Wine

May 4, 2016 12

Sacha Lichine Buys Winemaking Cooperative in La Motte

Sacha Lichine, Bordeaux-bred proprietor of world-renowned Château d’Esclans, has bought a coop in the village of La Motte, where the Château is also located. Apparently, the demand for Whispering Angel, the entry level rosé of the four pink wines he currently [...]

May 3, 2016 0

Coteaux Varois en Provence Sponsors Salon du Millésime 2015

Picture, if you will, a garden flanked by soaring Italian cyprus, a graceful five-star inn built atop a Roman villa, and a vineyard conserving 88 Provençal grape varieties, all on the premises of an 11th-century Benedictine Abbey, classified as an historical monument. Cover it with [...]

May 1, 2016 16

MARC PERRIN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TERROIR, FAMILY, AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

We stood at the edge of his family’s vineyard at Château de Beaucastel, one of the most revered estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the most prestigious appellation in the South of France. Located in the flattest part [...]

April 18, 2016 11

ROMAIN OTT BLAZES NEW PATHS IN CHÂTEAU LÉOUBE VINEYARDS: IS THAT CAB FRANC GROWING IN PROVENCE?

In 2002, five years after acquiring Château Léoube, owner Sir Anthony Bamford approached the estate’s winemaker, Romain Ott, with a radical proposition: what if, for one cuvée [...]

April 4, 2016 7

ESCAPE THE GLITZ OF CANNES WITH A VISIT TO ÎLE SAINT HONORAT

Cannes is the quintessential French Riviera resort, renowned for its glamour and bling year-round. Come May and the internationally acclaimed Cannes Film Festival, the Promenade de la Croisette that wraps around the waterfront, passing the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès where the festival is held, will swell with even more rich and famous folks who have flocked to Cannes to rub shoulders with celebrities and, oh yes, see a few film... [...]

April 3, 2016 2

Sixty-Three Gold Medals Awarded in Vins de Provence Annual Competition

The Vins de Provence annual tasting competition took place on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at the Maison des Vins Côtes de Provence in Les Arcs sur Argens in the Var Department. Nearly 700 wines were sampled by the tasting panel which comprised [...]

March 27, 2016 9

OFF THE VIA DOMITIA
THERE’S VIOGNIER AND THEN THERE’S CONDRIEU

It was love at first sip. I was visiting the Tardieu-Laurent cellars in Lourmarin for a barrel tasting with Bastien Tardieu, lead oenologist for this renowned Rhône Valley négociant firm founded by his father Michel Tardieu and (former partner) Dominique Laurent. Jerry Clark, PWZ [...]

March 16, 2016 5

Musings of a Wine Maven
FRANCE WINS THE PLONK TROPHY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THE CAVES COOPÉRATIVES

Let us now continue with our little satire on the transmogrification of The Judgment of Paris into the imagined competition for the best of the lesser wines, The Plonk Trophy, and explain how the French victory, as detailed in "Two Buck Chuck Loses Plonk Trophy to the French," came to pass. It is best summarized in the Provence WineZine (PWZ) interview with French team captain Aimé de Bontemps, conducted shortly after the arbitrator upheld the decision declaring the French as winners. [...]

March 13, 2016 12

Musings of a Wine Maven
TWO BUCK CHUCK LOSES PLONK TROPHY TO THE FRENCH

In 1976, Englishman Steven Spurrier stunned the wine world when the results were announced of a blind tasting he organized in Paris. In the competition of top French red and white wines with California wines Spurrier had, a Cabernet and a Chardonnay from Napa landed on top of the red and white groupings. And, this phenomenal result came from principally French tasters, who comprised seven on the nine person panel. Sacrebleu! I doubt Steven Spurrier, though as deserving as Robert Parker, will ever be inducted into la Légion d'Honneur. [...]

March 5, 2016 6

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Wine for Food

I was perusing the rosé section at Total Wine last weekend in search of a bottle to have with my Moroccan harira, a soup I enjoyed when traveling in Morocco in 1991. The thing I love about winter - even here in Tucson - is that the stock of rosé wines is good. But this is also dismaying to me, as people - people who should know better - say [...]

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