As one of the top two winegrowing regions in Italy, Piedmont stands out for its one-of-a-kind varietals, Nebbiolo and Dolcetto. What many collectors might not realize is that this region is cultivating a new era of classic wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, in addition to its traditional, regional-based offerings. To find the latest trends…
In the wine industry, many still scoff at the idea of Alsace red wine; they imagine the delicate flavors of Alsace Pinot Noir, served at cool temperatures much like a Rose, believing that Alsace’s version lacks the depth and intensity of classic Pinot Noir. Today, Pinot Noir in the region has become denser and…
Perhaps no state in the US has surpassed expectations in 2015 more than Oregon. International Oregon wine sales have increased by a whopping 50 percent over the past year, which is the most a single state in the US has increased in more than 10 years. A renewed culture of fine wine in the…
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens.” At the time this quote was written, Jefferson was in an intense fight against British taxation in the United…
Since the introduction of cement vats in the 19th century, wine critics have fiercely debated whether wine is best aged in cement or wood. Since cement does not appear to affect a wine’s flavor, many experts believe that a wine’s natural, terroir-based qualities can only be expressed through cement aging. However, proponents of oak barreling…
When today’s sommeliers taste wines, they can often immediately pick out the unique flavors and bouquets associated with bottles from Champagne and Bordeaux. That’s partly because, in the late 1800s, French land became cheap and plentiful, allowing winemakers to purchase entire regions of their own, and to grow the grapes to the same high standards.…
Today, California Grenache is among the most sought-after varietals in the region, but this was not always the case. California winegrowers turned away from this traditional Rhone crop in the mid-1900s, believing that Grenache would never attract premium collectors who wanted the rarest wines. As Napa Valley developed its premium reputation, commercialized Grenache lost favor;…
I think of terroir as the DNA of wine. If I can recognize a wine’s origin by its particular taste and aroma, then I am confident that we are talking not only about a specific region, but also about a terroir in its own right. We recognize cool or warm climates through a wine’s low…
French Merlot is in crisis. As climate change impacts weather on a global scale, this grape is experiencing some of the hottest summers on record in France, and it is largely destroying the crop across terroirs. Drought-like conditions can help wines develop bold flavors through rain-starved, concentrated juice, but there is a limit to…
More than 20 years ago, serious wine collectors never spoke about New Zealand wines. Despite an ideal climate and rocky terrain, the country’s producers only began cultivating grapevines in earnest in the late 1980s. Today, wine is New Zealand’s largest export, earning more than $1.3 billion annually. The popularity of New Zealand wines has…
Burgundy’s reputation for growing the finest Chardonnay on the market comes down to the one-of-a-kind clay, limestone, and chalk terroir that provides its wines with intense minerality. Modern winemakers clamber to buy grapes from every subregion of Burgundy, making it the region with the most widely-replanted white grape roots in the world. Terroirs in Napa…
The 1939 Treasure Island World’s Fair marked the birth of Napa Valley wine tours as we know them. Under Beringer’s direction, my great uncle enticed movie stars like Clark Gable to visit the then-unknown Napa Valley wine scene for the first time shortly after Prohibition ended. Hollywood soon became enamored with the tiny, premium wineries…