Blog

And the Water in All This...

Water: the source of life

Since our return to Alsace ten years ago, my wife Céline, my daughter Zoé and I never tire of walking the countless hiking trails that crisscross the Vosges, often offering breathtaking panoramas of the mountains and the Alsace plain. On the days when the sky is at its purest, even the snow-covered summits of the Alps can be seen in the distance on the horizon.

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The Etruscans were the first to produce wine in northern Italy; beginning with wild varieties, they cultivated vines in Piedmont centuries before the Romans arrived. Nevertheless, it was the Romans who advanced commercial winemaking, significantly increasing the area under vine and using props, trellises and ‘Greek presses’ to dependably supply the empire’s domestic and trading needs.

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Earlier last month, I ran my first webinar for Wine Scholar Guild (WSG) — an overview of what it means to be a wine journalist and what it takes to turn this into a viable and successful career choice. Ahead of a series of stories I’m going to be regularly writing for the blog and a brand-new podcast due to launch later this year (more on this further down), the webinar’s topic was the ideal means to introduce myself to the WSG audience.

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Priorat, The Wine of Life

Prioratans have a saying: Si ets calatà, de les pedres treuràs pa. Pero si ets a Priorati, treuràs vi. It means “The Catalan people make bread from stones, but the Prioratans make wine.” Their llicorella rock soils provide the kind of struggle that produces some of the most sought-after wines in the world. Enclosed within the Montsant Mountains, two hours from Barcelona, the Priorat is a tiny wine region whose fame is overshadowed only by the powerful beauty of its landscape.

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The vintage chart and harvest report provided by the Wine Scholar Guild give you the ranking for every French wine region and vintage from 2000 to today. The most recent vintage report is published two years following the vintage, i.e. the 2021 vintage report was published in 2023. 

Andrew Jefford gives us his insight about the 2021 vintage in France. Andrew is an award-winning author and columnist of Decanter and World of Fine Wine, Co-Chair of Decanter World Wine Awards; Vice-Chair of Decanter Asia Wine Awards as well as Wine Scholar Guild Academic Advisor, gives us 

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From April 16-21, 2023, Wine Scholar Guild will land on the shores of southern Spain to host a special session of our internationally-recognized Spanish Wine Scholar™ study and certification program in the beautiful coastal town of Málaga. If the spectacular weather and roughly 112 miles/180 kilometers of coastline are not enough to entice you, then consider some of the other top reasons to visit and study in one of Spain’s most beautiful cities. See more about this unique opportunity to study Spanish wines with WSG in Spain here.

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Six Things I Learned in the Loire

On a blistering June day, my suitcase rattling over the hot cobblestones, I made my way by through the village of Amboise in the Loire Valley, where my tour with the Wine Scholar Guild was about to begin. That night, in an 18th century hotel decorated in a style my spouse describes as “manic grandma,” the group toasted our safe arrival and talked about what had brought each of us there. Though we were a diverse set—with wine professionals from all over the map, and a handful of enthusiasts outside the industry—we all seemed to agree on one thing

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The Renaissance of Taurasi

Taurasi, Southern Italy’s greatest red wine, has enjoyed a spectacular and highly distinctive history. The wine is capable of extremely lengthy cellaring, as examples from the 1940s and 1950s prove even today; in fact versions from the 1928 and 1934 vintages are still

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In Zen, there’s something called "Beginner’s Mind". It’s a state of mind where you aren’t hemmed in by your judgements. You are able to see the world fresh--without pre-conceptions. That’s an apt description of how I was feeling as I began a weeklong deep-dive into Bordeaux with twenty Wine Scholar Guild compatriots.

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Understanding Palo Cortado

Of all the styles of sherry, palo cortado is the most ambiguous, and indeed, deliberately so. The Consejo Regulador, sherry’s governing body, defines every other style of sherry in relatively specific detail, yet when it comes to palo cortado, the rules describe it simply as a wine combining the delicacy and aromatic refinement of an amontillado with the structure and body of an oloroso. In addition, nothing is mentioned about its method of production, which further allows the definition of palo cortado to be left open to interpretation.

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