When is Cava not Cava?
Raventos i Blanc has just released a new sparkling wine – a blanc de noir, or blanc de negres – from the 2011 vintage, called Textures de Pedra.
Domaine Fouassier
Typically in Sancerre a producer’s classic blend is likely to be blended from across different soils according to the plots of vineyards owned or managed by the domaine. But Domaine Fouassier was one of the early ones to bottle wines from particular vineyard parcels, having done so for about 30 years.
Salvaje del Moncayo, Garnacha 2014, £6.95
This was a star for me of the recent Wine Society press tasting. Full of flavour and outstanding value.
What to do with your old wine barrel?
Sustainability comes to old barrels – re-use, recycle
Franciacorta – the blink of an eye in 40 years?
The year 1961 was an illustrious vintage in that most traditional of wine regions, Bordeaux. But it was also a seminal year for Italy’s Franciacorta –the year a handful of producers started making traditional method sparkling wine, from just 29 hectares of vines. This marked a notable change for a region with a winemaking history […]
2020 vision – changes to come for Crus Bourgeois
Since its reinvention in 2010 (with the 2008 vintage), crus bourgeois Bordeaux has been quietly, bashfully even, chugging along rebuilding its tarnished image into something of a quietly successful, respected even, organisation. In the six years since it adopted its new habit, crus bourgeois has openly said the group regularly discusses positive aspects of the […]
Crémant de Savoie
France has a new crémant appellation. Sparkling wines from the Crémant de Savoie appellation can start to be marketed from December 2015.
The Oxford Companion to Wine, 2015
Title of book: The Oxford Companion to Wine Authors/Eds: Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication date: 2015 ISBN 978 0 19 870538 3 Pages: 912 Price: £40.00 (hardback) How does one review an icon of the book/wine world? Added to which I’m partial. The book is so often a ‘first […]
Minerality quote, unquote 6
I did the first one of these five and half years ago. Are any patterns emerging? Has there been an evolution in thought on a definition over time? This one is playing a bit of catch up. I’ve been pre-occupied writing a book, which, inevitably with hindsight, turned into an even bigger project than I […]
Closures – research and innovation
There’s a lot going on in the closure world, though it may be some time before we get to hear about some of it. TCA et al. seems to be hanging around in the corner, or even, dare one suggest, drifting off in a state of ennui. OTR is the bigger fish these days. And sustainability issues provide more innovative excitement than anything to do with TCA.
