An awful lot of wine is made under the generic Côtes du Rhône appellation. Around 167 million bottles in 2022, to be precise. And while much of this is pretty average, a small proportion transcends the appellation. The greatest of all is Château de Fonsalette. It’s one of the three estates owned by Emmanuel Reynaud. The most famous of the three is Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. And although Fonsalette is not as well known, the wines are still extremely desirable. Hedonism Wines in London currently sells the 2009 at £580 per bottle. Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 22 Mas ..read more

Sorì Tildìn in Barbaresco Lydia is a reliable source and an authoritative and respected figure worldwide, who has been a consultant for Zanella for 10 years. Her statement, perhaps taken for granted by some experts, struck me and resounded in my ears for days, prompting me to delve deeper. There are no doubts about the truth of the first part of what she said: the best Italian agronomists agree with the highly regarded French consultant. ‘The abundance of magnesium is a consequence of young soils in Italy,’ said Maurizio Castelli, among the most esteemed winemakers of great Italian Sangioves ..read more

A foggy morning at Littorai.  ‘The 2021 vintage was a beauty for the Sonoma Coast winegrowers. These are wines with great freshness and intensity.  The benchmark producers, who are making some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the world have found briliant conditions and are crafting collectible bottles from 2021. ’ The 2021 vintage is one filled with gratitude for winemakers on the ‘true’ Sonoma Coast. An incredible rebound from the disastrous and deadly 2020 marked by wildfires and a global pandemic. Wonderful concentration, healthy yields and nearly perfect clusters were al ..read more

Despite significant challenges on many fronts, the UK is still one of the largest wine-consuming nations. Total market value was estimated at £14.5bn in 2023, according to research group Mintel. A wide diversity of styles contribute to this, from orange wines to homegrown cuvées and mature claret. Reports of declining total volume sales, however, only further emphasise the importance of producers choosing the right path for them. This year, a new initiative from Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) seeks to help producers maximise their chances of success. The DWWA Market Guide, exclusively open ..read more

The electronic tongue or "e-tongue" housed at the Washington State University Sensory Science Center. An ‘electronic tongue’ has outperformed human senses in a test on how soon signs of faults or spoilage can be detected in white wine, said researchers in a new study.  An experiment at Washington State University (WSU) found the e-tongue picked up signs of certain microorganisms within a week of contamination – four weeks before a human sensory panel reported changes to some wines’ aromas.  The findings, published in the Journal of Food Science, are part of ongoing research and add t ..read more

‘I worry about the younger generation,’ Gallica owner and winemaker Rosemary Cakebread said to me a few hours later. ‘It’s difficult for young people here in Napa even to buy a home, let alone a vineyard. ‘If you have any instinct to be a solo proprietor, you’ll need family money or people who believe in you. But without the younger generation we’ll lose farming as it exists here.’ She’s right. When the hedge-fund and tech billionaires buy up the last vineyard, Napa becomes a luxury-goods factory. That’s why those baby vines planted at the end of the ridge matter. Napa reds are disarmingly be ..read more

Diners can choose to have their phones locked in a box during their meal. Recently opened Al Condominio restaurant in northern Italian city Verona said it was offering ‘a bottle of good wine’ to diners who temporarily part with their mobile phones in order to ‘dedicate themselves to the pleasure of the table and company’.  A ‘digital detox’ special offer promises a free bottle of wine in return for allowing staff at the Verona restaurant to lock phones in a drawer. One bottle will be given to each couple taking part, although the offer changes to one bottle per four people in the case of ..read more

Bordeaux’s 2023 vintage is still to be tasted by many journalists and critics, yet there has already been price speculation ahead of an en primeur releases campaign expected to begin in May.  ‘Further price increases are off the table,’ said Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, citing market conditions in a new report focusing on Bordeaux en primeur.  Debate about en primeur release prices is hardly new, and top Bordeaux can look relatively good value versus small-production fine wines from other regions. Still, core reasons for Liv-ex’s stance included weaker sentiment among ..read more

This recently listed Sonoma wine country property offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape thanks to its wrap-around porch. It also comes with a 0.8-hectare (two acres) Syrah vineyard, according to the listing by Holly Bennett of Sotheby’s International Realty’s Sonoma brokerage, adding that the estate offers the ‘epitome of wine country living’. Photo credit: Nic Meerholz/SeaTimber Media for Sotheby’s International Realty. Its Syrah vines could make an interesting hobby project for a prospective buyer, although an asking price of $9.4m (£7.5m) does also put this estate firmly at ..read more

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wines featured in Sotheby's' 'Monumental Cellar' sale in September 2023. Sotheby’s said its global wine and spirits auction sales hit a record $159m (£127m) in 2023, $1m above the total achieved in the previous year. It’s the third consecutive year that Sotheby’s has reported record wine and spirits auction sales, despite separate data showing that fine wine prices have fallen on the secondary market in the past 12 months. Sotheby’s said the number of auction lots offered in 2023 rose by 17% year-on-year. It also highlighted how its wine and spirits department has e ..read more