Wine ChroniclesJust in time for the holidays: Dinner at Giscours
Biodiversity contributes to Margaux Renaissance By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 12 December 2025 It had just rained when I arrived at Château Giscours – the eve of my birthday on 5 December this year. Under a veil of evening mist, the estate had fallen into contemplative quiet. As my car that early evening rolled […]
Bordeaux : Welcome 2023
Initial reflections on Bordeaux 2023 – from Zürich to Bellefont-Belcier By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 30 November 2025 After a comprehensive tasting organised by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) of the recently bottled 2023 vintage in Zürich earlier this month, I left less impressed than expected. One often hears winemakers praise […]
Sugar in Wine? Check Your Latte First.
We often fixate on “sugar in wine” as if it’s a dire dietary culprit, but the comparison is rarely fair. By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 24 November 2025 While tasting excellent wines from Domaine Wach in Northern Alsace, co-owner Jessica Ouellet – wife of seventh generation owner Pierre Wach – explained to me the […]
Alsace Clarity
From Rivalry to Revelry By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 12 November 2025 It was a night to remember in Colmar! 🌟 The 6th annual post-harvest dinner – known as Widderkumme – gathered representatives from 19 top Alsace wineries, see above photo — each devoted to expressing the soul of their terroirs, from crystalline Riesling […]
Château Lafon-Rochet
A New Chapter of Freshness and Finesse By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 30 October 2025 When Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen (photo above, credit to Château Lafon Rochet) took charge of Château Lafon-Rochet last year, it marked a quiet but meaningful shift for this celebrated classified growth in the Bordeaux appellation of Saint-Estèphe. Having worked within the […]
The Long Game of Greatness: Mouton Rothschild 1986
By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles Main photo: Chateau-Mouton-Rothschild-Cuvier-nuit-©-Pierre-Grenet-Astoria-studio.jpg 17 October 2025 “I bought this wine upon release,” a dear friend told me, speaking about Château Mouton Rothschild 1986. “When I tried one of my bottles three years ago, it still hadn’t opened up”, he said in September 2025, nearly 40 years later. World famous […]
A Star, a Steal… and a Splurge: Lunch with Clos Sainte Hune
Because sometimes “economical” ends at the wine list By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles 16 October 2025 It was a treat to have enjoyed lunch with Don and Pam Cornutt and Jürgen Steinke at the new location for a one-star Michelin restaurant in Alsace that began its life in 2018 in the Strasbourg suburb of Schiltigheim […]
Médoc Blanc officially born
The red stronghold has a white awakening — Bordeaux’s Médoc embraces a lighter side. By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 14 October 2025 Last year, I wrote in Decanter of prospects for an official Médoc Blanc appellation. That consideration is now reality. Starting with the 2025 vintage, winegrowers from all eight Médoc AOCs, including Margaux, Pauillac, […]
Legend bottled: Château d’Yquem 1967
By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine Chronicles 13 October 2025 Over a recent dinner with wine pals in Strasbourg, we enjoyed older vintages, some better than others. Château Mouton Rothschild 1986 was stupendous, and I loved Château Ducru Beaucaillou 1986, happily sans TCA: From 1986 to the early 1990s, the estate had some TCA problems, so […]
Wine is to alcohol what Beethoven is to noise
Why wine is not the same as cigarettes, vodka or Coca-Cola: An appeal from the International Wine Academy (AIV) By Panos Kakaviatos 24 September, 2025 This week at the 4ᵗʰ United Nations High-Level Meeting on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being, the wine world faces a […]
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