Not to be one always looking back, whenever I start a new year I try and think about all the great times of last year and it helps me get really up for all the challenges and possibilites for 2020. So whilst most of you are doing Dry January or something equally as healthy to …
Just over ten years ago, in 2007, the Cru Bourgeois ranking system was in tatters. The system brought in to give consumers a better view of the great and the good of the red wines of the Médoc (outside the 1855 classifications) was at breaking point. Legal battles, rumours of nepotism by ruling councils, and even …
So we made it Friday again, eh? As everyone’s thoughts turn to the weekend and what we’ll be getting up to, no doubt some of you will be off on a couple of trips with wine high in the agenda, as it bloody should be. So what the not-to-be-missed wine-o destinations?
Last year’s spring frosts hit Bordeaux pretty hard, with the post-flowering cold snap taking out an average of 40% of the grape crop in April. The knock on effect to drinker and investor feelings about Bordeaux could already be felt with a luke warm reaction to the 2017 Primeurs campaign that stopped before ever really …
Not A Fun(gus) Time For Grape Growers in Bordeaux Read More »
I just got the press release through from the brilliant team at AXA Millésimes that they’ve gone all “West Coast” and bought themselves Outpost Wines from Napa Valley. Has MD Christian Seely been watching too much Baywatch? Or is there real method here behind this splash of the cash? Well of course there’s method to …
FRENCH WINE BEHEMOTH TAKES OUT INSURANCE IN NAPA Read More »
One of the biggest threats to vines are fungal infections. The two most notorious are Powdery and Downy mildew, the former growing in warm and humid conditions, the later in the cool and damp. Either way at some point in the year if you’re in a marginal climate, like Bordeaux for example, you’re in danger of …
2017 was not a happy time for a huge swathe of Bordeaux grape growers. An early flowering of the vines due to warmer temperatures at the start of the year was followed by a devastating frost in April, wiping out an entire year’s crop for the unlucky ones. Would fate be cruel enough to have …
Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire For Bordeaux’s Vignerons Read More »
One of the jobs I have is to sell wine to private punters, and Bordeaux makes up a large proportion of that. It’s a region I love, from the food, the wine, and producers…everything really, so it’s not really a toughy to be an enthusiastic salesman. But every year, around April/May the primeurs campaign has …
Why Bordeaux Primeurs Are Still Worth Your Interest Read More »
