The 2019 vintage is the second exceptional vintage in Burgundy, and thus also in the Côte de Beaune, which in the sum of all events clearly participated in the global climate changes. They are not the first, but they are vintages with the most obvious changes to the "summer in winter", as it...
First of all, I have to admit that I didn't know much about Roero. Perhaps I also underestimated the region due to previous experiences. But when I tasted the Valfaccenda wines, I was surprised by their richness and bewildered by their complexity. That was more than enough to tickle my curiosity. I...
Domaine Rougeot Père & Fils from Meursault was founded by Henri Rougeot and is now run as a 4th generation family business by Pierre-Henri together with his father Marc. The farm covers 12.6 hectares of vines and produces around 60% of white wine and 40% of red wines. The narrative of family tradition and dedication...
It is not every day that one can announce a newly founded domaine in Burgundy. This is not really the case with Domaine Boris Champy either; for he has taken over the domaine from Didier Montchovet and thus the oldest Demeter-certified vineyard in Burgundy. The process is nevertheless spectacular,...
Today we are in Veneto, in Valpolicella east of Lake Garda. This is the region of Amarone, the deep dark, beguiling balsam of vines. Along with Barolo and Brunello del Montalcino, it is one of the three red wine kings of Italy and exceptional in more ways than one. It starts with the grape varieties, whose names are like incantations....
Text: Christoph Raffelt In the last fifteen years, a type of winemaking has received attention that it has hardly received in the last 4,000 years or so. It is about ageing in the amphora. Where and when exactly this method originated is not known, but it is assumed that...
How does a New Zealander who grew up in South Africa end up founding an iconoclastic winery in Roussillon? It's not exactly commonplace, but that's how it all is with Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa. In the late 90s, Tom worked at the only winery in South Africa that used spontaneous fermentation and low...
Tectonic faults and underwater volcanoes, 70 million years at work. They tore open the Upper Rhine Graben, separated the Vosges from the Black Forest, and lowered the Rhine by several kilometres. For thousands of years, Alsace, on the western side of the rift valley, was a conflict line and meeting zone where - like tectonics - currents of Latin and...
Despite historic drought, Jean-Bernard Berthomé managed to produce the fifth outstanding vintage in a row in 2019. This time, however, the vintage collection of the Huet estate from the Loire consists of only four wines. One dry (Sec) wine from each of the three terroirs Le Haut-Lieu, Clos de Bourg and Le Mont; as well as a more semi-dry...
