Sicily's own nero d'avola
Some countries have an adopted signature grape variety – carmenere in Chile, pinotage in South Africa, malbec in Argentina. Sicily has nero d’avola.
Domaine de la Taille aux Loups
Owner Jacky Blot is one of those charming iconoclasts of wine whose passion oozes out of more pores than he possesses. Almost everything he says makes seductive sense even if you don’t actually quite understand it, and one could easily lose days of fascinating conversation and thesis in his company.
Sustainable viticulture in Burgundy
With pioneering icons such as Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Pierre Morey who live and breathe biodynamics, Burgundy has long been at the forefront of green viticulture. But in a perfect marketing storm where almost everyone says they’re doing sustainable viticulture, even if they don’t really, how do you separate marketing myth from substantive sustainability?
Authentic Wine, by Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop MW
I’d imagined this was going to be a book about natural wines under a slightly different name to draw us in. But the reader quickly grasps this book is about more than the narrow, ‘natural’, narrative. It embraces the broadest discussion of wines of place within a treatise around the various environmental issues affecting viticulture and winemaking.
Crus Bourgeois 2009 – tasting notes
The Alliance des Cru bourgeois announced the list of cru bourgeois for the 2009 vintage at the end of September 2011. Here are the tasting notes of the wines I tasted.
Castagna
Ex-film director Julian Castagna bought his vineyard land in Beechworth, Victoria, in 1997, planting shiraz, sangiovese and viognier, with nebbiolo following in 2001.
Crus Bourgeois 2009 – facts and figures
Facts and figures from the 2009 Crus Bourgeois classification
Cru bourgeois awarded to 246 properties for 2009 vintage
In its second year, the annual awarding of cru bourgeois status has been achieved by 246 left bank Bordeaux properties for their 2009 vintage. This is three up on the 2008 vintage.
Tenuta di Fessina
Tuscan wine producer Silvia Maestrelli, and Federico Curtaz bought Tenuta di Fessina on Etna’s northern slopes in 2007, part of the growing band of producers on this active volcano.
Plunkett-Fowles
Plunkett-Fowles arose as a merger of two family wine businesses in 2005, both located in the rather rugged, granitic region of Strathbogie Ranges, remote even though it is only around 130km north of Melbourne. The business is run by chief winemaker Sam Plunkett, and CEO Matt Fowles.
