Wine ChroniclesTop 50+ hits: Bordeaux 2020 from barrel
The emotional, the intellectual, the (i)Deals In a vintage that favors Merlot from cold clay and limestone soils By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 May 2021 No ads, no fees charged: Here my objective and experienced impressions of 2020 Bordeaux, 18 years in a row assessing Bordeaux from barrel, including visits during the pandemic era. […]
So Satisfying Saint Emilion 2018
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 24 January 2021 The revolution towards freshness continues. Sure some wines recall the oaky tannic obsession of the mid-2000s. Not long ago, I recall tasting the Grand Cru Classés blind with too many wines, too hard, over extracted and/or finishing on drying oak tannins. Had the 2018 vintage happened 10 […]
Saint 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 […]
Freshness from Saint Emilion: Bordeaux 2017 from barrel
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 7 May 2018 Given its rather large size, Saint Emilion is heterogeneous in quality. 2017 compounded differences from the challenge to remove grapes from frost-affected vines, of which there were plenty. Properties with the most financial means did best to remove under ripe second-generation grapes that may have otherwise wound […]
Saint Emilion Multiplex 2016
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 14 June 2017 Saint Emilion tends to be rather heterogenous in quality in any vintage. Given its size, variations in terroir and in style. Sure, a recent trend towards high alcohol and high extraction of tannin is (thankfully) dissipating. Estates like Pavie Macquin and Larcis Ducasse, for example, are being […]
St Emilion 2000, 15 years on
15 years in bottle: How do the “big boys” compare? By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 2 May 2017 Since January this year, I had wanted to organize a blind tasting of Saint Emilion 2000, to compare the top classified growths against “lesser” pedigrees. It would be a follow up to a blind tasting that I […]
Fit for a wine groundhog 2017
Top Bordeaux back to 1970, with Marla Maples By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com 3 February 2017 Bravo to Kevin Shin for making this happen. The DCWino is in top form. And I got to meet some new wine-loving friends in the area as well as seeing old friends. Once again, we found ourselves at Ripple. […]
Bordeaux 1966: 50 years on
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 9 December 2016 Wine is a drink for civilized discourse, as I found out yet again, close to my 50th birthday, over dinner with friends and family, with a horizontal of mostly 1966 Bordeaux. Host Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier has a justified reputation as being savvy, gentlemanly, suave, fun […]
Welcome Merlot al dente #Bdx15
And other tales from Saint Emilion By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 5 May 2016 OK, the title is a bit misleading. Not everyone picks Merlot earlier in Saint Emilion. The influence of ultra-late picking to please critics, and to get an upgrade (or avoid a downgrade) every 10 years for appellation-sanctioned revisions (often ending up in courts […]
(In spite of) Bordeaux 2014 in barrel: Saint Emilion oak saga continues
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com MAIN BORDEAUX 2014 BARREL TASTING PAGE Some faves? Belair-Monange, Berliquet, Cheval Blanc, Canon, Corbin, Pavie-Macquin and Quinault l’Enclos Irony is a word that comes to mind. Château Quinault L’Enclos counts among 16 estates that had been promoted to grand cru classé in the 2012 classification of Saint Emilion. In contrast to […]
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