One of the most famous but least coveted of Piedmont’s red wines, Dolcetto is very much the underdog. And it is also most certainly underestimated. Known for being a softer, fleshier wine than its Piedmont rivals of Nebbiolo and Barbera, Dolcetto is overlooked by …
Category:
Europe
Grapevines love long, dry summers and autumns with plenty of sunshine and warmth. Damp weather means the grapes struggle to ripen and vines may suffer from fungal infections like botrytis. Prolonged or heavy rain can lead to waterlogged soils, which vines really hate. And …
Once upon a time, many people thought the UK was too cold for serious winemaking and English wine was ridiculed. But in the light of the rapidly growing viticulture industry in both England and Wales, it is time to think again. We’ve pulled together …
It isn’t the views but rather the aromas that capture you as you drive through the Dão wine region: pine, eucalyptus, the fresh forest pours through the crevices of even a closed car door window. The aromas are overwhelming. The view, however, is surprisingly …
Bairrada is one of Portugal’s most important and yet least discovered wine regions. Professor José Carvalheira at Estação Vitivinícola da Bairrada has been thoroughly researching Bairrada and is the winemaker at Caves São João, with access to one of the most extensive cellars for aged Bairrada wines …
The Douro is a wine region that has both remained loyal to its history but also seen great changes in recent years. On my visit, I sat down for a chat with Francisca Van Zeller, the youngest generation of the Van Zeller family which …
How are wine corks made? It’s a much longer process than you might imagine – it can take up to half a century to get your first quality wine cork from a tree. Following my visit to the cork harvest in Portugal, I put together a …
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 …
What are the Dão wines all about? One of the Dão’s top winemakers, Carlos Lucas, explains what makes the Dão wine region and its wines unique in this interview. Following a long career building one of Portugal’s biggest companies, Dão Sul, Carlos has had …
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 …