Wine & Spirits Magazine’s annual roundup of the best wines they reviewed in 2018. Usually, we despair of such pageantry, but W&S puts a lot more care into their listings than most, as witnessed by their tasting notes. A few highlights: Year’s Best Loire Wines: Sparkling 92 | Domaine Richou Vin de France Les “D”…
Master Sommelier Brian McClintic’s take on Oregon Chardonnay and one specific site…Click here.
He’s an old soul, Jean-Pierre Charlot of Domaine Joseph Voillot, one quite committed and modest. Elegant in argument and clear in vision, he has no truck with tra-la-la. He cares deeply about Burgundy’s traditions and the structure of the family domain, and the cultural and artistic diversity that such things inspire. This goes a long…
[Domaine Pfister’s Crémant d’Alsace is] not only a real delight but a glimpse of greatness. Read “The First Day of Christmas with Champagne and Sparkling Wine” here. The author chooses the Pfister sparkling wine for his first day.
So, in a year with no shortage of great wines, the bottles that rose to the top did so for two reasons: They told great stories, and then they backed those tales up with unmistakable mastery……The quality of [the Jacquesson] “nonvintage” wine is unwavering every year—particularly the 741, with its lighter, harmonious pinot noir flavors:…
Jeff Bramwell was an ace Country Vintner rep in North Carolina who went on a trip with Vintage ’59 Imports. He’s a serious photographer, and you may have noted his name attributed to some of the photos on our site. He likes to cook too. Check out his website on Pierre Jean Villa’s wines and…
From Antonio Galloni in Vinous: “Keep an eye on Domaine de la Folie. There is wonderful purity of fruit beginning to develop and genuine terroir expression both in white and red. There is clearly a lot of love being lavished on Domaine de la Folie and, whilst they might have limited means, as far as…
Armagnac is a growing concern everywhere in the US, and Darroze Bas-Armagnac holds a unique and important position in that world. Vinous Media recently published its first article ever on distilled spirits, and out of the sea of more popular choices it selected little ole Armagnac. Darroze featured prominently and performed impressively. Read the article…
Harvest has been finished since September 12; we are doing the last rackings. The vintage was difficult in the South for the vines and for the winegrowers. You have probably heard about it because we have never before seen such mildew! But together we battled valiantly and, despite moments of despair, doubt, thinking that all…
New Amsterdam, circa 1660: the first map. This has nothing to do with wine and everything to do with the origins of Manhattan, which in turn has to do with culture, which therefore has some bearing on wine however intangibly (everything culturally in the West does, no?). This came about when we were in Brooklyn,…
