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Growing Up ‘n Getting Wiser: South Africa in 2022
South Africa, featured
, Sep 2022
Returning after lockdown, I sought to take the temperature of South Africa’s ever-changing vinous landscape: walking vineyards, meeting winemakers and marvelling at wines that quicken the pulse. What are the roots of its success? Where are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead? It’s time to find out.
2021 Barolo en Primeur Charity Auction
Italy: Piedmont, featured
, Sep 2022
I am delighted to once again host the Barolo en Primeur Charity Auction, being held simultaneously in New York City and Grinzane Cavour on Friday, October 28 at 12pm New York time and 6pm Piedmont time. This is a rare opportunity to acquire 2021 Barolo ahead of release. Some of the lots will be sold as single barrels, as they were last year, while others are collections of smaller lots from various producers, organized by village. All the wines will be adorned with special labels designed by artist Michelangelo Pistoletto.
A Century of Bordeaux: The Twos
France: Bordeaux, featured
, Sep 2022
Why look back 10 years when you could look back 20, 30, 40, perhaps 110 years? After a lockdown hiatus, my annual “Century of…” article examines an array of Bordeaux wines from a raft of 2012s, all the way back to the year the Titanic sank.
Basilicata: Vulture’s Rise from the Ashes
Italy: Center & South, featured
, Sep 2022
For many years now, a core of passion- and quality-driven producers have been working hard to prove that Vulture deserves its place on the world’s stage. While many hurdles remain, I wholeheartedly believe that Vulture is very much on its way.
Léoville-Poyferré 1936-2018
Verticals & Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux, featured
, Sep 2022
Didier Cuvelier rejuvenated Léoville-Poyferré. A new chapter opened when his cousin, Sara Lecompte Cuvelier, took over the helm a few years ago. Following a vertical of recent vintages, this article examines one of Saint-Julien’s most respected estates.
Swings and Roundabouts: Chablis 2020/2021
France: Burgundy, featured
, Sep 2022
Chablis is a mirror, translating growing seasons into wine with minimal interference compared to elsewhere. The 2020 and 2021 vintages are very different, the latter resulting in wines I thought would not be seen again. So where do you start looking?
The Power and the Passion: Wynns John Riddoch 1982-2019
Australia, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured
, Sep 2022
The roots for Wynns Coonawarra Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch were planted over a century ago in the 1890s. Today the wine is a modern Australian classic as illustrated by this full vertical tasting stretching back to the 1982 vintage. Fine, detailed and well structured, these long-lived Cabernet Sauvignons show more than just a passing resemblance to the best wines from the Left Bank and have their own, distinctive Coonawarra style.
The Not So Wild West: Margaret River in the Groove
Australia, featured
, Sep 2022
It is hard to believe that in a little over fifty years Margaret River has risen from a home of counterculture to be one of Australia’s most sophisticated wine regions. A tasting of new releases again showed that, pound for pound, there are few premium wine zones that can match the sheer value from this incredibly remote corner of the world.
Chenin Blanc: Wait a Sec
France: Loire, featured
, Sep 2022
No two seasons are alike in the Loire these days. In addition, the reality is that dry wines are far easier to sell today than off-dry and sweet wines. Looking at 2020 and 2021 in the context of current trends, the question remains: while the market clamours for dry Loire Chenin Blanc, is the move towards drier styles in the wines’ best interests?
South Australia, Victoria and a Bit Beyond
Australia, featured
, Sep 2022
The sheer diversity of wine styles in greater South Australia is nothing short of mind-bending. Name it, they make it. That makes generalizing about this vast swath of territory a fool’s errand. The attitude toward Australian wines seems to finally be shifting to what is and has been happening here, albeit slowly. Still, far too many wine lovers view Australia’s massive and far-flung vinous culture as simply about big, full-throttle reds, all day long. Stereotypes do tend to die hard.