Sicily according to Winkler and MJT
Sicily spreads across all five Winkler regions
Concours Mondial 2012
More than 300 of the great, the good, the glamorous and the grubby, from 48 different countries, gathered in the Portuguese medieval town of Guimarães last month, for three days, to judge some 8,400 wines and spirits as part of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. Me included.
English bubbles in English wine week
All the good news about English wine, and sparkling wine in particular, is fully deserved. Our producers are making world class bubblies that compete on their own merits on the international stage.
Tasmanian regions – the south
Tasmania’s capital city Hobart lays claim to be the second driest state capital in Australia, after Adelaide. There are fewer frosts in the south, and as is to be expected in a cool climate, especially one where there is nothing between the south of the island and the Antarctic, proximity to sea level is important for vineyards to capture as much warmth as possible.
Domaine d’Aupilhac
Sylvain Fadat is a pioneer of Monpeyroux, one of the top Languedoc locations for making wine, and a pioneer of varietal carignan.
Tasmanian regions – east coast
Tasmania’s east coast is the driest and one of the warmest parts of the state. It’s also home to the biggest single vineyard on the island.
Faugères
Faugères schist defines the appellation, where the days, and nights, are warm, and blended reds have a freshness that defies that warmth.
An accidental treatise on lees work with chardonnay
A logistical misadventure meant Michael Glover, the winemaker at Bannockburn Vineyards in Geelong, Victoria had to leave one of his chardonnays on its lees for three years rather than the usual two. It turned out to be an excellent decision.
Closure trends
Nomacorc are the second largest closure manufacturer in the world, after cork stopper producer Amorim, selling a projected 2.4 billion units in 2011, but the synthetic category has experienced significant consolidation in the last couple of years. Will synthetic closures be squeezed out by cork and screwcap?
Tasmanian regions – the north
Tasmania is a relatively small island, some 250km north to south. The cool, moderate, maritime, climate location of the whole state means that small local variations in weather, soils and topography result in differing outcomes for wine styles.
