Radda is probably my favourite Chianti Classico commune. With elevations up to 550m, sweeping slopes and dense forests, it is the coolest part of Chianti Classico. Historically, the challenge was to ripen grapes fully. Radda is also home to a number of great wineries, Montevertine, Volpaia and Monteraponi to name a few. The revived Castello
My favourite wines – for a special occasion, celebrating the end of MW exams
My favourite wines Read More »
Then there is the elongated perfume-jar bottle from Domaine des Fournelles which uses a ton of glass. Finally, in the rosé section, the rather elegant contemporary rosé look adopted by Vignerons Des Pierres Dorées: Let’s move on to more conventional Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages. As already said, there are lots of traditional bottles and labels, but
Beaujolais gets stylish Read More »
I have only recently come to realise how much I love Syrah as a wine. It has now joined my personal pantheon of Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese (and quite a few other tannic Italian varieties) and the very best examples of Chardonnay, roughly in that order. These are the varieties I want to cellar
We all know that the best wines today have to be ‘chalky’, ‘slatey’ or ‘gravelly’ – that is a major thing that distinguishes them from everyday, merely fruity wines. It would be interesting to do a research project on how this situation came about (MW research project anyone?) But that is not for now. Andover
‘Minerality’: in brief Read More »
In my last post Mineral muddle, I wrote about Alex Maltman’s new book on geology, soils and the vine. His main concerns are geology and soils. But along the way, he explains how a vine gets the nutrients it needs. Reading this book reminded me that these basic processes are rarely explained outside of scientific circles.
How does a vine gets the nutrients it needs? Read More »
Alex Maltman, Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils. the wine lover’s guide to geology, Oxford, 2018. My question is: can this book begin to clear up the mineral muddle that wine commentators have got into? In John Szabo MS’ otherwise excellent book, Volcanic Wines (2016), there is a particularly alarming example of poor logic. It comes when
I recently held a small tasting of Tuscan reds, mostly Sangiovese-based which raised intriguing questions about how much we like a wine. The occasion was the opportunity to taste the glossy wines of Podere Forte (which I review at length here) alongside some Tuscan classics. The rest of the group tasted the three Podere Forte
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Ruffino is a large wine company with an annual turnover of €100m. It was founded in Pontassieve, the gateway to the Chianti sub-region of Rúfina, in 1877 and has since gone from strength to strength. The Riserva Ducale (‘reserved for the Duke’) line is named in honour of the Duke of Aosta. Back in 1890
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Lovers of red Burgundy will be all too familiar with wines which fail to live up to expectation. Too many wines – especially in the past – were pale, feeble or lack the heady perfume that Pinot Noir can deliver in the Côte d’Or. But when they do deliver, they are – without qualification –
Red Burgundy outperforms expectation … Read More »
