Features

Up the Douro & Quinta Nova

by  |  16-01-2018

My mother’s family is of Portuguese descent and to honor this many years ago we opened a bottle of Vintage Port that my grandfather had brought back from Porto. The build up was intense and... more »

The Grand Carignan Tasting

by  |  08-01-2018

There existed a time when I was daft to the wiles and wonders of the grape, Carignan. Despite pockets of old vines in California it was essentially a lost variety. Little thought and even less... more »

Sangenís i Vaqué: a Priorat family

by  |  17-11-2017

Having roots in Spain’s Priorat wine region means having a family that has seen some incredibly bleak times. While in the late 1800s the region experienced a boom, due to phylloxera blighting France, once the... more »
Gremi Castle and well, sheep

A Georgian wine revival, how?

by  |  28-10-2017

For those immersed in the wine world, Georgian wines have been on fire for some time, so much so that most editors I work with don’t even want new articles about the country and its... more »

And the Paratges of Cava arrive

by  |  17-08-2017

It is not unjust to say that Spain’s sparkling wine, Cava, is the antithesis of “terroir”. While 90% of this Iberian bubbly comes from within the limits of the Penedès counties in Catalunya, there are... more »

Empordà, wines from the wind

by  |  13-06-2017

Historically, Roussillon and Empordà were much more joined as the former comprised what used to be the northern portion of a larger Catalonia some 350 years ago. And despite now being the last bastion of... more »

The continuing potential of Croatian wine

by  |  07-05-2017

In regards to tourism, Croatia is now a destination in its own right and has long shed the infamous, “The Next” descriptor which has seemingly been passed on to Albania, now “The Next Croatia”. In... more »
"čuveno vino" very modestly, the "famous wine"

50 years of the Postup appellation

by  |  22-03-2017

When it comes to the “Grand Crus” of Croatia, if people know one, it would be Dingač, although I’m sure even that’s a stretch. There’s nothing shameful in this as Croatia hasn’t done much to... more »

Finding the finesse in a ‘rancid wine’

by  |  02-01-2017

It may impossible when gazing upon the crumbling slate and the rugged landscape, but in 1893 phylloxera arrived to the Catalan county of Priorat, starting in the village of Porrera. From there it spread rapidly... more »

Armenian wineries and wines

by  |  21-12-2016

By way of giving a little background read this introduction to Armenian wines followed by the oldest wine cellar in the world, it will make a review of Armenia’s wine bars more cohesive. Of course... more »