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Rounding up Roussillon

Published:  30 November, 2022

Andrew Catchpole looks into the innovation and excitement being generated by France’s compact Catalan wine region.

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Bordeaux's evolution

Published:  28 November, 2022

There’s no denying that Bordeaux is a big beast when it comes to wine. Not only do its most famous names dominate the heady heights of investment portfolios, well-heeled cellars and critics’ scores, but it also produces some 25% of all French AOC wines. It’s the biggest appellation in France, with some 111,400ha under vine. And, to put that into perspective, the whole of Australia’s vineyard area tallies 146,244ha (2021 figures, CIVB and Wine Australia respectively). As such, it’s a powerhouse of vinous production.

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CIVB: Talking Bordeaux

Published:  25 November, 2022

CIVB president Allan Sichel talks to Andrew Catchpole about the challenges and changes faced by this multi-faceted region.

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Port finds a place in tourism

Published:  23 November, 2022

The famous fortified’s efforts to attract a younger demographic look to be paying off as travel plays favourably to its home nation. James Bayley has the details.

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Ramón Bilbao: Reviving old favourites

Published:  07 November, 2022

In 2024, Ramón Bilbao will celebrate its centenary, 100 years of fine winemaking that has firmly established it as one of the leading producers in Spain and one of the world’s most admired wine brands. However, since the start of the current millennium Ramón Bilbao has become famous for more than just great winemaking. Under head winemaker Rodolfo Bastida, who assumed the reins in 1999, and the ownership of the Zamora Group, the Haro-based producer has been at the forefront of innovation in Rioja Alta and beyond. While pursuing excellence, it has cast aside many of the conventions that led many people to brand Rioja as boring and predictable.

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How Rueda is coming of age

Published:  04 November, 2022

In many ways, Rueda has been a counterpoint to Galicia’s roll call of increasingly sought-after (but often niche) whites. As Spain’s premier white wine-producing region, Rueda has long provided crisp, easy-going styles, with the ‘green’ notes of its flagship Verdejo grape dubbed the ‘terrace tiger’ for its popularity as a summer refresher. Not that Rueda is without quality credentials; sitting at 700-800m above sea level on pebble-infused sandy soils, with big diurnal shifts in temperature and many old vines, these green (‘verde’ – Verdejo) wines have thrived here for up to 10 centuries. But as a category, it has more often played the everyday crowd-pleaser to Galicia’s more exalted status among independents and sommeliers.

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Galicia: Spain's Atlantic challenger

Published:  04 November, 2022

Spain’s north-west corner challenges the cliché of full-bodied, fully ripe wines associated with the country. Galicia is the gateway to Atlantic storms and Rías Baixas, its largest DO, a succession of estuaries that allow the ocean to penetrate inland and one of the world’s wettest wine regions with an average rainfall of 1,400–1,600mm. Its lush vines trained mainly in pergolas yield small, thick-skinned Albariño berries that are behind some of Spain’s best whites.

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Tim Atkin MW: Singling out Rioja's merits

Published:  02 November, 2022

Modern and traditional are surprisingly slippery terms in Rioja and should be handled with caution. Techniques, ideas and debates that are considered contemporary turn out to have strong historical precedents. Reading Ludger Mees’ new book The History of Rioja Wine (Routledge), I was struck by how often the present echoes the past. As early as 1771 – long before Rioja became a famous wine region – people were grumbling about excessive yields and low prices, the very subjects that still exercise commentators, growers and producers today.

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Amanda Barnes: Argentina makes its move

Published:  31 October, 2022

With more than 211,000ha under vine and over 800 wine producers, Argentina is constantly awash with change. It isn’t only a numbers game, Argentina is also in a new golden age of winemaking with its wine industry at its most innovative to date.

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The rise and rise of Franciacorta

Published:  28 October, 2022

The sparkling wine industry has arrived at a crucial moment. As markets have expanded and consumer attitudes evolved beyond the ‘just for celebrations’ paradigm, brands can expect to achieve growth that would have been impossible in the 20th century. As the hottest consumer wine topic in the UK, the scope to encourage further premiumisation across different sparkling categories is unprecedented.

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Georgia uncovered

Published:  13 October, 2022

There’s nowhere in the wine world quite like Georgia. Anyone visiting the country will have heard this mantra. It seems to accompany any discussion of the country’s wines, with their unique qvevris – egg-shaped earthenware buried underground – helping to make wine on the slopes of the South Caucasus for some 8,000 years.

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Headline Heroes: Austria’s emerging gem

Published:  13 October, 2022

Being recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site certainly helps turn heads when Austria’s Neusiedlersee DAC tells its as yet largely unknown story. Not least because this relatively compact appellation, with 6,239ha of vineyards wrapped around the eastern and southern half of the lake from which it takes its name, combines diverse terroirs with the ability to produce high-quality wines that reflect the status of the region. Moreover, this is Austria’s sunniest winegrowing area, but with cool nights matching warm growing days, all moderated by the lake. And the resultant wines are typified by cool fruit character and fresh, delicate acidity, which can deliver an appealing combination of elegance and depth.

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Italy's northeast: A cool and crisp offer for the UK

Published:  13 October, 2022

Industrious, dynamic and diverse, northeast Italy is one of the nation’s viticultural powerhouses. Yet the region has arguably become a victim of its own success: exports to the UK are largely dominated by Prosecco and other internationally renowned styles, such as Amarone and Pinot Grigio. A great deal of excellent wine, very much on-trend in terms of moderate alcohol, has been sidelined. However, with consumers starting to grasp the profusion of what northeast Italy can offer, key stakeholders have a renewed focus on bringing esoteric styles to our indie merchants and restaurants in 2022.

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Flying the flag for German wine

Published:  04 October, 2022

In 2021, the German wine culture garnered newfound global attention after it was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The Committee of Experts at UNESCO cited German wine culture as welcoming and vibrant, an adaptable tradition “firmly anchored in German society”, while highlighting its positive social and cultural aspects. In Germany, as elsewhere, wine culture has determined the rhythm of life of people in winegrowing regions for centuries. This gave rise to numerous customs, seasonal festivals and a vocabulary
of its own, as well as familiar phrases such as “pouring pure wine”, which means to tell the truth.

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The evolution of Chile

Published:  23 September, 2022

Just 10 years ago Chile was still talking about emerging regions in its push to communicate diversity and move on from its somewhat ‘safe and reliable’ image. This has fast changed, with a steady drip feed of generic-backed tastings focusing on ancestral and alternative varieties, from resurgent País to a host of contenders as varied as Semillon and Cinsault, Moscatel, Mourvèdre and Riesling, plus much else besides.

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Australia: UK market overview

Published:  25 August, 2022

The theme of today is adaptation. The collapse of Australia’s trading relationship with China has left many casualties in its wake, forcing brands to look to new markets and consumers. According to Wine Australia, “exports to mainland China declined by 97% in value and 93% in volume to 6.4 million litres in 2021, a loss of nearly $1bn (£574m) in value when compared with 2020”. Ironically, China was once touted as Australia’s salvation, when demand in Western Europe and the US started to slump in the mid-2000s. Everyone anticipated that Asia’s biggest country would plug the gap.

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Australian winegrape crush returns to near-average size in vintage 2022

Published:  05 July, 2022

The 2022 Australian winegrape crush is estimated to be 1.73 million tonnes, 2% below the 10-year average and 13.5% below the 2021 record crush of 2.01 million tonnes, according to the National Vintage Report 2022 released today by Wine Australia. 

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Tim Atkin MW releases his 2022 Argentina Report

Published:  13 June, 2022

Leading UK wine writer and Master of Wine Tim Atkin has released his latest in-depth overview of the Argentinian wine scene. His annual report, now in its tenth edition and available through timatkin.com, is regarded as one of the most authoritative reviews of this major wine-producing nation.

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Talking heads; Malbec and beyond

Published:  30 March, 2022

Buyers and critics alike share a snapshot of what currently excites them about South America with Sonya Hook.

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Andean offer

Published:  28 March, 2022

Both as wine producers and countries, Argentina and Chile offer very different profiles. The former has its hugely successful hero variety in Malbec, while the latter, having driven its reputation on affordable and accessible international varieties, is gaining ground as a producer of genuine interest and value in the mid-price range. Argentina too, with Malbec having secured a strong foothold at a more premium ‘entry’ price level, has been pushing its diversity, while climbing its flagship variety higher up the price ladder in independents and the on-trade.

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