“I am so excited to show you our terroir!” exclaims Luca Cuzziol, an owner with his lovely wife of Biancavigna in Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, Italy. I jump into his car and we are off to explore the three pieces of land he owns in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG region, characterized by spectacular topography with steep hills … [...]

  “Welcome to Bisol,” says Roberto Cremonese, energetic export manager at Bisol, a large quality Prosecco DOCG producer in Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. Evidence exists of the Bisol family in the historic heart of the production area of Prosecco, the area called “Chartice” in the very prestigious Cartizze hills – can be found as early as the sixteenth [...]

Wearing a lizard green shirt,  Giovanni Frozza greets me at his family”s winery in Valdobbiadene. Youngish and fit, he explains the details of the winery which has been in this location for 80 years and a few kilometers since 1890. Standing in the distance as we talk and taste at a sunny picnic table is [...]

    A celebrity in Bordeaux and throughout the wine world, Professor Denis Dubourdieu has been Professor of Oenology at the University of Bordeaux since 1987. He owns five wineires (Château Doisy-Daëne, Clos Floridene, Château Reynon, Château Cantegril and Château Haura) and is a widely respected consultant to some of the best Chateau in Bordeaux, [...]

Chateau Kirwan was generous enough to host a fabulous tasting of the wines from Moulis-en-Medoc, Listrac-Medoc, Margaux and the Medoc.  Co-Owner  and publicist Sophie Schyler-Thierry – always stunningly dressed – met us at the door and escorted us into the tasting. As you can imagine, this tasting offered some of the best wines in Bordeaux [...]

It was a delightful treat to blind taste the 2012 vintage of Saint Julien, Pauillac, Saint Estephe and Haut Medoc at 3rd Growth Chateau Lagrange.  Head winemaker Bruno Eynard welcomed journalists to the Chateau in a charming fashion, and made everyone feel comfortable. Given the four regions to be tasted, it was a rather challenging [...]

I love all the wines of Bordeaux, yet there is something so unique about Graves and Pessac-Leognan. This blind En Primeur tasting was very exciting for exactly that reason! Latour-Martillac were excellent hosts, and as I wrote before, the hosting chateaux all scored very well so they must have known early on they had a [...]

Fabulous tasting of wines from Chateau Beauregard for En Primeur on April 10 … What was most interesting the entire week, the Chateau hosting the tasting often had the highest rated scores! In earlier posts, I explained that two groups of journalists (including myself) taste “blind” in that we make our notes before we get [...]

Always such a pleasure to visit Chateau Cheval Blanc!   The 2012 vintage was challenging … buds broke later than usual, and the vines grew very unevenly in April as a result of the difficult weather conditions.  The harvest began on September 27th for Merlot and October 6th for Cabernet Franc. Despite this, the composition [...]

How curious an entire year has passed since I last sipped various vintages of Chateau La Faurie Peyraguey with fellow journalists, under the delightful care of technical manager Eric Larramona, an attractive man in his thirties who looks a bit like a very handsome Clark Kent (you know, Superman) with dark hair, sleek designer glasses, [...]

Every year, the Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) organizes a welcoming dinner for journalists and members of the trade. This year, the event was generously hosted at Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere on the outskirts of the medieval town of Saint-Emilion, at the southern foot of the slope. The 19.5 hectare vineyard has a complex, outstanding [...]

So the Tasting of Sauternes and Barsac this year was at La Tour Blanche — very generous of them to host the tasting this year! As always, I am in one of the two “blind” tasting groups which means that we all taste the wines and write our notes without knowing the winery. The other [...]

“Oh, you’re coming to our Chateau Wednesday night!,” says Jose Sanfins, technical director of Chateau Cantenac-Brown in Margaux. We have just exchanged cards, and are sitting together at a festive Diner d’accueil at Chateau Canon la Gaffeliere in Saint-Emilion.  It is Monday night – the kickoff night for En Primeur 2013 – and over a [...]

“Look at this terroir!” I exclaim, having just tasted the 2012 Château Haut-Bailly and its ‘petite’ sibling, the 2012 La Parde Haut-Bailly during a visit to  the chateau during the week of En Primeur. As you can see in the picture above, the  soil consists of sand mixed with the gravel that gives the Graves [...]

A lovely experience visiting Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Capdemourlin during En Primeur 2013! This chateau in Saint-Emillion is said to be the oldest in the region and had been in the family for hundreds of years. At the end of the 1970s, Jacques Capdemourlin established the unification of the vineyards, grouping together a total of [...]

  John Lewis Brown purchased what would be Chateau Cantenac Brown at the start of the 19th century, put his name on it, and designed the chateau in the Tudor style. The property changed hands several times until the latest to the famous Cognac producer, Remy Martin,  who then sold it to AXA, the insurance [...]

Very interesting to read that Kosher wine sales are growing in multiples … Kosher wine distributor Kedem UK is growing sales outside the Jewish community — 400 Saintsbury’s stores listed Kedem’s Bartenra Moscato recently, with Costco listing its Rothchild’s Chateau Clarke and a Malbec from Argentina – both wines 15 – 17 pounds. FYI, a [...]

  “I love Vinho Verde!” says a colleague when I mention I was just in Portugal. However, I was in the red wine region of Alentejo, not the Vinho Verde DOC where delicate mostly (96%) white wines rule. Exports through May indicate an increase of 11% in volume and value. As is typical for most [...]

… so last night we had dinner in Soave with producers from the Soave DOC wine consortium. The location was right across from the amazing castle, which was dramatically lit up at night. The picture above is from Borgo Rocca Sveva winery, a long time member of the cooperative.  Their early history in photographs are [...]

  … so here I am in my seat as a judge for the 2oth Anniversary of #VeronaFiere’s International Wine Competition representing the USA with the American flag on my little desk to prove it. Today is Day 3 and by now I am a bit more accustomed to the drama surrounding this wine judging, [...]