Wine Spectator July 31, 2017

It may seem incongruous to see a poster from the Belle Epoque on the cover of a wine magazine. But we did it for two reasons. First, we are fascinated by the bittersweet nocturnal world of 19th-century Paris, with its nightclubs, can-can dancers and fashionable customers, portrayed in the work Moulin Rouge, a masterpiece by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec from 1891. Second, we think that wine collecting, the subject of our cover story this issue, can inspire the same passion as collecting great art, and that it requires similar skills and expertise. In the package beginning on page 40, you’ll meet serious collectors from around the country and learn how their tastes shaped their collections. You’ll peek inside their beautiful cel-lars and get tips on how they designed and built ideal environ-ments in which…

Cheering Chile I read with interest Kim Mar-cus’ report on Chilean wine (“Chilean Momentum”) in the May 31 edition. Despite frequent coverage by Wine Spectator and others, the wines continue to be hidden gems for many wine lovers here in the U.S. My wife and I discovered the wonder of Chilean wine almost by accident. During a visit to the country’s capital of Santiago, we took an ex-cursion to the nearby Casa-blanca and San Antonio val-leys to explore the area and do some wine tasting. We were delighted with the hos-pitality that we received and were pleasantly surprised to be introduced to many deli-cious wines that were well-made in a straightforward, appealing style. We quickly added producers such as Kingston Family Vineyards, Viña Casa Marin and Ma-tetic Vineyards to our shop-ping list…

WINE FOOD PEOPLE COLLECTING “It is rather dramatic,” said Stéphane Derenon-court, proprietor of Domaine de l’A and a con-sultant to many Bordeaux estates. “Only the [St.-Emilion] plateau and the tops of slopes are spared. There is damage everywhere, sometimes 100 percent.” For two weeks in late April, winegrowers from the south of England to Spain and central Italy fought to save young buds just emerging from their vines, employing candles, sprinklers and wind turbines to protect their crops. Some got lucky, but many did not. France bore the brunt of the damage, with farmers calling it the worst frost since 1991. Bordeaux, usually not as frost-prone as inland regions, was hit hard, with temperatures dropping to 27° F. “We can already estimate that we have lost nearly half of the potential crop,” said…

Angelo Gaja, the winemaking legend who for more than 50 years has helped lead Italy’s quality wine movement, announced in April that his company is investing in a property on Sicily’s Mount Etna, forming a joint venture with Etna pro-ducer Alberto Graci. Gaja, 77, and Graci, 41, purchased 51 acres on the active volcano’s southwest face in Biancavilla. The site in-cludes about 27 acres planted to Carricante and Nerello Mascalese. The winemakers plan to plant another 10 acres and eventually build a winery for their yet-to-be-named company. The move is Gaja’s third wine venture out-side of his native Piedmont, having expanded to Bolgheri and Montalcino in the 1990s. “Why Etna? It was something that I have been feeling under the skin for some time,” Gaja told Sicily’s Chronace di Gusto. Gaja’s daughter Gaia…

Sarah Marquis, half of one of Australia’s best-known wine partnerships, has acquired a controlling share of the winery Mollydooker from her ex-husband, Sparky Marquis. The transfer was finalized April 28. After their separation in late 2015, Sparky, 51, managed the company through 2016. When he offered to buy out Sarah’s share of the company, he gave her the choice to buy him out under the same terms. She agreed to purchase it as part of court proceedings related to their divorce. Although Sparky was the more visible face of Mollydooker, Sarah was involved in all aspects of the business. The company bottled 82,000 cases of wine in 2016. It sells more than half its produc-tion in the United States. Total sales, including Australia and exports, totaled $10.5 million in 2016. Mollydooker owns…

For three nights in May, three major American cities joined the ranks of the world’s top wine destinations. The 2017 Wine Spec-tator Grand Tour offered a chance to taste some of the globe’s best wines in Las Vegas, Chicago and Miami. A total of 244 wines— representing 16 nations and four American states, all scoring an out-standing 90 points or higher on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale—were poured in each city. For winemakers and consumers at the Mirage in Las Vegas, the Navy Pier in Chicago and Miami’s Hotel Fontainebleau, it was an opportu-nity to share a passion for wine. “You get to meet the people who buy your wine. You see what they think about it, and what they like and don’t like,” said Andrés Ilabaca, winemaker for Chile’s Viña Santa…