Reducing the drip, drip, drip
Water is one of our most precious resources, and irrigation is vital to much vineyard growth around the world, but how are growers reducing its use?
Marks and Spencer Toscana Bianco 2012
For £6, this was my best value for flavour wine of the M&S press tasting.
New Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
A new, top tier – Gran Selezione – of Chianti Classico is to be added above Chianti Classico Riserva and Chianti Classico ‘straight’.
Château le Grand Vostock
Château le Grand Vostock was established in 2003 by a Franco-Russian team. It is in Russia’s Krasnodar region, some 18km, as the crow flies, inland from the Black Sea. Or 45km by roads to the resort of Anapa.
Aromatic whites from New Zealand
The kiwis have created a category of white wines they call the aromatics. All of them too niche to garner much attention on their own, but together they are gathering a bit of a following. Well maybe soon.
IMW debate English Sparkling Wine
The UK is more recognised than ever before for the quality of its sparkling wines. More fruit is now channelled to sparkling production than still wine, but with new plantings continuing, is the UK at risk of making more sparkling wine than it can sell? Is the country heading for an inevitable bust?
St Chinian – “crème de la crème”?
In trying to build the reputation of the appellation the Saint Chinian syndicate has made a marketing campaign around easy-drinking, everyday wines and terroir wines from the appellation.
Jenkyn Place Vineyard
The nearly five hectares of Jenkyn Place Vineyard lie at around 100m altitude, on a gentle, chalky, south-facing slope of the North Downs.
Rybeyrenc and Oeillade – Languedoc past and present
Thierry Navarre, of his eponymous domaine, in Roquebrun, Saint-Chinian, has made something of a mission of not just preserving ancient Languedoc grape varieties, but making commercial volumes of them.
Sicilian Wine, by Bill Nesto MW and Frances di Savino
It’s great to see a book devoted to Sicily and its wines. Sicily is kind of like a whole country, both in its historic diversity at the crossroads of ancient civilisations and their trading routes, and in its wine production. It produces more than some other European nations.
