Wijnnieuws

How vital is the clear-glass bottle? And what are its implications? A shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times. The luxury-goods empire LVMH, most frequently associated by wine drinkers with the likes of Krug, Dom Pérignon and first growth bordeaux, has just launched a wine in a plastic bottle. Galoupet Nomade is a

Thinking of opening a restaurant? Read on. In the make-up of restaurants across the UK, Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia, restaurant agents play a vital role. Yet it is one that receives very little publicity. They earn their income working on behalf of landlords and developers on the one hand and restaurateurs on the other. And if

The real-time screen above reminded us tasters why we need to seek alternatives to the glass bottle. On 11 November last year I was walking along the south bank of the Thames, returning from the noisiest wine tasting I have ever attended, one devoted to wine in packages other than glass bottles. And who should I see walking towards me on his way

An enthusiastic recommendation from our eminent Australian columnist of a wine made by a British Master of Wine. From AU$38, HK$230, £26, $34.98 Find this wine When Tim Wildman MW found out last month that The Wine Society were going to start selling his South Australian pet-nat Astro Bunny in the UK, he was tickled pink. ‘I’m going to

The Xinomavro vines of the Hedgehog Vineyard (pictured) at Alpha Estate in Amyndeon, north-west Greece, continue to produce wines that impress Julia. See our other 2022 spring collections on Spain and Portugal, France, California, Germany and Austria, Italy and the southern hemisphere. What a range of grapes, places and styles here! Tam and

Why the new Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) may be the gold standard of sustainable certifications. Troon in Oregon, above, is one of the first wine producers to qualify. See also Tam on the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation launch and rationale. I devote most of my waking hours to researching wine. I look at soil maps; I call

Directions to the new cellar at Ch d'Armailhac (Ch Mouton Rothschild in the background). See also Bordeaux 2021 – a guide. James writes Following the hot, ‘solar’ years of the last decade, it’s back to bordeaux of a more classic breed in 2021. The battle for ripeness raged throughout the year, the growers confronted by frost, downy mildew, a

Time to give up the alcohol-free wine… New actors on the stage of no- and low-alcohol drinks continue to pop out from the wings, brandishing promises of health and wellness, flavour and lifestyle transformation. It's definitely in vogue, a movement gathering steam and, it would seem, the lower the alcohol, the higher the moral high ground. While

Image of dogs and Merlot vines at Ch Bauduc courtesy of Gavin Quinney. We have tasted virtually all the wines likely to be of importance in this year's bordeaux en primeur campaign. Those interested in the prices and the value they represent should follow comment in this thread on our Members' forum, not least the charts kindly assembled by Nick

The US is not burdened with Europe's prejudice against non-vinifera vines. Earlier this year I grew curious about the state of wines made from hybrids in North America. So I reached out to two wine writer colleagues, Todd Tzrakos in Vermont and Lenn Thompson in New York, to ask for their help in contacting producers for a tasting at home in

The downs and ups of this popular central Loire appellation. In the 1980s I was based in Paris and Saumur-Champigny, northern heartland of the Saumur appellation, was all the rage. There wasn’t a bistro or brasserie where it didn’t figure prominently on the wine list. Simple and easy drinking, it went down unassumingly with most dishes and wasn

Does the wine industry need to re-think its relationship with soil? The Regenerative Viticulture Foundation suggests that it does.  We tend to think about soil as an inert, static substance, a never-ending abiotic resource at our disposal, to build on, drive on, cover up with paving or tarmac, extract from, exploit and profit from. We’ve mined

The advice is clear. A slightly shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times. See also Bordeaux 2021 – a guide. Last year was a bit of a shock for France’s vignerons. After a decade of increasingly warm summers, ripe grapes and full-bodied wines, nature tested them to the hilt and finally delivered a crop that struggled to

Where does your restaurant's loaf come from? A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Every time a new customer is seated in a restaurant, any ambitious chef and restaurateur is presented with an exciting challenge. They have the opportunity to titillate the customer’s taste buds untouched by any food or drink. And yet this

Tasting notes on many, if not most, of the finest 2021s in Bordeaux. Jancis writes There is no doubt, as I pointed out on our Members’ forum, that 2021 is a white-wine vintage in Bordeaux. In general the dry whites are brilliantly crisp, aromatic and well defined with quite enough fruit, while the sweet whites are some of the best ever

From €20.90, £19.87, 24 Swiss francs, NZ$49, $32.66; or HK$1,314 per case of 6 Find this wine Four years ago I was convinced that if I could only stuff the entirety of every wine reference book on my shelf into my head, then I would be qualified to be a wine writer. I had expected to be 40 before I was able to contribute meaningful content to

Paula moves on from her group of Ks to a couple of Ws: Weil and Wagner-Stempel. What links Weingut Robert Weil and Weingut Wagner-Stempel is not obvious. While the fabled Rieslings of the Rheingau, Weil’s base, date back to the time of the Cistercians, the western hills of Rheinhessen’s ‘Little Switzerland’, affectionately known as

5 May 2022 A rerun for this ever-popular article. 25 April 2019 Here is the first time we republish an article twice! Such is the interest expressed in this potion that I mentioned recently in Bibulous dinners described. 6 March 2014 This is the second of our Throwback Thursday articles, inspired by our archives or a desire to share a members

A supplement to Walter's latest collection of Italian current releases – the north and the rest. Jancis writes Walter has been so overwhelmed by samples and his need to report on the latest major vintages in Tuscany and Piemonte that he asked Tam to review many of the wines he was offered. As you can see below, she has done a very thorough job

Gavin Quinney of Château Bauduc provides his usual statistical analysis of the vintage, being picked in welcome fine weather above, that has just been presented en primeur – in person! Bordeaux welcomed professionals from the world of fine wine – for the first time in three years – for the spring tastings of the latest vintage at the end of