Gruaud larose recent bottles

An Exploration of Time: Gruaud Larose 1831-2018

France: Bordeaux, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

Do you want one of the most comprehensive reports on Gruaud Larose ever written? Do you want to know its history and first-hand information from proprietor Jean Merlaut? Do you want 70 tasting notes stretching back in time to 1831? You’ve come to the right place.

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Trentino-Alto Adige: Pushing the Limits

Italy: North, featured

Eric Guido, Mar 2024

Over the past two decades, Trentino-Alto Adige was largely unaffected by the negative impact of climate change yet is now dealing with successive warm vintages. While we can still depend on their production of cool, crisp whites and alpine reds, recent years have reshaped the wines and forced producers to begin thinking outside of the box.

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Champagne: The 2024 Spring Preview

France: Champagne, featured

Antonio Galloni, Mar 2024

Our annual Champagne Spring Preview takes a look at the year’s first releases ahead of my more comprehensive coverage later in the year. Readers will find a bevy of gorgeous wines in this report that span the full stylistic breadth of what Champagne has to offer.

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Cellar Favorite: 2017 Domaine Samuel Billaud Chablis Mont de Milieu 1er Cru

cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

I have praised Samuel Billaud’s wines for around a decade now, going so far as to suggest that they rank amongst Chablis’ premier tier of producers, alongside Raveneau and Dauvissat. A recent dinner at the splendid Lorne restaurant, the same that saw the 1973 La Fleur-Pétrus opened, also witnessed a bottle that ‘sizzled’ with potential.

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Vinous Table: Le Dôme Montparnasse, Paris France

Vinous Table, France

Antonio Galloni, Mar 2024

Aside from the obligatory foie gras dish, the menu at Le Dôme is pretty much all fish and seafood. I can’t say if the other options are as good as the seafood tower, but I have made it a point to find out very soon. Paris can be a challenging city for eating, especially on the weekends, when so many places are closed. Le Dôme is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, which makes it a very useful address. Service is incredibly professional and friendly.

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Evoe! German and Austrian Sekt Report

Germany, Austria, featured

Anne Krebiehl MW, Mar 2024

The landscape of Austrian and German sparkling wine, or Sekt, has changed beyond recognition – at long last. What began with the heroic and often lone efforts of a handful of determined individuals in the 1970s and 1980s is finally in full fizz. It took decades of legal changes and challenges to create this new category, but even more so, it took years of cultural re-assessment to rehabilitate the historical term “Sekt”. Traditional method Sekt is now a serious, exciting and growing category in both countries. The ambition is palpable. This inaugural Sekt report covers bottle-fermented Sekts from Styria to the Weinviertel in Austria and Baden to Saxony in Germany. The revival was slow, but today, you can hear corks popping everywhere.

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Borgo del Tiglio Rosso Riserva: The Road Less Traveled

Italy: North, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Eric Guido, Mar 2024

Why would one of the greatest producers of white wine in Italy want to organize a tasting of the second label of their red wine? This is the question that was on my mind as I drove down the country road that leads to Cormòns, the small hamlet that is home to Borgo del Tiglio.

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Test of Endurance: Bordeaux 2014 Ten Years On

France: Bordeaux, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

The Bordeaux 2014 vintage has reached ten years of age, an ideal opportunity to look back, both in blind and sighted tastings, and see how the wines are evolving. As usual, there were plenty of surprises, not always positive, however.

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Cellar Favorite: 1991 René Balthazar Cornas

cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

The Northern Rhône is a region that I would like to know better. There is too little time with Burgundy and Bordeaux under my charge, so I look forward to future reports from my colleague, Nicolas Greinacher. A recent Riesling/Syrah-themed dinner was bejeweled with exquisite bottles and fodder for several Cellar Favorites. This one caught my eye.

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Vinous Table: Caffé Toscanini, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Vinous Table, Netherlands

Neal Martin, Mar 2024

Toscanini should be high on the list for any Italian epicures or oenophiles. The lively atmosphere is worth the entry price alone. Speaking to Pacenti later, he explained how regulars tend to come on Friday night and how customers are exacting in their demands with respect to seasoning, consistency of pasta and so on. At Toscanini, this is no problem. It is all part of the service. Factor a wine list that is so chock full of gems that I considered putting in a request to swap Bordeaux for Italy (only joking). Then you understand why this restaurant has been part of Amsterdam’s dining scene for almost four decades.