Guigal Ex Voto, Hermitage.
Guigal is one of the iconic names of the Rhône valley in France. Hermitage is a tiny appellation of just 136 hectares on the slopes of the hill of Hermitage. Thirty producers work this land, and Guigal own two hectares of them. Guigal makes Ex Voto only in the very best years.
Crus Bourgeois – five years on – vintage 2012
The release of the 2012 vintage Cru Bourgeois list, in September 2014, marks the fifth anniversary of this award. It emerged in 2010 (with the 2008 vintage) from the debacle of a legally-biased attempt at classification in 2003. The alliance of crus bourgeois has since quietly gone about its business of rebuilding trust and confidence in the crus bourgeois brand, or ‘family’, as they’ve taken to calling themselves.
Sancerre lieux-dits
The wines were part of a tiny glimpse at the world of Sancerre’s lieux dits, from three of the more widely known single vineyard site names: Chêne Marchand at Bué, le Cul de Beaujeu and la Côte des Monts Damnés, both at Chavignol.
Russian revolution
Russia may be the largest country in the world but much of it is too cold for sustainable viticulture, with winters getting down to -15 to -30°C. Vines can tolerate -15°C but they’re dead in the water at -30°C. The exception to this situation is in the far south-western corners of the country, around Anapa and Novorossiysk on the north-eastern tip of the Black Sea, which coincidentally runs along the 45th parallel, famed further west for being home to Piedmont, the Rhône valley and Bordeaux.
Languedoc rising
The fortunes of Languedoc, in southern France, could be on the up again, as the value of vineyard land has rebounded from the burst investment bubble of the mid 1990s.
Chablis
Chablis is the quintessentially steely, floral, stony, flinty, lip-smackingly refreshing wine from the very north of Burgundy. It’s a region firmly ensconced in the cool climate of northerly latitudes.
Crus Bourgeois vintage 2011
Is this the crunch vintage that will be the litmus test for the level of success of the new-ish cru bourgeois accreditation system?
Je négrette rien
Négrette is the signature cultivar of Fronton, located not far from Toulouse, in south west France.
Domaine Luneau-Papin
The rumours of Muscadet’s death are greatly exaggerated. It may be made from the relatively harmless melon de Bourgogne, but it’s grown across a variety of soils and sub-soils, and in the hands of skilled exponents such as at Domain Luneau-Papin, the wines will politely force anyone who tastes them to reconsider their views on Muscadet wines.
Saint Chinian
St Chinian, 20 miles north-west of Beziers, and deep-set in the Languedoc foothills of the Black Mountains, is a complex and appealing appellation.
