Bordeaux 2009 revisited: plush, lush, but no shoe-in
by Sarah Abbott MW
The annual Bordeaux tasting by the Institute of Masters of Wine brings together 100 or so of the best wines of Bordeaux four years after the vintage. Most of the...
Topic: Feature
Wine terrorism: meet the CRAV
by Mark Andrew
The year is 1973. A dark cloud has gathered over Europe. Troubled governments are scrambling to get to grips with revolutionary organisations across a continent riven with economic hardship and...
Wine Mosaic: Saving rare grapes from extinction
by Simon Woolf
When was the last time you had a glass of Uvalino, Limniona or Österreichisch Weiss? Possibly not so recently, if ever – all three grape varieties are on the...
The Swartland Revolution
by Tim Atkin
Every revolution needs a spark, a catalyst that changes things forever. It might not compare with the storming of the Bastille or the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the...
Rawfair steals the show
by Simon Woolf
It’s the third Monday in May. I’m in East London, in a barn of a building, buzzing with wine producers, press and trade. There’s a palpable sense of excitement throughout...
2003 Bordeaux: tales from the strip club
by Sarah Abbott MW
“You don’t go to a strip joint looking for a relationship”, says the young man defending the merits of 2003 at BI’s annual “10 Years on Bordeaux Tasting”. This is...
Bucking the trend: Natural wines at Gut Oggau
by Simon Woolf
Somewhere, out there on the internet, the discussion rages on about natural wines. To true believers, it’s the one and only righteous path, to sceptics, nothing more than a farcical...
Priorat: from tradition to hi-tech to terroir
by Victor de la Serna
When the International Wine Academy, the august Geneva-based institution, first visited Catalonia two decades ago, its members didn’t make it to Priorat: the roads were bad in 1994, accommodation almost...
2008 Bordeaux revisited
by Sarah Abbott MW
Bordeaux is the most confident and comfortable of fine wines. Great Burgundy is like riding a runaway horse, bareback. Diving into a top Bordeaux is like being chauffeur driven in...
Georgian qvevri wine: if it’s good enough for God . . .
by Simon Woolf
For Father Gerasim, whether to treat his wines with sulphur or any other additive isn’t a matter of choice. The imperative is simple. Any impurities in the finished product would...
Etna: wines from the volcano
by Simon Woolf
As far as wine regions go, Mount Etna could be described as a wine geek’s wet dream. Volcanic soil, obscure indigenous grape varieties, high altitudes and pre-phylloxera vineyards are just...
Do New World wines age?
by Tim Atkin
What’s the difference between a New and an Old World wine? Twenty-seven years ago, when I started writing about the subject, the distinction was clear-cut. The received wisdom was that...