Burgundy Bounty
POSTED ON 23/01/2010According to Greenpeace, the wines of Burgundy are so badly threatened by rising temperatures that Meursault, Montrachet and Volnay could disappear forever. Only an ostrich would deny the reality of climate change, but in the case of the 2008 vintage appearing on the market this month, Burgundy’s growers must have wished for once that the climate had changed sooner rather than later. By and large, it was such a miserably cool, wet growing season that by as late as mid-September, even its most ardent admirers were writing the vintage off.
Family Fortunes
POSTED ON 16/01/2010As the human face of wine, it’s hard to underestimate the value of family when so much of today’s wine is in the hands of the faceless global corporation. It can also be a powerful brand in its own right. ‘Family ownership guarantees a patient and long-term outlook, much needed in the wine industry’, says Spain’s Miguel Torrres. With Antinori and Mouton Rothschild, Torres is a member of Primum Familiae Vini, a high-powered family association sharing their vision of wine.
A New Golden Era
POSTED ON 09/01/2010In case you were abducted by aliens and have only just returned to Planet Earth, it may have escaped your attention that we are currently basking in a wine heaven of unprecedented variety. Thanks to warmer weather, better winemaking, greater care in the vineyard and the New World revolution of the past two decades, everyday wine has become more consistent and fine wine finer than ever before. And prices, thanks latterly to tough economic times, have remained relatively stable.
A Vintage New year
POSTED ON 02/01/2010Stargazers and pundits of the crystal ball are two a penny at this time of year, but predicting this year’s wine trends need not be a total mug’s game. To look forward in wine, reculer pour mieux sauter, as the French would have it, is the way. One of the big events this year for instance is likely to be the sale of Bordeaux 2009 vintage this spring. Bordeaux siren voices should always be taken with a larger than usual pinch of salt, but after three average years since the great 2005 vintage, reliable noises coming out of the region suggest that 2009 could rank alongside 2005.
