Decanter December 2022

One of wine’s greatest controversies, mysteries and wonders is the role that landscape and geology play in the taste of the finished product. Sometimes, when listening to winemakers enthuse about gravel, grit or granite, it would be easy to assume that it’s just psuedoscientific fluff, sprinkled like fairy dust to give their wines an undeserved air of authenticity. But on the other hand there are undoubtedly patches of land that have a special magic – vineyards which grow grapes that produce wines that are, time and again, ranked among the world’s best and most distinctive. How on earth does that happen? We can’t entirely answer that, but in this issue we have at least tried to list some of the places where that magic occurs and outline their uniqueness. It…

TIM ATKIN MW is a Decanter contributing editor and awarded wine journalist, author, broadcaster, judge and photographer. He publishes timatkin.com, where his South Africa 2022 Special Report is available now (£20) CHARLES CURTIS MW is a widely published journalist, author and fine wine advisor based in New York. Formerly head of wine at Christie’s in the US and Asia, he started out as a chef and travelled to Paris to train at Le Cordon Bleu CAMERON DOUGLAS MS is a widely published wine writer, judge, educator and consultant. He has served on the board of directors for the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas, and is the DWWA Regional Chair for New Zealand SARAH JANE EVANS MW is an awarded journalist, author and broadcaster, a DWWA Co-Chair, and the chair of…

Hopes high for an outstanding 2022 GB vintage Expectationsof a special 2022 vintage for UK sparkling and still wines have risen following promising signs during harvest. Optimism was high as picking got underway. ‘So far quality has been excellent,’ said Simon Roberts, head winemaker at Ridgeview in Sussex. ‘We are heading for one of Ridgeview’s biggest harvests ever, possibly topping the record 2018 vintage. The fruit is tasting exceptional,’ he added. ‘Excitingly it looks like a particularly good year for Chardonnay.’ In terms of mean temperature, England’s summer was the joint-hottest since 1884, according to provisional Met Office data. England and Wales both saw more than double the average sunshine hours and it has been unusually dry. Several wineries said a long, warm growing season largely benefited vintage quality, even…

Stay up to date with the latest wine news on decanter.com, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @Decanter Anew ‘pirate wine union’ wants to highlight innovation in Bordeaux. The Union des Vignerons Bordeaux Pirate (@bordeaux_pirate) has emerged from a 2019 Facebook group created by winemaker Jean-Baptiste Duquesne of Château Cazebonne, Graves. ‘Things are no longer moving in Bordeaux – we have standardised and stereotyped wines,’ said Duquesne. ‘Anything new is interesting to us. It could be packaging, wine style, the way you work in the winery or communicate to the public.’ South African white wines shone as this year’s Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) auction achieved record sales of ZAR13,985,500 (£685,000) on its first return to home soil since 2019. Based on average price per bottle, the top four…

LETTER OF THE MONTH The pursuit of Pinot pleasure In 1979 I visited Seattle and drank a fantastic and reasonably priced Pinot Noir from Oregon. I made a note of the name and the next day, without luck, tried to find it in the Seattle wine shops. I later lost the note.  After that I sought out Pinot Noirs, but never matched the Oregon benchmark until years later, when I had the opportunity to visit Beaune in Burgundy. I had done my homework. Maison Jaffelin had scored well in the Decanter World Wine Awards with its Chorey-lès-Beaune Pinot. The wine, purchased for €20, was divine. My ‘wine radar’ is now firmly focused on Pinot Noir. Your last issue reminded us (‘Marketwatch spotlight’) that the prices of top Burgundy have risen…

Niagara’ssummer? It’s hot, and sticky. I tried a walk near my hotel in mid-July but could only find a large retail mall. It was early; the shops were still shut. Even so, I had to dodge from awning to awning, avoiding the prosecuting sun. I’ve been there in autumn, too, which happened to be mellow and easeful – though it can also be wild, wind-whipped, rain-drenched. The ‘shoulder seasons’ are feared here: you never know what’s coming. The first time I went it was deepest winter. That made an impression: piled snow marking driveways; thick shelves of ice around the lakeshore; jostling lumps floating down the Niagara river; the night freeze coming down like a portcullis. Everyone was cheery in the grey dawn gloom, though, harvesting their bullet-like icewine grapes.…