Tenuta Sette Cieli: above us only sky There are many bright stars in the Bolgheri heavens. Bolgheri is the tiny Tuscan village that now shoulders a colossal reputation. These days it’s famous for those iconic red wines that rival or surpass the greatest wines of Bordeaux. Much of Bolgheri is a flat coastal strip, but rolling hills rise not far inland. …
Millésime BIO 2020: the world’s biggest organic wine fair
Millésime BIO 2020: the world’s biggest organic wine fair Millésime BIO was established in 1993 by a handful of organic winegrowers from Languedoc-Roussillon. In this 27th edition, it’s now the biggest trade fair for organic and biodynamic wines in the world. The 2020 show ran from 27-29 January 2020 in Montpellier, south of France. Diversity You might think that this …
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Rebel.lia, Bodegas Vegalfaro 2017
Rebel.lia, Bodegas Vegalfaro 2017 At the recent Wines of Spain tasting, their annual show in London, there were many excellent wines of every description. However, my Wine of the Show was Rebel.lia. It’s from the excellent Bodegas Vegalfaro, in the heart of the DOP Utiel-Requena region of Spain, inland from València. Regular readers of these pages will know of my love …
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Feudi di San Gregorio – heritage and innovation (updated)
Feudi di San Gregorio – heritage and innovation (updated) Welcome to Campania, in the Mezzogiorno, beautiful southern Italy. It’s where Feudi di San Gregorio is, in the “shin” of Italy’s boot, some 50 km inland from Napoli. This wine producer became, in just a few years, an icon of the modern Italian winemaking renaissance. It remains one of the leaders in restoring authentic …
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Le Mortelle, a rising star in the Maremma
Le Mortelle, a rising star in the Maremma Le Mortelle is one of Antinori’s more recent ventures, a new organic wine estate created in Tuscany’s coastal Maremma. Here’s a progress report on this rising star. The Antinori family has been in the wine business for over six hundred years, documenting this back to 1385, across 26 generations. Has anyone done …
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Book Review: Wine Revolution by Jane Anson
Book Review: Wine Revolution by Jane Anson Wine Revolution by Jane Anson contains “The World’s Best Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wines”. When I started to focus on this subject a decade and more ago, such wines were dismissed by conventional wisdom. According to this, they employed daft doctrines. Furthermore, they were only from a handful of winegrowers that had lost …
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A fabulous visit to Domaine Orenga de Gaffory
A fabulous visit to Domaine Orenga de Gaffory Domaine Orenga de Gaffory covers 56 hectares in the appellation of Patrimonio in northern Corsica. This family-owned wine estate is also undergoing organic conversion. It owns many small plots in five different communes. It means they have a broad range of red, rosé and white AOC Patrimonio wines. They also make the nearby …
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Losing My Extra-Virginity in Corsica: Oltremonti Olive Oil
Losing My Extra-Virginity in Corsica: Oltremonti Olive Oil I love Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, (or EVOO for short). However, I knew little about making it and less about how to taste it. Losing my Extra-Virginity was overdue. Hence I visited Domaine Oltremonti recently. Oltremonti is near Bastia, in northern Corsica, between the wild high Maquis and the coast. The Domaine has 35 …
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I Veroni Chianti Rùfina Riserva – verticale
I Veroni Chianti Rùfina Riserva – verticale Chianti has seven subzones besides Chianti Classico, the best-known region. Chianti Rùfina, (pronounced, in my best London accent, Roo-fina) is the best of these. It’s a small enclave of 1,000 hectares at most and probably accounts for only about 3% of all Chianti production. Perhaps it’s the only Chianti subzone to rival Classico …
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Dry Riesling reveals the Terroir at Martin Tesch
Dry Riesling reveals the Terroir at Martin Tesch Dr Martin Tesch owns Weingut Tesch in the Nahe region of Germany. The estate has been family-owned since 1723, while the vineyards date back to Medieval times. These days, dry Riesling rules here. Tesch is a microbiologist by training but a winegrower by inclination. In 1996, he took over the estate from …
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