Wine ChroniclesMouton Rothschild: reaching back 40 years
And some talk of “first growth bias” By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com A wonderful evening at the cozy and elegant French restaurant La Chaumière in Georgetown in Washington D.C. It was great to catch up with wine friends most of whom I hadn’t seen since Covid struck. We chose as theme the venerable First Growth […]
Nearly 40 vintages of Château Pichon Longueville Baron
In honor of Jean-René Matignon By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 14 October 2022 I recall the disappointment in Jean-René Matignon’s face as rain started falling towards the end of the 2006 harvest. “This could have been as good as 2005,” he said regretfully. Some 16 years later, tasting the 2006 at Château Pichon Longueville Baron […]
Saint Emilion rankings 2022: Is Grand Cru Classé accurately reflected?
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 29 September 2022 Following up on my text on the latest ranking of Saint Emilion wines – as published in Club Oenologique earlier this month – I focus on the total of 71 Grand Cru Classés, which is just shy of record from the 1969 classification of 72 wines so […]
Dry, small and challenging: 2022 Bordeaux should be (far) better than 2021
7 September 2022 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Dear Readers, Sorry for such a long absence. Because this site is free, I don’t update that often. I get paid to write for Decanter and other publications. But here some Bordeaux 2022 perspectives, as I arrived the day before yesterday: First off, the grapes are very […]
Bordeaux 2021 from barrel : the reds
Bordeaux faces stalling futures campaign By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 27 May 2022 One of the last red barrel samples I tasted from Bordeaux’s 2021 vintage this year was on location at Château Gruaud Larose, in late May 2022, where CEO Nicolas Sinoquet explained how much hard work was needed to craft the best possible […]
Bordeaux 2021 from barrel: the whites
Make Acidity Great Again By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Updated 27 May with the reds A quick reference to tasting notes below. I had published my reflections on the white wines of Bordeaux on 13 May, which I think shine most in 2021. The reds are now online on a new page: HERE. With thanks […]
Perfect Champagne Day in Reims
By Panos Kakaviatos 27 March 2022 UNESCO World Heritage sites include two in Reims: the Notre Dame cathedral, inscribed together with the Palace of Tau and the Saint Remi Abbey in 1991, and “Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars” in 2015. A majestic example of Gothic architecture, the 13th century Reims Notre Dame impresses with stained-glass […]
Jury selected Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge of 2019
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 16 November 2021 As I taste through Bordeaux’s recently bottled 2019 vintage, with an article to appear in Club Oenolgique early next year, a shout out to the more humble Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur appellations. I joined a jury of 30 people to pick out my favorites based on samples the […]
Bordeaux 2020 : Saint Emilion shines bright
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 June 2021 For my summary on the vintage, please read what I had published in Club Oenologique. And you can also read my overall Top50+ wines across appellations, after having tasted hundreds of barrel samples of Bordeaux’s latest vintage, 2020. Saint Emilion is a star appellation in 2020. Readers […]
2020 Bordeaux: Médoc, Haut-Médoc and Moulis
Making it worth your while, from barrel By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com As I noted in my initial review of “Top 50+” Bordeaux 2020 barrel samples, the Left Bank features wines that in 2020 can have stricter tannins than usual, but the vintage also includes excellent wines, at various price points and from less celebrated […]
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