Wine

Thai Phraya Rum comes to America in time for summer.

Cocktail of the Month: The Emancipation Again

It’s almost, but not quite inconceivable, that a blend of three of my favourite grapes, from a small Tasmanian producer, should arrive on my doorstep unannounced. It’s Merlot, Malbec & Cabernet Franc. Three cheers for that.

I’d like to think that Mattinson has had quite enough of me for one week, one way or another on the Victorian Shiraz Front. You’re terrible Muriel. Or just plain infuriating. But here’s a wine, as with most, that I think we’ll agree on – despite my burgeoning reputation for being the Robert Parker Jr [...]

Good old Fronsac. Importer: DiscoverVin

Fiona Beeston in the grounds of the Clos des Capucins with the Château de Chinon and River Vienne in background One of the four small plots that make up the Clos des CapucinsChâteau de Chinon in background (above and below) View down to Vienne from the ClosLast Friday was the second time I had been to the Clos des Capucins. I went there first in March 2009 with Christophe Baudry soon after it had been bought by Baudy-Dutour. At that time they had plans to develop the house into a visitors' centre and to hold summer concerts in the grounds. Following their acquisition of Château la Grille, the Clos des Capucins was sold to Fiona in September 2010. She made her first vintage in 2011.Fiona has had an interesting and varied career. Her first experience in wine was in 1976 in the Entre Deux Mers as a cellar rat. Back then it was virtually unknown for a woman to work in a winery – it was feared that a woman's period could send the wine off!! Fiona has been wine writer with Revue du Vins de France and wrote The Wine Men, a series of portraits of men in the French wine trade, in 1991. She worked for Steven Spurrier in Paris, then at Legrand's shop in Paris including setting up their wine shop. After her children had grown up Fiona decided that she want to be a vigneronne so she did several stagés including one at Domaine Huet.Fiona spent some time in Chinon searching for the right vineyard and was about to give up when she was shown Le Clos des Capucins, which suited her perfectly.The main house which is rented out as a gitéFiona and CRMAt the Clos there are four small plots of vines totalling 1.39 hectares that Fiona is now farming organically converting them from their previous chemical regime. She has made her first two vintages at Pascal Lambert's winery in Cravant-les-Coteaux and is now awaiting planning permission to build her own small winery to be hidden away in the grounds of the Clos. 2013 a little way off flowering The 'parc des barriques' (above and below) Stabling for when the horse comes to stay and workAnother of the plots in the Clos The house and part of Le Clos View to the Château de Chinon (above and below) ... and down to the town Fiona has a further three hectares 3K to the north of Chinon, which she bought from Pascal Lambert. Here is makes 'Fiona's Perfectly Drinkable' – an easy drinking Chinon

Guest blog from Gavin Quinney Liv-ex has once again opened up the blog to Bordeaux grower, winemaker and writer Gavin Quinney (@GavinQuinney). Below, he provides an update on the growing conditions for the 2013 vintage. All photos and images in...

Lunch yesterday with Edward Snell chairman Dave Hooper at Ed Hung’s South China Dim Sum Bar (below) in Long Street, Cape Town. The joint was hoppin’ and Ed is a big fan of Cape brandy which is a great match with dim sum. Ed’s favourite was the 14 year old Oude Molen VOV in spite [...]

Tasting this at room temperature, which is no bad thing with many a white as it points out any shortcomings pretty quickly. Not the way you’d drink it normally mind you, though we do tend to drink most of our whites way too cold in this country. Aside from the shit ones of course: they [...]

I almost did a spit-take on reading that the organization that oversees the 1855 Bordeaux classification is applying for UNESCO World Heritage status.  UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which is sort of the U.N.’s kumbaya wing; and part of it is the World Heritage Centre, which recognizes world sites of great historical and cultural importance and seeks to protect and preserve them. Among the 962 recognized World Heritage sites are Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the historic center of Vienna, the Magao caves of China, the Acropolis, Israel’s Masada, the Pyramids of Egypt and, here in the States, Mammoth Cave, Yellowstone and the Statue of Liberty. And now–let me get this straight–the Bordelais want to include a list of wineries? What am I failing to understand here? The Classification was drawn up, let us remember, by wine brokers, who had been asked by the Emperor Napoleon to choose wines to display at a Paris exposition. It was nothing more nor less than a price list. True, it has assumed far more importance over the decades, but it’s hard to see how a “classification” can be included on a list of World Heritage sites. I suppose I might have more sympathy with the nomination if they had suggested Bordeaux itself as a region, rather than the 1855 Classification. But then, Bordeaux already received World Heritage status (in 2007), so what is it that the nominators are looking for, beyond that? All we have to go by is the Decanter story; I could find no additional information on the Internet. Here’s how the magazine quoted Phillippe Castéja, president of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés, in explaining his group’s nomination: The 1855 classification is the fruit of both natural and human factors and it has only gained in importance over time. Its value lies not just in the excellence of the wines, but the architectural richness its chateaux have brought to Bordeaux, the artisanal trades that it supports, from hand-picking of grapes to traditional vine pruning skills, to the renown that it has bought to France across the world. This is true, as far as it goes, but Bordeaux’s architectural heritage already was honored in that 2007 World Heritage status, and it’s not clear to me (from an admittedly inadequate but nonetheless fairly closely scrutinized review of the existing list) that there are any other World Heritage sites that are devoted to “trades” and “skills,” as opposed to places. Nor is it clear from the Operational Guidelines whether such recognition is even possible. It may be that the Bordelais are seeking recognition, not as a “natural heritage” (such as Mammoth Cave) but as a “cultural landscape,” which is allowed. The Guidelines define “cultural landscape” as, briefly, “the combined works of nature and man,” and as “illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time.” But it’s very hard to see how the 1855 Classification would qualify as a “cultural landscape” the way, say, the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces of China (which is currently nominated for Heritage status) are. It looks to me like the Bordelais, having achieved their World Heritage status six years ago, are looking to gild the lily. Maybe I’m wrong. But if the 1855 Classification is worthy of World Heritage status, then so are the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. I therefore officially nominate our founding documents.