Decanter March 2021

The art of wine Waiting for Spring Clonakilla, Canberra District, New South Wales, Australia On a frosty, foggy winter’s morning, a worker attends to Shiraz vines in the T&L Vineyard at Clonakilla, a silhouette in the mist, skeletal vines towering above. Founded in 1971 , this winery is renowned for its flagship Shiraz-Viognier, which benefits from the cool climate of the Canberra District. The wine was inspired by the Rhône blends of Côte-Rôtie, an area that experiences similarly crisp, misty weather. Photograph: David Reist…

News A month in wine All the important issues affecting you across the globe, compiled by Chris Mercer Tariffs: Brexit latest, US suspension plea From new Brexit duty-free limits to US tariff tension, January 2021 has reminded us how access to wine can be affected by shifting international trade rules. An 11th-hour Brexit deal brought some good news for the UK’s 33 million wine drinkers, said Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA). From Prosecco to grand cru Burgundy, EU wines won’t require the ‘much feared, costly VI-1 certificate’, he said. These forms, and accompanying lab tests, could have cost the trade £70m and fuelled price rises, the WSTA had argued. A ‘simplified import certificate’ will suffice from July 2021, but some media reports suggested…

In brief Stay up to date with the latest wine news on Decanter.com, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @Decanter Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Opus One and Shafer have been named among wineries set to release wines direct from their cellars for sale at the first Napa Valley Library Wine Auction in February. Organiser Napa Valley Vintners said the sale would feature more than 100 lots in total. Hosted by Zachys, online bidding will open on 11 February and close with a ‘live auction’ on 20 February. Priorat producer Celler Vall Llach said it was heartbroken after heavy snow caused a winery roof to collapse on top of wine stocks from the 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages, plus winery equipment. It shared a video of the scene on Twitter…

Letters Your letters Enraged or inspired by what you’ve read? Email editor@decanter.com Rose-tinted spectacles I was intrigued that the British real estate brokers quoted in your news item about the surge of interest in Tuscan wine estates (January 2021 issue) cite the Covid-driven realisation that people can ‘work from...the Tuscan countryside’ as the reason. Why Tuscany rather than any other wine region? Super-fast broadband is the number one requirement I hear from those wanting to work abroad. And then a way of addressing the tax issues (where to tax income/profits/sales?) and cross-border data retention/transfer challenges. Boring practical stuff trumping decisions of the heart! Paul Etherington, Reading, UK Premier cru prime choice? Through a stroke of good luck I have been able to participate in a number of tastings of white…

Letter of the month Covid and wine tasting While fully appreciating that there are many more, very serious consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, I wanted to share my experiences around Covid and wine appreciation. In April last year I completely lost my sense of taste and smell for three weeks, presumably as a result of catching Covid-19. I’m fortunate to say that I recovered quickly, but my sense of smell and taste has still not completely returned to normal, even now. Although some things smell and taste the same, others don’t, and I appear to frequently detect an unpleasant chemical smell. The sad news is that my appreciation of red wine has been badly affected. Although I can still enjoy white wine and Champagne, I have…

Andrew Jefford ‘Great wine needs no help from designers and celebrities’ Roots, soil and wine-stained hands: that’s what counts. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its economic setbacks and personal tragedies, has changed the way we think about wine, and corrected some of the excesses of the last two decades. More on this in a moment – but first let me recap a business drama. Hermès (you may own a scarf or a tie) was founded in 1837 to make high-quality bridles and harnesses for noblemen’s horse-drawn carriages. Its business adapted over 150 years, but not the insistence on craftsmanship and the use of natural materials. The founding Dumas family took the business public in 1993, retaining an 80% stake. It prospered, to the extent that Bernard Arnault of LVMH eyed it…