Exploring the ancient cellars of domaine auguste clape amidst the heart of cornas copycover

Northern Rhône: Where Diversity Ignites the Senses

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Nicolas Greinacher, Mar 2024

Diversity reigns supreme in the Northern Rhône Valley, with each appellation offering unique expressions. Despite climatic challenges, local vintners exhibit remarkable adaptability, ensuring the sustainability of their vineyards and the quality of their wines. This report unearths the distinct characteristics of the 2021 and 2022 vintages, from a high degree of variability of the former to the promising potential of the latter.

Gruaud larose recent bottles

An Exploration of Time: Gruaud Larose 1831-2018

France: Bordeaux, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

Do you want one of the most comprehensive reports on Gruaud Larose ever written? Do you want to know its history and first-hand information from proprietor Jean Merlaut? Do you want 70 tasting notes stretching back in time to 1831? You’ve come to the right place.

The village of kurtatsch and its surrounding vineyards courtesy of benjamin pfitscher cover copy

Trentino-Alto Adige: Pushing the Limits

Italy: North, featured

Eric Guido, Mar 2024

Over the past two decades, Trentino-Alto Adige was largely unaffected by the negative impact of climate change yet is now dealing with successive warm vintages. While we can still depend on their production of cool, crisp whites and alpine reds, recent years have reshaped the wines and forced producers to begin thinking outside of the box.

Ch 2024 spring preview selosse copy2

Champagne: The 2024 Spring Preview

France: Champagne, featured

Antonio Galloni, Mar 2024

Our annual Champagne Spring Preview takes a look at the year’s first releases ahead of my more comprehensive coverage later in the year. Readers will find a bevy of gorgeous wines in this report that span the full stylistic breadth of what Champagne has to offer.

German and austrian sekt potential cover

Evoe! German and Austrian Sekt Report

Germany, Austria, featured

Anne Krebiehl MW, Mar 2024

The landscape of Austrian and German sparkling wine, or Sekt, has changed beyond recognition – at long last. What began with the heroic and often lone efforts of a handful of determined individuals in the 1970s and 1980s is finally in full fizz. It took decades of legal changes and challenges to create this new category, but even more so, it took years of cultural re-assessment to rehabilitate the historical term “Sekt”. Traditional method Sekt is now a serious, exciting and growing category in both countries. The ambition is palpable. This inaugural Sekt report covers bottle-fermented Sekts from Styria to the Weinviertel in Austria and Baden to Saxony in Germany. The revival was slow, but today, you can hear corks popping everywhere.

Overlooking brazzano di cormons from the borgo di tiglio vineyards  copy

Borgo del Tiglio Rosso Riserva: The Road Less Traveled

Italy: North, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Eric Guido, Mar 2024

Why would one of the greatest producers of white wine in Italy want to organize a tasting of the second label of their red wine? This is the question that was on my mind as I drove down the country road that leads to Cormòns, the small hamlet that is home to Borgo del Tiglio.

Bordeaux 2014 firsts

Test of Endurance: Bordeaux 2014 Ten Years On

France: Bordeaux, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

The Bordeaux 2014 vintage has reached ten years of age, an ideal opportunity to look back, both in blind and sighted tastings, and see how the wines are evolving. As usual, there were plenty of surprises, not always positive, however.

Looking out toward the historic town of %c5%a0martno from the gonja%c4%8de lookout tower copy

Slovenia: Just the Beginning

featured, Slovenia

Eric Guido, Mar 2024

So similar to northeastern Italy yet alien all the same, the wines of Slovenia are increasingly of note. The country is exploding with new projects, young talents and even cross-border collaborations. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor.

Clos des lambrays line up

Merci, Monsieur Amiot: Clos des Lambrays 1923-2021

France: Burgundy, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

Behind every label of an iconic wine lie nameless men and women whose combined talent and labor led to its creation. This vertical of Clos des Lambrays is dedicated to Etienne Amiot, a predecessor of Jacques Devauges, who oversaw the creation of these sublime wines.

Drc cover march122024 final

Domaine de la Romanée Conti: A Survey of the 2021s

France: Burgundy, featured

Antonio Galloni, Mar 2024

What a difference a year makes. After the decidedly exuberant 2020s, the 2021s from Domaine de la Romanée Conti show another side of Burgundy, one marked by a highly challenging growing season that tested the mettle of growers. In many ways, difficult years make for the most interesting discussions because individual choices so deeply inform the wines. There was plenty to talk about as Co-Directors Bertrand de Villaine and Perrine Fenal showed the 2021s in this tasting organized by long-time US importer Wilson-Daniels.