Decanter June 2022

BEVERLEY BLANNING MW is an independent wine writer, judge, tour guide and educator. Author of the new book Wines of the Loire Valley (Infinite Ideas, due June 2023), she has been a DWWA judge since its inception in 2004 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 SARAH JANE EVANS MW is an awarded journalist, author and broadcaster, and a DWWA Co-Chair. Author of The Wines of Northern Spain (Infinite Ideas, 2018), she is also the current chair of Spain’s Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino HUGH JOHNSON has written a dozen wine books over 60…

Frosts hit France again, but may be less severe French winemakers have faced a tense time after spring frosts returned to vineyards early in April. Temperatures plunged overnight on 3-4 April, dropping lower than -5°C in parts of Champagne, Bordeaux and Chablis. Vineyards were illuminated by protective candles as France recorded its coldest April night since 1947. Yet, while scenes were reminiscent of devastating frosts 12 months earlier, initial signs suggested less widespread damage compared to April 2021. In Burgundy, ‘the vines are less advanced in the growth cycle and in general terms, the frost event was shorter and less intense’, said the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB). Early reports showed damage was relatively limited versus 12 months ago, although patches of frost did return to some plots on 10 April,…

Don’t bottle up your thoughts – email editor@decanter.com The challenges of buying local In a bid to help combat the effects of climate change, my wife and I avoid heavy bottles, and buy some bag-in-box wines. We find it harder, however, to buy local. We are Brits who have lived in the US for over 40 years, and our wine palates are still very much based on our European upbringing. Though we do buy many Oregon wines, mainly Pinot Noir, the majority of our wine buying is based on two things – style and price, which leads us to Europe. We find many west coast wines overripe, over-alcoholic and lacking acidity. While they may be good ‘aperitif wines’, they are not food-friendly at all. Of the many west coast wines…

The voice drops a little; the tone grows more reverential. Everyone knows; everyone understands. There will be wry allusions to a quest, perhaps even the grail Sacrifice is expected en route; failure (always forgiven: a badge of honour) beckons on every side. Kitted up, your hopes armour-plated? I might be talking about planting vines on a cleared slope, or simply about taking the corkscrew to a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine, but you all know by now what’s meant. Pinot Noir. ‘Pinotism’ is a cult within the wine world: no other grape commands attention like this one. Why? Meet the Abraham of vinifera, cited (under several synonyms including Moreillon and Noirien) from the mid-13th century, and its qualities acclaimed (as Pinot) from the 14th – though some speculate it had…

I’d like to say we took advantage of the lockdown and its related commotion to do a stock-take, explore new avenues, turn over intriguing stones, widen and deepen our drinking, taking careful notes as we went. Sadly, no. I won’t say we got stuck in a rut, but we did tend to stick with comfort wines – and ‘comfort’, in our case, means familiar. Regular readers of this quarterly column can probably guess the labels on the resulting empties. We have a wider range of comfort foods, I’m afraid, than comfort wines. Happily, professional duties deflect me from total monotony. I’m delighted to be seduced by something from the Cape, or lured away to the deep south of Italy. I’ve learned (or been reminded) that Aglianico is one of the…

Sceptical wine lovers may suspect that our title is an oxymoron. Fortunately, this is not at all the case, as we demonstrate with a selection of quality Burgundy that won’t break the bank (from p23). The key to finding bargain Burgundy is to look where the crowds are not. To find a deal, you may need to deviate from the Route des Grands Crus between Gevrey and Nuits-St-Georges – but it may surprise you how short a distance you have to travel. THE HAUTES COTES Begin by climbing the hill to the region known as the Hautes Côtes. This part of Burgundy is often overlooked today, yet at one time it was the control centre for the region’s most prestigious vineyards. The Abbaye de St-Vivant de Vergy is a monastery…