Visiting Aya Estate for the opening of their winery: Bulgarian wine playing at a new level
Website: https://ayaestatevineyards.com/en/ I’m just on my way back from the Struma Valley in southern Bulgaria, where I was attending the
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Regions
Bonhams is auctioning off the cellar of Locanda Locatelli, and a few of us get to try some of the gems over lunch
Back in January 2025 well known Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli closed the doors on his London restaurant Locanda Locatelli rather
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A quick guide to New Zealand wine
New Zealand is a relative newcomer in the roll call of significant wine-producing countries. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that
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Tablas Creek and Château Beaucastel: a Wine Society tasting telling the story of how a leading Rhône domaine fell in love with California
Jason Haas of Tablas Creek and Andrew Bayley (GM of Beaucastel’s UK operation) presented this really interesting tasting, telling the
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Highlights: Sadie Family Wines Twiswind 2024 & Sonvang 2024
These two newest Sadie Family wines are 20+ years in the making. Eben Sadie started the project back in 2002,
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Highlights: Graham Beck Cuvée Clive 2018 Western Cape, South Africa
Website: https://grahambeck.com/ Tried this tonight, and was really impressed. I’ve tried previous vintages, but this was quite striking in its
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Crafted in BC Wines Extended through 2025 Vintage
Earlier this week Wine Growers British Columbia announced that the Government of British Columbia is extending the temporary Crafted in
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Champagne Salon and Delamotte: the 2015 Salon release, and a look at the current Delamotte range
Champagne Delamotte is based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a grand cru village in the Côte des Blancs. It was founded back
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Highlights: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2014
Website: https://www.taittinger.com/en The new release of this classic! And it’s really good. Champagne Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs
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Icelandic pharma-titan, Robert Wessman of Maison Wessman in Bergerac and his Wine Director, Lise Sadirac, fight for a new Issigeac micro-appellation with musical backing from Nora Jones
Wessman seeks vinous validation for Issigeac and Conne-de-Labarde, which lie on a clearly defined limestone plateau and merit their own micro-appellation according to Vineyard Director Lise Sadirac, who is working hard to convince the INAO. The layered limestone plateau of D’Issigeac took 1.5 million years to form. Vines take a decade to root in the fissured rock, where soil is a mere 20cm deep. Bergerac has 13 appellations and no distinct identity. Fine wine would benefit from a perceptible point of difference and a dose of celebrity stardust.
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