The Couvent des Jacobins is an integral producer in Saint Emilion’s wine history. It’s not very often you get to taste a vertical going back half a century, but while in Bordeaux recently I was lucky enough to do an excellent vertical at one …
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What is Baga all about and why does it suit the Bairrada terroir? We find out with one of Portugal’s most famous wine producers – the Luis Pato wine family. The Pato family have been making wines for several generations, but Luis Pato changed the …
The Douro is easily one of the most spectacular wine landscapes in the world… The Douro river snakes its way through the valley where vines and stacked stone terraces appear to almost tumble down dramatically steep schist hillsides, the very sight of which induce …
Rías Baixas is practically synonymous with Albariño, and it’s not hard to see why. With the greatest concentration of Albariño vineyards in the world, Rías Baixas DO is considered the birthplace of this unique Galician variety and Albariño still reigns supreme as the main wine made in …
Bordeaux’s en primeur week has always struck me as something of a mystery, and perhaps a little old-fashioned. The idea of evaluating wines before they are ready, putting a price on them prematurely and forming an opinion before you’ve even spat the wine into …
South America’s wine regions don’t ever sit still. They are constantly on the move and in the last two decades we have seen several new wine regions emerge in previously unimaginable locations: the Atacama desert, Patagonia and in the heights of the Andes mountains …
What are Switzerland’s wine regions and how are they each different? One of the world’s leading ampelographers Dr José Vouillamoz describes the indigenous Swiss varieties of grapes as well as the traditional and new grape varieties being produced in Switzerland today. In this fascinating …
As a journalist visiting wine harvests, I’m pretty used to swanning in and out while others are doing the hard work. While the harvest team are busily picking grapes under the hot sun, I usually just take photos, kick around a few rocks with …
There was little talk of Chilean Carignan before Vigno exploded on the wine scene in 2010. The first association of its kind in Chile, Vigno appeared as a small but formidable army of Carignan-fanatics ready to put this underappreciated variety on Chile’s wine map. …
How is Port made and what are the terroir essentials of the Douro? This Fast Facts is a Douro study guide to the viticulture and winemaking in Portugal’s Douro Valley where Port is made. Learn about the climate, soils, vineyard training systems (the patamares, socalcos …