Wine
• Making wine in Israel is strictly kosher
Although even experts cannot tell the difference in the perfumes or flavours of Kosher and non-Kosher wines in a blind tasting, there are tedious and clear-cut religious differences in the wine making process that must be understood and followed diligently, writes our regular contributor John Salvi MW who was recently in Israel for several days, [...]
• The real wine to drink with chocolate is…chocolate wine! Really?
Suddenly, chocolate-wine lovers (and they are legion) have more than a dozen to choose from, says Wine Adviser columnist Paul Gregutt. …Over the years I’ve launched a few broadsides at the flawed notion that cabernets or other dry red wines pair well with chocolate. I’ve suggested that sweet reds, especially tawny ports, can do the [...]
• Want to visit Ruinart historic champagne cellars? Get this app
Ruinart has launched an app offering virtual tours of the Champagne house’s historic cellars. Forming part of a nearly 2,000 year old vast underground network lying 38 metres below the city of Reims known as the crayères, the Ruinart cellars occupy eight kilometres spread over three levels and have been owned by the house since [...]
• Panel picks eight top single vineyard Napa Cabs
Eight wines have tied in first place in a tasting of single vineyard Napa Cabernets from the 2008 vintage. Thirty Napa Valley winemakers and retailers gathered at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St Helena, California to assess single vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the 2008 vintage. The reviewers are part [...]
• Moët to produce Chinese red wine
Moët Hennessy is understood to have bought a vineyard in China, where it plans to make red wine for the domestic market. According to French magazine Challenges, the luxury drinks giant has signed a deal with VATS, China’s largest alcoholic drinks distributor, to develop 30 hectares of vineyard in the mountains of Yunnan province, south [...]
• Muscadet Vignerons Seek Wine’s ‘Next Big Thing’ in Loire Rocks
“As my boots crunch through snow, Pierre-Marie Luneau hands me a chunk of serpentinite rock in his vineyard on La Butte de la Roche. Like all the best Muscadet producers, Luneau is obsessed with how soil affects a wine’s quality. Muscadet is typecast as a gulpable, fresh, crisp white wine ideally paired with oysters. And [...]
• James Suckling hails ’09 Bordeaux “best ever”
Wine writer James Suckling has hailed 2009 Bordeaux as possibly the “best ever modern vintage” with the release of his in-bottle scores. Writing on his site he said: “It’s seldom that a vintage such as 2009 comes to Bordeaux. The last time may have been 1989, or even 1982”. Nine wines are now rated at [...]
• Artisan wine fair RAW to launch in London
RAW, an artisan wine fair for fine, organic and biodynamic wines, will launch in London this May. Scheduled to take place at the Old Truman Brewery in East London on 20-21 May, the fair will feature over 150 growers. Classic regions such as Burgundy, Bordeaux and Piedmont will be represented, as well as newcomers like [...]
• Shun $2,000 Bottles of Geriatric Vintages, Go With Younger Wine
Pianist Arthur Rubinstein was fond of telling the story of the wine connoisseur who once invited the composer Johannes Brahms to dinner: “This is the Brahms of my cellar,” said the collector to his guests, filling the master’s glass from a dusty bottle. Brahms looked at the color of the wine, smelled it and finally [...]
• Rude wine name offends Cantonese
A wine brand from Chile is unknowingly offending Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong with its explicit name. Called Chilensis, the label, from Via Wines in Chile’s Maule Valley, loosely translates as “f*cking nuts” according to a source in Hong Kong. Following local press reports about the rude label demand has in fact soared for the [...]
• WINE FRAUD WARNING: RUDY KURNIAWAN IS TRYING TO AUCTION MORE WINES
In the last 48 hours I have confirmed from multiple sources that Rudy Kurniawan is once again offering millions of dollars worth of wine for auction — this time at an auction to be held in London on February 8 by Spectrum Wine Auctions (based in Orange County California) and Vanquish Wine Ltd of London. [...]
• Experts fail Champagne taste test
Wine experts can’t tell the difference between white and rosé Champagne in blind tastings. An experiment using a range of Champagnes served in black glasses showed that experienced tasters and wine commentators can’t distinguish different styles of Champagne, or indeed, red grapes from white. Using Pernod Ricard Champagnes such as Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Blanc de [...]
• GST (growing season temperature) best measure for viticulturists
Pioneering cool climate viticulturist Dr Andrew Pirie, of Tamar Ridge, revitalised GST as a single measure offering a refined definition of cool climate at the opening session of the 8th International Cool Climate Symposium in Tasmania. Pirie tested some of the current climate indices by trialling how successful they are in Tasmania, no easy task [...]
• Dom Pérignon chief debunks acidity “myth”
Dom Pérignon cellar master Richard Geoffroy described the connection between acidity and age-worthiness in wine as a “myth” during a tasting of the Champagne house’s new release from the notoriously warm 2003 vintage. Commenting on the decision by many of his peers not to release a vintage in 2003, Geoffroy remarked: “For too many Champenois [...]
• Happy Birthday, Chardonnay! 100 Years of Growth in U.S.
Chardonnay, the world’s most popular white wine, dates back centuries, but it owes much of its history in the United States to a winemaker who planted the grape in California 100 years ago. Ernest Wente, of the family-owned Wente Vineyards east of San Francisco, brought cuttings from Montpelier, France in 1912 and planted them in [...]
