Wine ChroniclesWinery of the year belies notions of Old vs New World
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 30 October 2015 As more and more wine geeks realize, the lines between “Old World” and “New World” are blurring. I recall an Australian master class organized by Decanter a few years ago, with winemakers there talking about picking at 11 am rather than at 3 pm to retain freshness. […]
Bordeaux: more than just big names
Joy in Montagne and Lalande de Pomerol with Jeff Berrouet By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 21 October 2015 Jean-Claude Berrouet, long time director of Petrus, bought Vieux Château Saint André in the somewhat obscure appellation of Montagne Saint Emilion back in 1978. Why Montagne? He had a double activity: vinifying wines for negociant Jean Pierre Moueix but also purchasing […]
Magical evening, majestic Margaux
18 October 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Earlier this month, a Hollywood like short film was published on YouTube recounting the story of how in 1810, the Marquis de la Colonilla, then owner of Château Margaux, requested one of the greatest architects of the time Louis Combes, to design a new layout for the estate. […]
No more Jubilee
Hugel’s trend towards terroir, over brand 11 October 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com As we have seen with Trimbach, in a previous post from these pages, the historic Alsace estate Hugel also has been critical of the grand cru AOC system established in Alsace in 1975, and revised in the 1980s. Both estates have long preferred […]
Terroir evolution for Maison Trimbach …
… and the just-released 2008 Clos Sainte Hune, among other delights By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Among highlights of my visit on 5 October to this marvelous Alsace producer? Two vintages of the famous Clos Sainte Hune. This exceptional wine is a product of the terroir in the Rosacker grand cru vineyard, located in the […]
Gruaud Larose 2000
Yet more proof (is it really needed?) of why fine Bordeaux is so age worthy… By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 6 October 2015 Gruaud Larose. An excellent Bordeaux, a second growth from Saint Julien. I have always enjoyed the wines from this property. In a blind tasting of both the second and first wine, from […]
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 […]
Embrace your bad taste
De gustibus (or lack thereof) non est disputandum By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 30 September 2015 I recently joined a wonderful tour subsidized by Vini del Trentino, or the Wine Consortium for Trentino, with a group of international wine educators and writers who had flown in for three days of tastings and cultural discoveries, the details of which […]
Bordeaux 2011 four years on: massive blind tasting, with expectations met and some revelations
20 September 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com What is it like to taste over 150 tannic wines over a long weekend in Bordeaux? Given the very comfortable surroundings of Château Bellefont Belcier, where I was housed, the excellent visits (I discovered a fine Saint Emilion, La Croizille, for example on the opening evening for […]
Burgundy harvest 2015: more challenging for whites
19 September 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com As Bordeaux readies itself for its harvest later this month and into October, still a while ahead, Burgundy has finished its pickings, which took place mainly between end August and mid September. Despite hail-hit vineyards in Chablis earlier this month, damage was not extensive (about 2% as my […]
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