News from Jancis Robinson

A different sort of Sauvignon, from a region that specialises in it. 2018 from €16.90, 3,340 Japanese yen, £20.90 2017 from €17.50, 20.90 Swiss francs, $24.94, 245 Norwegian kroner, 2,142 roubles Find the 2018 Find the 2017 South-eastern Austria may not immediately spring to mind when you think of Sauvignon Blanc. You are more likely

A cleverly stimulating alternative to the usual marking of the days leading up to Christmas. Towards the end of 2020 an email from UK specialist merchants, Vintage Wine & Port, brought to my attention an excellent idea for an Advent calendar – 24 ports in individual 9-cl bottles from the port house Quevedo. After a little prevarication, given

The final part of Ferran's report on wines of particular interest tasted when he was confined to his Barcelona home by the pandemic. See also Spain 2020 – exciting newcomers and Spain 2020 – established players' news. Above, Sota els Àngels in Empordà in the far north-east of Spain. The 12 wines below are listed in alphabetical order by producer

Since there is such demand for 2019 burgundies and relatively short supply, we're publishing these additional reviews as soon as we possibly can. For the rest of our coverage, see this guide. Vincent Dancer of Chassagne-Montrachet, or rather his drone, is responsible for this picture of the anti-frost candles in Chassagne and Puligny on 14 April

Forty more tasting notes, with prices, and a surprising number of relative bargains. See also this guide to our coverage of 2019 burgundy. Thomas Ventoura of Chablis is pictured above. This long-standing London specialist in Burgundy and German wine Howard Ripley is currently offering a wide selection of 2019 burgundies and, out of the blue

Rob MacCulloch MW, currently a Hawkes Bay winemaker, explains exactly why Lodi’s old vines need saving. These Zinfandel tree trunks were planted, 10 feet (3 m) apart, in the 1940s. California is home to many highly successful winemakers and viticulturists, producing wines of great acclaim. That’s not a claim to make lightly, but few other wine

The first part of a substantial series on wines of the Loire. See also what Tam wanted to eat when tasting these wines. The photograph above, supplied by InterLoire, is of the famous Ch de Chenonceau. The highly efficient organisational power behind my Languedoc marathon tasting last year was Victoria Kukla of Sopexa. During the flurry of emails

The companion piece to today's tasting article … Mid-afternoon cravings for sauerkraut are alarming enough but potentially disastrous when there is a raft of Touraine Sauvignon Blancs in front of you, waiting to be tasted. Sauerkraut is so wine-combative that it doesn't even get a mention in Victoria Moore's Wine Dine Dictionary. Add a hefty

Alder goes out on a limb with some of the highest scores ever, below! The Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticultural Area stands apart from all other California wine regions both literally and figuratively. As Paul Draper, the founder and long-time CEO at Ridge Vineyards likes to point out, it is the only coastal California AVA that is not

First various imported European wines under 14%. Now the US extends its 25% tariff to all French and German wines. As someone who owns his share of businesses in the hospitality space, President Donald Trump might be expected to be sensitive to, let alone supportive of, the restaurant and wine industries. Yet one of Trump’s last acts as

The choice of packaging for everyday wine is wider than ever. And more complicated. A considerably shorter version of this article attempting to shine a stronger light on the options is published by the Financial Times. For many of us wine drinkers, our first conscious act towards saving the planet was separating empty bottles from the rest of

Nick predicts a big change in restaurant design. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Above is a corner of the popular bar in The Goring in London. It may seem strange but I wonder whether the implications of this wretched virus on restaurants, and simultaneously how customers will use them once they reopen, could

We urge producers, importers and retailers to embrace the possibilities of canned wine and, after tasting a range of what's currently on offer, reckon they, ahem, can do better. Tamlyn writes It may well be that Americans are light years ahead of Brits and Europeans when it comes to embracing the concept of canned wine, as evidenced by Alder's

Now that the UK has left the EU, how much will it cost us Brits to bring in wine from abroad? Asked by someone on Twitter about how much she would have to pay to bring in various quantities of champagne sent from France to her, I enquired of the man who knows the detail of these things at the Wine and Spirit Trade Association in the UK and here

From €7.16, $11.99, £10.45, CA$24.99 Find this wine It seems a little out-of-kilter to be recommending a rosé in the middle of deep winter in the northern hemisphere. I look out my window from where I sit at my desk and the sky is low and iron grey, the wind – which sliced my breath away when I took the dog for a walk earlier – is bending the

Part two of Ferran's three-part lockdown report. See also Spain 2020 – exciting newcomers. Here, Ferran introduces some of the latest releases from some of the best-known Spanish producers, wines he tasted while being locked-down at home in Barcelona by pandemic-inspired restrictions. Pictured are Nekeas' centenarian Garnacha vines in El Chaparral

Walter reports on the most recent vintage in Piemonte's hot spot, and official attempts to save the market for Barolo. The 2020 vintage in the Langhe (and elsewhere) will be remembered against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Italy’s national lockdown in March came great uncertainty for Italy's viticulture, which in large part depends

Richard looks behind the prices of Asia's ubiquitous champagne. (Interesting that Moët seem to have abandoned flutes in favour of more conventional wine glasses too …) In a world of uncertainty, here's something you can be sure of: a bottle of Moët is never too far away. And before any veteran wine professional or connoisseur remarks that that

So how useful is the new classification of crus bourgeois? And which are the best buys from the latest vintage to be released? Above is the youthful team at Ch Le Crock, responsible for one of James's favourite 2018 crus bourgeois. In February 2020 the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc announced a new, five-year classification of its members

From a tiny Oregon winery bursting at the seams, Ken Pahlow and Erica Landon are producing distinguished single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines that combine intensity and elegance. Hearing the name Walter Scott, many Brits, especially Scots, may think of the Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright and historian (1771–1832) famous