Wine ChroniclesSaint Emilion Sensations 2018
Change in style continues: Yahoo! by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 Very happy to see how much the “refreshing trend” is coming into focus in Saint Emilion. As stated in my introduction to the vintage, with regard to the 50 member estates of the Association of Saint Emilion Grands Crus Classés. Here we […]
Premium Pomerol 2018
Quite consistent, too. by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 Pomerol was excellent in 2018. Akin in consistency to Saint Julien. Especially cooler terroirs, with more clay and less sun, or at least those wines made with especially careful winemaking, succeeded best. And where it did succeed, it counts among the very best that […]
Stalwart Sauternes 2018
Challenging vintage, but some nice wines By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 A horrific hailstorm reduced yields for some estates to near nothing, if not nothing. I recall writing this news story about the harvest in Sauternes and Barsac for Decanter last year: including Château Guiraud’s announcement that it would only make dry […]
Saint Julien the Consistent …
… and consistently delicious in 2018 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 This famous Médoc appellation often tends to be the most consistent in any given vintage, and all the more in 2018. The more extreme alcohol levels and lower acidities of Saint Estèphe are not found here. A series of wines combines […]
Pauillac 2018 from barrel
Suave, tannic and sometimes extraordinary by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 Just about as consistent as Saint Julien, Pauillac included many great wines from barrel. I suppose you could say that that is self explanatory, seeing that Pauillac boasts no less than three of five official “first growths” from the ballyhooed 1855 classification. […]
Bordeaux dry whites 2018
Challenging vintage, but some fine wines By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019 The dry whites generally lack the panache and remarkable balance of the 2017 vintage and – for that matter – the zingy energy in 2014, 2010 and 2008, where acidities lent more vivacity. In this challenging vintage, vintners picked earlier or […]
First impressions of Bordeaux 2018 from barrel
Cautious optimism and Petit Verdot By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com (Dear readers, I have since published an update to this initial posting from late March 2019, here: https://wine-chronicles.com/blog/bdx18-barrel-hedonists/) OK, this has been just a first day in Bordeaux – and many other writers and commentators have been here already for over a week to taste. But […]
2017 at Domaine Zind Humbrecht
An excellent vintage, built for aging 14 March 2019 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com It is always a pleasure to taste the latest vintage of wines from Domaine Zind Humbrecht. And so it was on 12 March 2019, at the domain, where I joined various participants, including Paul Liversedge MW, who is based in Zurich. […]
Pessac-Léognan and Graves from bottle 2016
Cannot recall a better Les Carmes Haut Brion red than the 2016. Buy it, today. But many other Graves shined in 2016, including Smith Haut Lafitte, Haut Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier and Malartic Lagravière. Do not hesitate to look at some fine showings from second wines, too, which I had tasted late last year at Château Bouscaut. Cheers!
Assessing 15 vintages of Léoville Poyferré
By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com 24 January 2019 Over the last nine years, I have been organizing comprehensive verticals of top Bordeaux estates, sometimes several times in one year, and often in Washington D.C. The most recent, a Friday evening 18 January 2019 dinner at the French embassy in Washington D.C., featured Château Léoville Poyferré, […]
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