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The best white wine under $15
What’s the best white wine currently in the US market for about $15? I’ll make a case for the 2010 Clos des Briords from Marc Ollivier (Domaine de la Pépière). The 2010 is electric. After the 2009 had...
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Aid Olivier Cousin goes global [AOC]
Although we mentioned it last week in a squib, it bears mentioning again: the French authorities have threatened Olivier Cousin, the horse-tilling vigneron that is a mentor for many younger ones, has...
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Developing: Vineyard for sale? In France, perhaps many
It’s not every day that we get to talk about tax reforms on this site. Especially foreign tax reforms! But a recent change in the tax on capital gains from real property in France may cause several...
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Beaujolais nouveau in Paris
The 2011 Beaujolais nouveau debuted around the world this past Thursday. Much of it was airfreighted; American Tim Eustis discovered the lowest-carbon footprint version of the wine by riding his bike...
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Erwan Faiveley at the helm
It’s no secret in Burgundy and beyond that Faiveley has been on a roll. And it’s no secret why: the arrival of the young Erwan Faiveley at the helm. Erwan, 32, is the seventh generation in his family...
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Will China buy more foreign wineries? 20 wine questions for 2012
The Mayans forecast a cataclysmic finish for 2012. My crystal wine glasses are not as clear, so instead of forecasts, I ask twenty questions relevant to the wine world in 2012. Will dogmatism die?...
View ArticleFrance is a “banana republic” says Guffens
When the fraud squad raided Verget from Verget. Jean-Marie Guffens, a winemaker in Macon who founded Maison Verget, endured a decade-long investigation by French authorities, including Customs and...
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Francesco Rinaldi, dolcetto d’Alba, Roussot, 2010
Dolcetto, which means either “sweet-ish” or “the one you drink while your Baroli are aging,” is rarely in better hands than it is with the traditional producer Francesco Rinaldi. Many dolcetti have...
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Thirstday: vin de soif, Christian Ducroux, “Prologue”
Vin de soif. The term captures a wine style–thirst-quenching, gulpable–that delights in the pleasures of drinking wine, not worshipping it. It has to also be somewhat light in body and easy on the...
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Pimp my ride: La Gramiere’s wine truck
La Gramiere’s wine tasting truck (see inset of truck before Amy pimped her ride) Have you eaten lunch or ice cream from a food truck and thought there was something missing? I have. Where’s the wine...
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“Freshbag”– French for wine kegerator
Have you ever noticed that box wine doesn’t chill itself? Or thought the fridge somehow seems too full or plebeian for such a majestic thing as box wine? Or you are nostalgic for the kegerator days of...
View ArticleBeaujolais Nouveau day – ditch the Nouveau
What if Beaujolais Nouveau day–the third Thursday in November–turned into a celebration of Beaujolais writ large or even larger, wine? According to a report in a British wine publication, that’s what...
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Rockin’ Rhone: Gentaz/Verset/Jamet/Clape edition
Thanks to social media, you can always tell how badly you’re drinking compared to everyone else. And on this Monday night, when I didn’t think I was doing too badly with some delicious Indian takeout...
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The Gaul: Depardieu as wine ambassador in Russia?
Over the past month, a refugee tried to sell assets in his home country, bought a tiny house in a neighboring country, and took a passport from a third. It was none other than bon vivant Gerard...
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Proposed French wine tax baits chardonnay uprising
In 1789, the price of bread surged in France. And in heads rolled as a result. Another symbol of France–wine–is being threatened with a 1,000% tax increase. Will riots break out across the country? Who...
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France to muzzle wine bloggers and tweets?
Factions in France, a country whose national image has historically been intertwined with wine, are waging a bizarre campaign against wine. They opened a new front in their battle last week: trying to...
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Terroir is a “right-wing idea”? Could have fooled me
Stephen Erlanger, the Paris bureau chief of the NY Times, holds forth on the notion of terroir in the opinion page. The concept is fascinating for its power to readjust markets along quality lines for...
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France: wine trade says “non” to possible measures
WINE KILLS. This is what a wine trade group in France foresees on wine labels. Did you miss which country this is? FRANCE. You know, the country that might as well be the first child of Bacchus, a land...
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Sancerre to bid adieu to the AOC system?
The growers in the Sancerre AOC are more pissed off than pipi du chat. According to Jim Budd, their hackles have been raised because the national appellation bureau is closing their Sancerre outpost...
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France to organic wine grower: spray or pay
Should a grape grower who practices organic viticulture be forced to spray pesticide? In the face of a bacterial malady hitting vineyards in France, the Ministry of Agriculture has decided the answer...
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