Had a lovely dinner last night at Edy del Popolo’s place, along with Sebastien Zuccardi (winemaker), Paz Levinson (sommelier), David Bonomi (winemaker and partner of Edy in Per Se) and…
Visiting the stunning monastery vineyard in Gualtallary, Mendoza, Argentina
Edgardo (Edy) del Popolo and Davi Bonomi took Paz Levinson and I out to see their Monasterio vineyard, high in Gualtallary, in the Uco Valley. Here, at 1500 metres…
Visiting the CARO winery in Mendoza, Argentina
CARO is the joint project between Eric de Rothschild (Lafite) and Nicolas Catena. Lafite had already begun a joint venture in Chile (Los Vascos) when Baron Eric met Nicolas, and…
The wines of Luis Pato, Bairrada star
Luis Pato is perhaps the most famous face in Bairrada, even though he’s had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the regional authorities, that led him for a time…
The wines of Quinta das Bágeiras, Bairrada
Mário Sérgio’s Quinta das Bágeiras is one of the leading wineries in Bairrada. He created the domaine in 1989 from 12 hectares of vines he got from his grandfather, and…
Adding features: why the bolt-on approach to growth rarely works in wine
Recently I was driving a hire car. Back in the day, cars used to have radios, and perhaps a cassette player. Then there were a few knobs to control the…
Filipa Pato and William Wouters: groundbreaking wines from Bairrada, Portugal
Filipa Pato is the daughter of Luis Pato, and she’s been making wine for a while now under her own name. But she really found her direction when she began…
Quinta de Baixo, Bairrada, with Dirk Niepoort
Dirk Niepoort has long been interested in the terroirs of Bairrada. He thinks that the combination of the chalky clay soils and the Baga grape variety makes this potentially the…
Tasting the wines of the Buçaco Palace Hotel, one of Portugal’s treasures
The Buçaco (Bussaco) Palace Hotel is one of Portugal’s most striking bits of Neo-Manueline architecture. It’s almost impossibly ornate, with incredibly elaborate stone carvings rammed in just about everywhere. But…