If some consider Pinot Noir the thoroughbred of varietals, then the Willamette Valley may be the Kentucky Bluegrass of wine regions. There is something in the soil that sets the Willamette Valley apart from other wine regions. Many speak of the terroir in northern Oregon, comparing it to other world-renowned
There will be no more Brunello di Montalcino Soldera until 2019. One of the most renowned producers in Tuscany suffered a serious act of vandalism in recent days. “But I’m not afraid,” said Gianfranco Soldera in an interview to an Italian website: “No intimidation can stop our work. We will go forward
Traditional wassails were—and still are, I suppose—seasonal hot drinks made with wine or beer, sugar, spices, eggs, and bits of toast floating on top. Today, we’re far more likely to find toasty, bready flavors in a more fashionable (and still seasonally appropriate) beverage: methode champenoise sparkling wine. How those characteristic
The history of enology in Italy is rich in fairy-tale-like stories like this one. Once upon a time, there was a young Italian nobleman who loved two things: racehorses and French wines. His name was Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. In 1929 he was finishing his degree in agriculture at
Enzymes are a natural and fundamental element of the winemaking process. Nowadays, they are also a commercial product found in many wineries, another utility in a winemaker’s toolkit. They have the potential to make more extracted and more aromatic wines and to accelerate the winemaking process. They also have the
Serenaded by drum, tambourine and accordion, workers clad in navy shorts and red plaid shirts march around the concrete tank of port grapes, a few couples clasping arms and gamely waltzing in the knee-high purple soup. The evening treading session during harvest at the Quinta do Vesuvio owned by the
I recently polled a few friends to get their quick take on Austrian reds. Replies ranged from “Yum!” to “Huh?”—but heavily weighted toward the latter. True, Austria’s better known for crisp whites like Grüner Veltliner, but red grapes are grown everywhere, too, and make up a third of vineyard plantings.
It would be hard to fault Eric Asimov for taking shortcuts or being too categorical in his new book, How to Love Wine. The New York Times’ wine critic is a careful man, who doesn’t hide his opinions but does express them in nuanced, detailed ways, giving readers the lay