News from Jancis Robinson
The Singapour – June 2022
Richard's round-up of what's being poured in Singapore.
Stop reading this immediately and go and buy some 1970 Dow's vintage port.
Done that? Then we can begin. This month's selection includes 22 tasting notes taken during a weekend of masterclasses that Jancis kindly hosted at 67 Pall Mall Singapore, as pictured above. One of these featured
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Barbaresco 2019 – another great vintage?
Another excitingly elegant vintage from Barbaresco, seen above from Ovello.
In the last couple of months I tasted my way through quite a few 2019 Barbaresco samples that were so good that it seems 2019 could be in the same league as the outstanding 2010 and 2016 vintages. It would make it the third outstanding vintage within a decade, but can
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German wines – guide to our coverage in 2022
We'll keep adding to this… Above is the 2021 harvest on the Kellers' parcel on the 73% slope of Nierstein's Pettenthal vineyard, described by Klaus Peter Keller as 'mountain climbing with grapes', a reminder of how labour-intensive German viticulture can be.
We're proud of paying so much attention to German wine, thanks to our previous German
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Dijon – much more than mustard
30 June 2022 We republish this useful guide in our Throwback Thursday series, for wine lovers descending on Burgundy this summer – and because we have been missing Matthew.
26 October 2021 As the OIV announce they are moving their HQ from Paris to Dijon, Dijon resident Matthew Hayes urges us to bypass Beaune and consider a stay in Burgundy's
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Rosé, not just for summer
Find a rosé to drink this summer...
While the cliché that rosé is a summer wine routinely irritates me, I have to submit that the machina colossus of marketing and general perception that this is the purpose and end-point of rosé means that it is still, in the minds of most, a beverage of frivolous disregard. It doesn't help that so many
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Anchorage for wine drinkers
Head to Alaska immediately…
Six weeks a year is a small window for perfect weather. Visiting Alaska in the second half of June and throughout the month of July is the one guarantee of sunny skies and calmer seas. August or September can be beautiful, but autumn winds and cooling rains often start this early. May might be lovely, but there could
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A trio of Burgundian (relative) newcomers
The latest offerings from Chapelle de Blagny, Mark Haisma and Dom Berthaut-Gerbet. See also this guide to our coverage of 2020 burgundy.
Chapelle de Blagny, Blagny
Etienne de Brechard and his naughty heavy bottles (he brought it up, not me) have been surveying the Sâone plain from his hilltop manor in Blagny (pictured below) since 2012
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A rich array of winners
The first tranche of 2022 Golden Vines diversity and inclusion scholarships has just been announced.
This year four brand-new awards have been added to the suite of initiatives funded by the Gérard Basset Foundation: four Dom Pérignon Golden Vines MW and MS Scholarships. Each is worth £12,500, and will cover the full costs of tuition, tastings
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What to eat in June and July
A grower's recommendations … (for the UK).
The text exchange below is between Rachel Humphrey, head chef of London’s highly respected Le Gavroche, and her trusted supplier of many fruit and vegetable ingredients. Vernon Mascarenhas of Nature’s Choice (who, inter alia, as their website proudly announces, supply all London’s three-star Michelin
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Rating Haut-Brion's latest baby
How leading wine traders and commentators were held captive by a prince, pictured above. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times.
On 23 March this year 27 of us wine professionals were sent the following email message: ‘On behalf of Prince Robert of Luxembourg, we are delighted to invite you for a very special tasting event
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Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 Margaret River
A Coleridgian tribute to an award-winning Western Australian red.
From 453.75 Czech koruna, £17.95, $22.95, €21.40, AU$32.99, HK$170, 1,200 Thai baht, CA$50.70, SG$70
Find this wine
At Xanadu did Glenn Goodall a stately Cabernet decree. Goodall has been senior winemaker at Xanadu in Western Australia since 2016, having joined the winery in
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Single-vineyard Brunellos emerge
A new generation is using historical knowledge of where the best grapes grow to map Montalcino piece by piece. Walter investigates developments at Banfi, Argiano, Canalicchio di Sopra, Capanna and Tiezzi, whose legendary Vigna Soccorso is seen above from the walls of Montalcino.
Last January, while I was in Montalcino to taste the newly released
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In the alps with Haynes Hanson & Clark
Quite a few bargains from this long-standing UK retailer and importer, plus six vintages of Cantina Kurtatsch's top Cabernet, grown in vineyards pictured above, back to 1992.
Haynes Hanson & Clark’s recent showing of their summer wines nicely confirmed what I keep banging on about: that although the focus of interest in bordeaux is on those
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Seriously sober
Finally, there is a truly delicious way to stay sober.
Recently, two sets of the most seriously, and I use that word deliberately, exciting zero-alcohol beverages happened to fall into my hands. They have a number of things in common: they’re made by people who prioritise flavour over trend; they’re about indulging in pleasure rather than
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Howard Ripley's 2021 Germans
Some 2021s hand-picked by a London specialist in German wine. Pictured above is the Grosse Lage Felseneck in the Nahe, source of some of Schäfer-Frölich's finest Rieslings.
Sebastian Thomas of Howard Ripley Wines showed his first selection of 2021 German whites on a warm day in London last week and is asking his customers to submit their orders
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2014 white burgundies today
(Almost) pure pleasure. Above, Franck Grux, who made some of the most impressive wines assessed below.
Bless Sarah Marsh, a Master of Wine so focused on burgundy that she makes some herself. As attentive Purple Pagers may have noticed, she regularly organises horizontal tastings of mature and maturing burgundy vintages, yielding tasting notes
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Drought threatens northern Italy
It's time to allow irrigation – if only there were any water.
The continuing drought in large parts of northern Italy, from the alpine Val d’Aosta in the far north-west to Emilia-Romagna in the east, has triggered an emergency here in Italy. Already at the beginning of June, Coldiretti, the national association of small agricultural farmers
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Seek out 2019 Anderson Valley Pinots
A fine combination of grape and year reviewed, plus a few Chardonnays.
I was excited to taste recently released 2019 reds from Anderson Valley as throughout California the weather favoured most varieties, leading to a high proportion of good wines. Quality is also there for whites, though many of these have already been released.
In the
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Book reviews – on English wines
English Wine Week 2022 (which should really be called English & Welsh Wine Week) started on 18 June, and here are two books that offer, on the one hand, a guide to an exciting selection of producers worth visiting, and, on the other hand, the opportunity to learn to make your own English wine (should you be mad enough).
The Vineyards of Britain
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A brilliant idea
Why can't more wine producers be more like Klaus Peter and Julia Keller? They are seen here at a Buckingham Palace garden party after they had donated some of their Niersteiner Hipping Riesling 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations because the wine had been served at her coronation. A version of this article is published by the Financia
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