Wine ChroniclesHockney graces Mouton
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 9 February 2017 What is it about Mouton Rothschild that makes it so appealing? The wine in the bottle can be amazing. Sure, it is far too expensive for most of us mere mortals. At least it has become so – like the other first growths. I still recall a time […]
Too varietal? Try it in the sky.
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 8 February 2017 Yesterday, I landed in Frankfurt after flying on business with Lufthansa from Washington Dulles Airport, and the welcome lounge was terrific: well worth the price of paying business. Lufthansa offers competitive business pricing – sometimes nearly half the price of, say, Air France. And when you cross […]
Diamonds in the rough: Cru Bourgeois 2014
Heterogeneous in quality, the sprawling cru bourgeois category from Bordeaux also can mean diamonds in the rough (This is part 2 of a two-part article on affordable Bordeaux. For part 1, click here.) 22 January 2017 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com I recently visited Washington D.C.-based fine wine importer/retailer Calvert Woodley. Owner Ed Sands said that shelf space for […]
Crafting personalized Champagne at Duval-Leroy
Champagne before it becomes Champagne – and making it your own 19 June 2016 By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com One of the most unique things about Duval-Leroy Champagne is that the domain permits individuals – usually wealthy businessmen and their mistresses, as I was told at the estate – to craft their personalized bubbly blend. […]
Blind tasting at Mundus Vini 2016
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 21 February 2016 in Neustadt, Germany We began businesslike. Our chair, German sommelier Jochen Benz, who tastes with the Grand Jury Europeen, spoke not a word during the entire first flight, which proved a bit disconcerting. We began with two “warm up” wines, and thought that we would have discussed these […]
PROWEIN 2016: Country Focus Canada
ProWein press release 4 February 2016 Canada’s area under vine currently measures about 12,000 hectares. Every year, some 550 vintners produce nearly one million hectoliters of wine. This is more than half of what is produced in California’s Napa Valley. Canada is no longer known for just its Eiswein. The Canadians now also produce expressive […]
Where Müller Thurgau meets pasta: Trentino
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 7 November 2015 As the early autumn sun set, Massimo Tarter, general director of Cantina d’Isera at Via al Ponte, 1 in Isera (Trento), served tasty local charcuterie and cheeses. Following a tour of his vineyard, visiting wine writers washed them down easily with some of the best Marzemino enjoyed […]
Nearly perfect in Prague
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 2 October 2015 This site is about wine chronicles, including things to chronicle around wine. A perfect case in point is Prague. Well, nothing really is perfect, but … Just walking along the city’s intimate narrow streets enchants anyone with even a minuscule aesthetic sense, never mind the ultra romantic Charles […]
“Euro-Maidan” one year on: wine reflections from Kyiv
25 November 2014 By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com Last Friday marked the one year anniversary of the “Euro-Maidan” uprising that led to the ouster of Russia-backed former president Viktor Yanukovych – and later to Russia’s Crimea annexation and continued conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk. Underscoring the power of social media, the Associated Press reports that Ukraine’s revolution began […]
Salt of the earth: discovering Portuguese culinary ease
18 September 2014 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com I’m drinking 20-year-old Tawny Port and smoking a just decent enough Cuban as I write this after dinner feeling like worn out nobility. But I bought the bottle at the Lisbon airport before leaving Portugal and was truly impressed by the choice of Ports – and dry […]
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