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The Innings Continues: 1948 to 1995 Yquem
France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured, featured
, May 2025
I have tasted a great deal of mature Bordeaux wine, including Sauternes, but I have not yet achieved the magic number of 100 different vintages from a single estate. I mentioned my goal to Lorenzo Pasquini, Yquem’s head winemaker, when visiting in April, and he promised to do his best to help, cracking open a selection of mainly off-vintages that filled some of the gaps.
Rosé Revolution: Light Red is the New Pink
featured
, May 2025
Rosé’s future looks redder, more serious and more satisfying than ever. The growing movement of bolder, ageworthy wines from far-flung locales is making it clear that Rosé isn’t just a season, it’s a category with staying power.
Vinous Table: Canteen, London, UK
Vinous Table, featured
, May 2025
Canteen successfully combines casual presentation with quality-driven dishes to provide some of the best Italian food in London. The dishes are polished and so delicious that you will be plotting your return at first chew.
The Diverse Villages of Rioja: A New Trend Emerges
Spain, featured
, May 2025
Rioja is changing. One of the most important factors in that change is the increased prominence of small and mid-sized producers and their interpretations of Rioja as village, vineyard or parcel wines. These wines stand in stark contrast to the region’s historically blended wines, and yet they may also represent the most promising future for Spain’s most famous winegrowing region.
Emilia-Romagna: Chomping at the Bit
featured, Italy: Center & South
, May 2025
Emilia-Romagna is transforming before our eyes. Winemakers are redefining the boundaries of Sangiovese, offering surprising depth and a newfound purity, while categories like Lambrusco have started down a more artisanal path. The only thing holding the region back is Mother Nature.
Argentina: Exploring the Outer Reaches
Argentina, featured
, May 2025
In a country as vast as Argentina, vines grow in the most unexpected places. This report explores some of the lesser-known regions where wine is made, along with a look at classic areas such as the southern and northern valleys. These 250 wines tell the story of a different landscape—and a different people.
Going Underground: Clos Fourtet 1989-2019
France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured, featured
, May 2025
Clos Fourtet is one of the most picturesque and ideally located châteaux in Saint-Émilion, blessed with some of the finest terroir on the limestone plateau. Under Mathieu Cuvelier, Clos Fourtet has realised its potential and is now regarded amongst the appellation’s best wines. The heart of this piece is an interview with Cuvelier following a vertical tasting of recent vintages, detailing specifics of the vineyard and winemaking approaches.
Abruzzo Weathers the Storm: Surviving the 2023 and 2024 Vintages
featured, Italy: Center & South
, May 2025
Being a winemaker in Abruzzo these days is a challenge. While the area undergoes massive changes to reform its DOC, reorganize its subregions, keep bottling of Montepulciano within the region and work out a system to add place names to its labels, Abruzzo has also endured two of the most difficult vintages imaginable. Somehow, the best winemakers persevere and continue to keep spirits high.
Piedmont Odds and Ends
featured, Italy: Piedmont, Piedmont
, May 2025
This small update covers a selection of wines that have come across my desk in between major reports. Many of the wines are from Roero, a small appellation that lies across the Tanaro River from Barbaresco. Arneis and Nebbiolo can be especially fine here.
Popping Corks: The Second Vinous Sekt Report
featured, Germany, Austria
, May 2025
The renaissance of German and Austrian Sekt continues apace. After last year’s paean to the revival of bottle-fermented Sekt in both countries, this is the second report on all things German-speaking and bottle-fermented. While the holy trinity of sparkling varieties, namely Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, shines in both countries, we will also take a closer look at Rieslingsekt.