The second wine in this series on Albariño, that wonderful grape from northwest Spain and Portugal, is another from Rias Baixas. This one is a bit of a surprise: I…
Gamay 38, Maison Dominique Piron Fleurie 2016
This is a lovely expression of Fleurie, from Dominique Piron. I visited him in 2016, and was really impressed by the consistency and nice terroir expression of the wines. He’s…
Nagano Wine Region: grand tasting and overall impressions
This was a chance to taste 28 of the leading wines from Nagano prefecture, which is one of the three main Japanese wine regions, and along with Hokkaido, is the…
Nagano wine region, Japan (10) – Shinshu Takayama Winery
The Takayama winery is an interesting project: it’s a collaboration between local vineyard owners (so in effect, a small co-op), with winemaker Eiichi Takano at the helm. He’s worked previously…
Nagano wine region, Japan (9) – Cantina Riezo
Yasuyuki Yumoto (above) is inspired by Italy. He has a lovely small winery and vineyard in the northern part of Nagano prefecture, and he decided that this would be a…
Nagano wine region, Japan (8) – Votano Wine
Tsubota Mitsuhiro (above) was inspired by Barolo to start making wine: that’s a good starting point, I guess. He began his vineyard in 2001, and now has 1.3 hectares on…
A template letter for wineries wanting to respond to two-timing critics
As a public service, I’m providing a template letter for those wineries who want to escape abusive relationships with two-timing critics. If you are a winery and you find yourself…
Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, with Charles Lachaux, one of Burgundy’s rising stars
Charles Lachaux is just 29, but he’s got the responsibility of running the family domaine, Arnoux-Lachaux (previously known as Robert Arnoux), with 14 hectares of vines spread across some of…
New releases from Newton Johnson, Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa
It was great to catch up with Gordon and Nadia Newton-Johnson to try through the latest releases from this well regarded Hemel-en-Aarde producer (for more details on them, see my…