much time with Jancis Robinson & Co’s massive tome Wine Grapes to know… View Article
To mark the end of the year on worldoffinewine.com, we asked our writers to reflect on the bottles that meant most to them in 2021. For Joanna Simon the bottle in question was a rare lost gem of an Alsace Gewurztraminer that she uncovered during a house move. In terms of drinking, rather than just… View Article
To mark the end of the year on worldoffinewine.com, we asked our writers to reflect on the bottles that meant most to them in 2021. For Jim Clarke, the significant bottle was Bluet, a sparkling blueberry wine from Maine made by—and shared with—some old friends. For most of us I imagine 2021 turned out to… View Article
To mark the end of the year on worldoffinewine.com, we asked our writers to reflect on the bottles that meant most to them in 2021. Andrew Jefford finds his stars rising to the occasion on a single special night with friends in the Latvian capital. We all know why … yet I feel guilty. Should… View Article
Christie’s is hosting an auction of treasures from the Perrier-Jouët Oenothèque collection of historic Champagne releases on Thursday December 2, 2021. Simon Field MW reports from Paris where he was given an advance preview of some of the vintages of Belle Epoque on offer in London next week by Perrier-Jouët’s new Chef de Caves, Séverine… View Article
Simon Field MW introduces an instructive, heterogenous tasting, shared with Tim Atkin MW and Andrew Jefford, of red single-vineyard Rioja—including examples of the new official Viñedo Singular category. For full coverage of the tasting, including notes on all 67 wines, subscribe to The World of Fine Wine. I have been privileged to participate in many… View Article
Ken Gargett has a privileged early taste of what may be, in more senses than one, the ultimate Australian red blend, Penfolds G5. “A wine greater than the sums of its parts” is how Penfolds likes to describe G5, the latest and final release in its “G” series. To be brutally honest, if it is… View Article
Honors were even in an extensive comparative tasting of wines from the world’s two leading Malbec regions featured in Issue 73 of The World of Fine Wine, says Andrew Jefford, who was part of a tasting panel that also included Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose. For full coverage and notes on all 52 wines—26… 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
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
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
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