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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

Neal Martin, 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.

Rose cover

Rosé Revolution: Light Red is the New Pink

featured

Billy Norris, 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.

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Vinous Table: Canteen, London, UK

Vinous Table, featured

Neal Martin, 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.

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The Diverse Villages of Rioja: A New Trend Emerges

Spain, featured

Joaquín Hidalgo, 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.

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Emilia-Romagna: Chomping at the Bit

featured, Italy: Center & South

Eric Guido, 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.

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Argentina: Exploring the Outer Reaches

Argentina, featured

Joaquín Hidalgo, 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.

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Going Underground: Clos Fourtet 1989-2019

France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured, featured

Neal Martin, 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.

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Abruzzo Weathers the Storm: Surviving the 2023 and 2024 Vintages

featured, Italy: Center & South

Eric Guido, 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.

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Piedmont Odds and Ends

featured, Italy: Piedmont, Piedmont

Antonio Galloni, 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.

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Popping Corks: The Second Vinous Sekt Report

featured, Germany, Austria

Anne Krebiehl, MW, 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.