Wine Chronicles“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 […]
No crystal balls: assessing prenatal 2014 Burgundy
16 November 2014 By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com I always enjoy tasting the pre natal wines of the Hospices de Beaune with Michael Apstein, M.D., who is a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, a wine educator for more than 20 years, a freelance contributor to many national magazines, James Beard Award winner for wine […]
Burgundy’s world famous auction kicks off
15 November 2014 By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.Com November in Burgundy is known for Beaujolais Nouveau and the Hospices de Beaune wine auction. The latter is more interesting. This year’s auction takes place in the midst of absurd prices for top Burgundies, so we should not be surprised if another sales record is broken. As […]
Cru Bourgeois, if bored with the dough
TASTING CRU BOURGEOIS – BORDEAUX FOR DRINKERS – #DWCC2014 Readers take note: The fact that I have a full time job unrelated to wine permitted me to co present these wines without any payment – from either the cru bourgeois producers or from the DWCC. My interest and passion for these wines is not influenced […]
Alsace’s “classic” harvest in 2014
Seems to favor fresh styled dry wines, and could be great for crémant By Panos Kakaviatos in Strasbourg 2014 looks to be a “classic vintage” with high acidities and good ripening especially for Riesling and Pinot Blanc, reported Olivier Humbrecht of Zind Humbrecht in Turckheim, who finished harvesting in late September at his precocious vineyards. […]
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 […]
French foires aux vins use Parker points as sales points
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles It is that time of year again in France when supermarkets and chains – and, increasingly – wine boutiques are holding sales for wines in the twice a year foires aux vins or wine fairs. Typically, the featured wines are Bordeaux, many from en primeur campaigns that went bust. Plenty […]
Contextual concerns in blind tasting
29 August 2014 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Blind tasting at an international contest as comprehensive as Mundus Vini can be a daunting task. For five days in a row, judges fly to Germany from all over the world. They get up at 6:30 am in order to taste wines from 8 am until about […]
Place over grape: making wine waves in Southern Styria (p. 2)
Blind proof By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles After discovering the general lay of the land thanks to Tamara Kögl in part 1 of this blog, a blind tasting organized the day of the World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina by Michael Gross of Weingut Gross revealed to me a thing or two about wine – […]
Place over grape: making wine waves in Southern Styria (p. 1)
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Take a walk along the sinuous and sumptuous Southern Styrian wine region in Ratsch today and it is hard to believe that but 40 years ago, it was a very poor area with few if any winemakers and many more farmers. Taxes were paid to local officials with oxen or farm produce. “There […]
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