News from Jancis Robinson

Tasting the 2020s was a real joy – not least because so many producers are defying hot, dry years with delightfully fresh, expressive, 'new old' wines. See our guide to coverage of 2020 bordeaux. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Owners of the crus classés, members of UGCB, above. We’re now in the thick of the

Some unlikely heroes have emerged in the pandemic. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Daniel Krieger took this picture of New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. Over the past year, with their chefs and sommeliers sidelined, restaurateurs have had to come up with creative ways to stay in business. Up to a third of all UK

For International Sauvignon Blanc Day, a truly superior example – recommended even to those who say they don’t like Sauvignon. From £20.68, $38.99 Find this wine Californian Samantha O’Keefe is a brilliant winemaker, working in virtual isolation in a particularly cool spot in South Africa. Her underpriced wines are also delightfully well

We celebrate International Sauvignon Blanc Day today. See also today's wine of the week, a most unusual Sauvignon. It's a thing, and it even has its own website: Sauvblancday.com. No need for me to even suggest food pairings – the recipes are all there. (Although, looking a little more closely at the recipes page, I think they could make a bit

This year's releases of Dom Pérignon, Cristal and Krug. Wallets at the ready! Wine students will learn much from the detail below. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon seen in one of Louis Roederer's many vineyards above. Zooms aren’t all bad. In a 10-day period last month I had Zooms with Vincent Chaperon introducing three new releases of Dom Pérignon, with

Bordeaux's Bill Blatch, provider of many a comprehensive Bordeaux vintage report in the past, concentrates here on his real love, Sauternes and Barsac, and also reports on the devastating 2021 frost damage there. Ch Suduiraut, one of the stars of the vintage, and its vineyards are pictured above in autumn 2020. A very warm 2019/20 winter (100

The Austrians usually hold a comprehensive generic tasting in London early in the year. During the 2021 lockdown it was obviously not possible, so instead we were allowed to choose which producers' wines we'd like to taste at home and we split the regions. Vienna and surrounding vineyards above © Austrian Wine/Robert Herbst. Julia writes about

How come the hot, dry year produced such fresh wines? An overview of the vintage about to be offered en primeur. James Lawther MW was able to attend the UGCB tasting in Bordeaux pictured above (@ugcb). See Bill Blatch's report on Sauternes 2020 tomorrow. The most surprising thing about 2020 bordeaux is the style of wine produced. A hot, dry

How can madeira decisively move into the twenty-first century? Two things puzzled me on our visit to Madeira in December 2020. The first was the wine glasses. Everywhere we went, from tastings at the top producers to high-end restaurants to little wine bars, madeira was served in small copita-like glasses, similar to the ISO tasting glasses used

A look at how Bibi Graetz of Testamatta's (even) more expensive wine has evolved over time. A dramatic increase in our coverage of this cult Tuscan producer. Colore is perhaps the most distinctive wine produced by the highly individual Bibi Graetz. As a winemaker, Graetz pretty much breaks the norm for Tuscan wine producers, with a Norwegian

This Aboriginal depiction of a vineyard in the Yarra Valley was made 120 years ago by a man called William Barak, a leader of the Wurundjeri people who have lived here for tens of thousands of years, long before white people invaded in the early 19th century. The vineyard was planted in 1860 by Swiss settler-vigneron, Samuel de Pury. Despite the

The English are revelling in eating out again, well wrapped up, but those serving them are a bit thin on the ground. Above, the outside seating area at Caravan King's Cross. April is the cruellest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.Winter kept us warm, coveringEarth in

Wines from Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Finger Lakes, Ukraine, Cyprus and China. A shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Arsen Fedosenko took this picture of grapes drying at Beykush winery in Ukraine for their delicious Tempranillo/Saperavi blend Kara Kermen. The most admired classic wines are great but, heavens, life

From €9.50, $15.99, £16, 189.90 Norwegian kroner, 146.90 Brazilian reais Find this wine DNMC isn’t really an abbreviation but it stands for ‘Dinâmica’, which does not exactly appear on the label (see above) because it could not be registered as an international brand. It’s a good name for this delicious and easy-drinking red, from a small but

At Biondi-Santi everything changes so everything can stay the same. Walter grills the new team there. There is no estate in Italy more closely identified with its owners than Biondi-Santi, rooted in Montalcino for more than six generations. In the mid 19th century Ferruccio Biondi Santi (for some reason, the wine has a hyphen, the family name

The last of our three collections of tasting notes on 2020 cask samples. See also Bordeaux 2020 – right-bank reds and Bordeaux 2020 – left-bank reds. We will continue to add more recent tasting notes to them under a heading Recent additions. See also this guide to our coverage of 2020 bordeaux. Sémillon grapes being picked by hand at Ch Bauduc

Malu Lambert admires the spirit of a new staff-owned project by Mullineux, with help from Waitrose. The Great Heart team are pictured above, left to right, Chris and Andrea Mullineux, Gynore Fredericks, Baron Willemse and Johan Waterboer. Although it resulted in commercial disasters such as bringing wine exports to a grinding halt, the pandemic

The second of our three collections of tasting notes on 2020 cask samples. See also Bordeaux 2020 – right-bank reds. Whites tomorrow. See also this guide to our coverage of 2020 bordeaux. Gavin Quinney of Ch Bauduc took this picture of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes being picked at Ch Léoville-Poyferré on 23 September 2020, a couple of days after

Thoughts on trying to carry on as usual. Above, emptied bottles of bordeaux 2020 cask samples – each labelled with the date the sample was taken. You may remember my scepticism this time last year about the logistics and wisdom of holding the 2019 campaign as usual. I had doubts about receiving samples last April when there was still so much

All about the COVID-19 vintage. And let us fervently hope it will turn out to be the only Bordeaux vintage to have been harvested by masked pickers. Above, Merlot grapes being picked at Ch Léoville Barton, as captured by Gavin Quinney of Ch Bauduc. This year, as last, Bordeaux's en primeur campaign has been limited by pandemic-related