https://www.scmp.com/rss/16168/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Alejandro Bulgheroni, or Don Alejandro as he is more usually known, is low-key, soft-spoken and charming. Chatting during a recent garden party he was hosting in Bordeaux, he casually picked up and carried away my empty plate in a manner that was very much the opposite of what you would expect from an oil and gas baron worth nearly US$4 billion. That figure doesn’t make him the wealthiest chateau owner in Bordeaux – that accolade that goes to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, worth US$53 billion,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2107775/his-two-bordeaux-wine-estates-oil-baron-alejandro-bulgheroni?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2107775/his-two-bordeaux-wine-estates-oil-baron-alejandro-bulgheroni?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Aug 2017 09:34:18 +0000 There are very few winemakers, and even fewer of them women, who have been awarded the National Order of Merit by a French president. Narrow that group to non-French winemakers and you are really getting to rarefied company. So I think I can confidently say that we’ll be waiting a long time before another Thai woman from a family of rice farmers near the Laos-Cambodia border makes the cut. Want to know which vineyard your Rioja comes from? Now you can But Méo Sakorn-Sériés is clearly someone... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2104798/whats-holding-thailands-wine-back-winemaker-honoured-france?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2104798/whats-holding-thailands-wine-back-winemaker-honoured-france?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:02:13 +0000 When Juan Carlos López de Lacalle publicly signals his disapproval, people listen. This is the man behind Artadi wines, one of the most sought-after and acclaimed bottles in the Spanish wine region of Rioja. So when he quit the regulatory council of DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada) Rioja in early 2016, it caused something of an earthquake. His reasoning, however, was no surprise to anyone who had followed his career. Ever since founding Artadi in 1985, López de Lacalle has focused on... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2100332/fruit-rioja-rebellion-singular-vineyard-designation-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2100332/fruit-rioja-rebellion-singular-vineyard-designation-now?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jun 2017 05:31:10 +0000 Stéphane Tissot and Jean-François Ganevat were both born into winemaking families in a corner of France that has recently shaken off decades of benign neglect. Tissot’s father, André, created his family estate in 1962, while Ganevat can count generations of winemakers back to 1650, but it was his father who made the choice to concentrate solely on wine. Long before I tasted their wines I had heard of both men, as leaders of the so-called Jura revolution. Jura is a region sandwiched somewhere... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2095381/two-winemakers-helping-put-frances-jura-region-map-and-doing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2095381/two-winemakers-helping-put-frances-jura-region-map-and-doing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 May 2017 09:02:33 +0000 Extra staff were drafted in across tasting rooms in Bordeaux in early April, as close to 5,500 buyers, tasters and journalists descended for the big unveiling of the 2016 vintage. Numbers were 20 per cent up on the year before, with the highest numbers of overseas tasters (at least in terms of registrations before the week began) coming from mainland China. Chinese students sip secrets of Burgundy winemaking in French hills They have been rewarded with a vintage that has seen successes across... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2088210/bordeauxs-2016-vintages-will-delight-lovers-great-burgundy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2088210/bordeauxs-2016-vintages-will-delight-lovers-great-burgundy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:02:34 +0000 When I commented on how drinkable the 2007 Bordeaux were at a recent tasting in London, Giles Cooper of BI Fine Wine wine merchants told me: “Most remaining stocks have been bought over the past few years by restaurant owners and collectors in Asia. They have been going to markets where drinking vintages are at a premium, and it’s now getting harder to get hold of them, as so many have been opened.” If so, that’s a shame – although Hong Kong residents may be best placed to round up the remaining... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2079018/tasting-bordeaux-2007-mixed-year-some-great-early-drinkers-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2079018/tasting-bordeaux-2007-mixed-year-some-great-early-drinkers-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Mar 2017 09:33:33 +0000 How do you follow a winemaking legend? Aimé Guibert, who died in May 2016, was the patriarch of Mas de Daumas Gassac, an estate known as the first growth of Languedoc. He was also a symbol of the fight for tradition in French winemaking – from his successful public challenge of the American winemaking giant Robert Mondavi’s land purchase in Languedoc in 2001, to his starring role in Jonathan Nossiter’s 2003 documentary Mondovino, in which he railed against the globalisation of the wine... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2067445/look-pioneers-languedocs-first-growth-wines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2067445/look-pioneers-languedocs-first-growth-wines?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Feb 2017 08:00:29 +0000 Just the decanting was an art in itself. Olivier Bernard, owner of Domaine de Chevalier and our host for the evening, carefully prised the 50-year-old corks loose from the bottle. Slowly, he turned them over in his hand, then sniffed at them with something approaching first suspicion then approval. Well, in all but one case; a 1966 Pape Clement was discarded.The level of the wine barely reached the shoulders of the bottle, which meant that the oxidised smell came as no surprise. The rest of the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2058845/taste-test-1966-bordeaux-shows-risks-and-rewards-letting-good?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2058845/taste-test-1966-bordeaux-shows-risks-and-rewards-letting-good?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Jan 2017 12:03:45 +0000 The building, on a tree-lined avenue in New York’s Upper East Side, is called Academy Mansion. Somewhere on one of the floors above us, Mr Big once unveiled a cavernous walk-in closet for Carrie Bradshaw’s shoes in the Sex and the City film. Another day, it may well be a stage set for something else, but in late October, the wrought-iron railings either side of the front door state, ‘Welcome to The Penfolds House’. The cameras and film stars have been replaced by wine bottles, canapes and a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2050019/penfolds-recorking-clinic-date-night-wine-lovers-new-york-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2050019/penfolds-recorking-clinic-date-night-wine-lovers-new-york-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Nov 2016 11:01:30 +0000 Quietly, confidently, Peter Kwok is once again doing things his own way. The Vietnamese-born, Hong Kong-based businessman invested in Bordeaux in 1997 with the purchase of Château Haut-Brisson in Saint-Émilion, back when Hong Kong was still taxing wine at 60 per cent. It would be another 11 years before Longhai Investments bought Château Latour-Laguens in Entre-deux-Mers and was the starting gun for Chinese investors in the region. Since then Kwok has bought another five estates; Châteaux Tour... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2039939/hong-kong-wine-entrepreneur-peter-kwok-his-seven-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2039939/hong-kong-wine-entrepreneur-peter-kwok-his-seven-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Oct 2016 09:32:00 +0000 Organic winemaking has had something of a wobble recently. About 8 per cent of the vineyard surface in Europe is certified organic, a number that has seen little upward movement over the past decade. In January of this year, Domaine de Fondrèche, a well-known producer in the Côtes du Ventoux region of France, became the latest in a line of organic winemakers to drop the certification. This, winemaker Sebastien Vincenti says, was because he had reservations over some of the products allowed... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2020893/why-some-winemakers-drop-organic-label-not-crozes-hermitage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2020893/why-some-winemakers-drop-organic-label-not-crozes-hermitage?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Sep 2016 09:00:48 +0000 Twenty years ago, prosecco was barely a blip on the radar of Italian sparkling wine. It was outgunned both at home and abroad by the original sparkling wine of Italy, Asti Spumante. In the US, producers such as Martini & Rossi ran cheesy television advertising campaigns and sold vast quantities of the sweet sparkling wine, made with the moscato grape and pitched as the perfect partner to fruit desserts. Back in Italy, Asti received its DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2004166/first-came-asti-then-prosecco-now-its-time-metodo-classico?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2004166/first-came-asti-then-prosecco-now-its-time-metodo-classico?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Aug 2016 12:01:58 +0000 Sitting at a large wooden table under the shade of a sturdy oak, with views across gently sloped vineyards bathed in late afternoon sunshine, it’s hard to believe that the fledgling UK wine industry is facing stormy waters as a result of the Brexit vote three weeks ago. These are ancient hills, south facing along the Kent escarpment of Appledore just 10km from England’s south coast. There have been battles fought here before – against Danish invaders in the 9th century, a French insurgency in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1988471/british-sparkling-wine-bordeaux-menus-and-how-brexit-could?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1988471/british-sparkling-wine-bordeaux-menus-and-how-brexit-could?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:02:40 +0000 If you are planning a trip to France, take the time to take a boat up to Bordeaux’s new €81 million (HK$714 million) wine attraction. You get to sail past the sweeping line of 18th century buildings that mark the crescent moon-shaped waterfront before pulling up at a specially-built 90-metre jetty (this cost €400,000 euros to build). Disembark, and you are standing at the base of a vast aluminium- and glass-covered building that is home to the Cité du Vin. The jetty will also be the place to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1969358/boat-rides-peep-shows-and-literally-world-wine-bordeauxs-newly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1969358/boat-rides-peep-shows-and-literally-world-wine-bordeauxs-newly?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jun 2016 02:31:17 +0000 We’re driving through newly planted vines about 250 kilometres to the south of Santiago in the valley of Maule. The off-road vehicle is easily taking the dirt and stone-filled slopes, but it’s disconcerting to be hanging off the back. Around us are about 162 hectares of the Vina Villavicencio vineyard, the latest Rothschild venture in the country. Cool-climate fine wines the best accompaniment to a Hong Kong summer The Rothschilds bought this vineyard in 2013, their third Chilean project, which... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1940685/rothschild-takes-chilean-wine-new-level-overseas-sales-grow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1940685/rothschild-takes-chilean-wine-new-level-overseas-sales-grow?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 May 2016 14:00:45 +0000 The buzz had been building steadily for the Bordeaux 2015 vintage since the grapes were harvested last September. Now that the annual tasting week – which saw buyers and journalists from around the globe converge in Bordeaux – has concluded, it’s time to ask if it lives up to the hype. After four or five years of disappointing returns for buyers, is this the vintage that will justify putting your money down to buy something a year to 18 months before it is bottled and delivered? I would say in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1935498/best-best-first-tastings-2015-bordeaux-wines-barrel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1935498/best-best-first-tastings-2015-bordeaux-wines-barrel?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Apr 2016 09:15:15 +0000 In summer 2014, when Li Wencheng bought the 12-hectare Chateau Puy Guilhem in Bordeaux, he was not only the proud owner of one of the most beautiful views in the whole of Fronsac, overlooking the valley of the river Isle, but he also left former owner Jean-Francois Enixon with something of an opportunity. Selling to the Chinese architect (who also owns La Fleur Jonquet in Graves, Chateau Lucas in Castillon and Wencheng Castle near Beijing) gave Enixon the chance to do something he and his wife... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1931742/why-you-really-should-try-french-red-wines-canada?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1931742/why-you-really-should-try-french-red-wines-canada?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Mar 2016 09:01:03 +0000 Bordeaux is known the world over for its en primeur – “wine futures” tastings, when the latest vintage is put under the spotlight by critics and wine buyers who taste, spit, then decide what to buy before the wines are actually released. But this is simply the best known of the many tastings of young wines that are held by producers across Europe. One of my favourites takes place each January in France. This is one of the hidden highlights of the year – seriously, it should be much more widely... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1915241/futures-european-and-us-wines-customers-and-buyers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1915241/futures-european-and-us-wines-customers-and-buyers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Feb 2016 22:00:52 +0000 I’m going to start the New Year with a confession. I live in Bordeaux, and spend a good proportion of my professional life tasting the area’s wines, visiting the chateaux and trying to understand the stories and the psychology behind the people who make them. And yet there is oneappellation that confuses me time and again. It’s the very beautiful and highly coveted Right Bank spot of Saint-Émilion. The merlot and cabernet franc wines from these limestone hills have been sought after since Roman... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1901157/why-its-hard-know-what-youre-getting-bottle-saint-emilion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1901157/why-its-hard-know-what-youre-getting-bottle-saint-emilion?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:07:10 +0000 There are just 32 grands crus in Burgundy. Sounds reasonable, right? Until, that is, you realise that between just two grands crus alone – Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot – the vineyard land is split among 166 different owners. Some might only make one or two barrels each year, others might sell their grapes or sublet their vines rather than bottle themselves, but that still means a startlingly large number of names to sort through on shelves or restaurant wine lists. Echezeaux takes the prize in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1889198/clos-vougeot-one-burgundys-grands-crus-1000-years-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1889198/clos-vougeot-one-burgundys-grands-crus-1000-years-history?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:00:42 +0000 The list of famous windmills is pretty short. If you'll allow me to group together the 1,000-plus windmills across the Netherlands into one, we're left with the symbol for the Moulin Rouge cabaret club in Paris, the Old Dutch snacks company in Canada and, at a push, the El Rancho hotel in Las Vegas. The world of wine can claim one other. This one has sat at the highest point of Romanèche Thorins village for hundreds of years and has come to represent one of the best-known wines from the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1875957/beaujolais-producers-slowly-waking-potential-their-wines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1875957/beaujolais-producers-slowly-waking-potential-their-wines?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Nov 2015 13:01:36 +0000 It's the time of the year when winemakers need a steady hand and steadier nerves. It's also when when wine drinkers start to get an idea of what we should be looking out for over the next couple of years, when grapes harvested in 2015 make their way into bottles and onto wine lists and shelves. Autumn 2015 has seen its share of drama for those bringing in their grapes. In California, wildfires raged close to the Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Although most wineries there escaped direct damage,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1862697/fickle-nature-robs-winemakers-what-looked-great-2015-harvest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1862697/fickle-nature-robs-winemakers-what-looked-great-2015-harvest?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:59:55 +0000 If you want to question everything you think you know about wine, spend an afternoon with Maria José Lopez de Heredia, a fourth-generation winemaker in Haro, capital of Rioja Alta. Lopez de Heredia is gatekeeper to one of the most unusual wineries in Spain. She runs Vina Tondonia in the same way as her father, grandfather and great-grandfather did before her, committed to traditions that are untouched by modern science and yet produce bottles of enormous beauty. Here, the white wines are... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1854971/untouched-science-rioja-winemaker-sticks-her-great?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1854971/untouched-science-rioja-winemaker-sticks-her-great?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Sep 2015 13:00:30 +0000 Is Bandol the last great secret in French wine? It just might be. Not the beautifully expressive rosés that take their place - distinct, recognisable - alongside the best of Provence, but the spicy, dark-fruited, rosemary-and-dill-drenched reds that rank up there with the most venerable from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone. And just as with those three regions, the key is in a local variety that sits at its limit of ripening, and in its struggle lies greatness. This means cabernet sauvignon for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1847040/why-frances-bandol-wines-need-time-show-their-grace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1847040/why-frances-bandol-wines-need-time-show-their-grace?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2015 14:21:24 +0000 It was a small news story; the end of a decade-long experiment into the screw-cap closure for André Lurton Pessac Léognans whites. But it came just weeks after I had done a horizontal tasting of 2005 wines of that particular style where one of the Lurton estates, Château Couhins-Lurton, stood out as exceptionally young and fresh - I think I wrote about the fresh aromas of billowing cotton sheets that made me look again at the vintage to check that they hadn't served up something younger. It... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1835072/why-french-wrong-think-wine-screw-cap-bottles-wont-age-well?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1835072/why-french-wrong-think-wine-screw-cap-bottles-wont-age-well?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jul 2015 01:52:37 +0000 Students of architecture might traditionally consider a pilgrimage to Florence, Dubai, Miami or Tokyo to study the best examples of their craft. Very few would think about visiting a vineyard - but if they did, it would almost certainly be Rioja, the site of an architectural boom in the 1990s and into the 2000s with names such as Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava and Zaha Hadid adding modernist touches among the Spanish vines. The first stirrings that a similar revolution might be happening in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1826412/bordeaux-winemakers-investing-well-designed-cellars-better?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1826412/bordeaux-winemakers-investing-well-designed-cellars-better?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jun 2015 22:23:44 +0000 Of all the regions in France to be a fledgling winemaker, getting started in Champagne must be the toughest challenge of all. Grape contracts are fiercely protected. The big champagne houses control 65 per cent of the output and 90 per cent of the export market for the region and have huge marketing budgets. And the same traditional houses(Moët Hennessy, Laurent-Perrier and the rest) snap up any sliver of land that might come up for sale - usually way before it even gets to market. If that's not... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1820235/rothschild-one-two-newcomers-elite-world-champagne?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1820235/rothschild-one-two-newcomers-elite-world-champagne?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jun 2015 22:09:55 +0000 Another year, another difficult decision to make on whether to buy the fledgling Bordeaux wines. This time it's the 2014 vintage; a year that Pierre Seillan at Château Lassegue in Saint-Emilion described as "crazy". "In 48 years of making wine, I have never seen such a spectacular reversal of fortunes as in 2014," he says. What he means is that after a dismal July and August, the skies cleared and there were two months of uninterrupted sunshine, allowing the grapes, at the very least, a fighting... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1767765/best-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1767765/best-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:06:06 +0000 Syrah turns into something quite extraordinary in the northern Rhone Valley. The powerful black pepper spice of syrah (or shiraz, as it is more usually known in Australia or South Africa) in warmer regions mutates into a floral white pepper elegance wrapped up in silky tannins. It's the alchemy of soil, altitude and microclimate. Basically, the syrah doesn't get hot enough, or relaxed enough, to bring out its wild side, but there are a few places in the world that can manage this trick. Put an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1754257/rhone-valley-winemakers-elevate-syrah-or-shiraz-elegant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1754257/rhone-valley-winemakers-elevate-syrah-or-shiraz-elegant?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2015 22:08:28 +0000 Take the ageing ability and tannic backbone of Bordeaux, then throw in the perfumed eloquence of Burgundy, a hint of Italian warmth and the sheer pleasure of eating and drinking, and you're getting close to why nebbiolo might be the world's greatest grape variety. It's far from the most prolific, and takes great pleasure in being known locally as the "anti-global grape" because of its stubborn refusal to travel far from Piedmont. Plenty of wine drinkers are happy to leave it there - it gets... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1702973/why-nebbiolo-may-be-worlds-greatest-grape?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1702973/why-nebbiolo-may-be-worlds-greatest-grape?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Feb 2015 22:00:04 +0000 There's something strangely familiar about the hill of Corton. You approach it along the A321 road north from Beaune, or south from Dijon, and all of a sudden it's impossible to miss the densely packed cluster of trees at the summit of the hill - the ceremonial hat of a Buddhist monk, the spiky mullet of an 1980s rock star. Whether you lean towards rock or religion, the vines that head down from the trees mark out the appellation of Corton-Charlemagne and some of the great white wines of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1672707/hidden-hill-corton-source-some-burgundys-best-whites?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1672707/hidden-hill-corton-source-some-burgundys-best-whites?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Jan 2015 10:00:15 +0000 If the arrival of Chinese buyers is anything to go by, the Languedoc - always an underperforming French wine on the world stage - may be about to see its luck change. It's been nearly seven years since the first Chinese purchase arrived in Bordeaux, with Château Latour-Laguens going under the hammer in January 2008. In three years, the value of Bordeaux imports into China had risen 191 per cent. Since then, the fortunes of this iconic French region have seen a few precipitous falls, but it... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1660374/languedoc-wines-set-get-respect-they-have-long-deserved?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1660374/languedoc-wines-set-get-respect-they-have-long-deserved?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2014 03:30:45 +0000 A mini scandal has had Bordeaux buzzing recently, as one of the most high-profile chateaux in the region has seen its wine fail an important test. Hauts de Pontet-Canet, the second wine of Chateau Pontet-Canet, has for the first time failed its AOC Pauillac assessment, and will see its 2012 wine bottled under the label Vin de France. In theory that means that it passes from being a prestigious Medoc wine to a humble table wine. Does anyone care? Pontet-Canet will certainly be hoping not. Its... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1633521/high-profile-chateaus-second-wine-fails-make-grade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1633521/high-profile-chateaus-second-wine-fails-make-grade?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Nov 2014 09:27:09 +0000 Why do vines grow grapes? Clearly, it's not to ensure that we get to crack open a perfectly chilled glass of albarino with our oysters. That is simply a rather pleasing side-effect. What vines want is a fail-safe system for ensuring their own survival, and they have chosen, in nature's wisdom, to wrap their seeds within perfect sugar-filled pouches tantalisingly displayed in easy reach of birds who eat them and eventually pass the seeds, thus naturally propagating the species. For those of you... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1612922/how-birds-prey-keep-pests-away?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1612922/how-birds-prey-keep-pests-away?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:28:43 +0000 The village of L'Hermitiere barely counts 300 inhabitants to its name. A cobbled central square, a line of low-slung stone cottages, a strikingly incongruent chateau, and you're done. It's as if you're leaving the hamlet, barely aware of having arrived in it, as you pass the neat rows of apple trees on either side of the narrow road, branches dotted with a rash of green, yellow and reddening fruit. If you had passed through here 100 years ago, when the first world war was raging among these now... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1578482/wine-opinion-couple-revive-traditional-cider-making-normandy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1578482/wine-opinion-couple-revive-traditional-cider-making-normandy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Aug 2014 17:30:15 +0000 Not to do myself out of a job, but a smart way to get some wine tips is to open the fridge in the kitchen of a Bordeaux négociant. You'll almost certainly find a bottle of Denis Dubourdieu's dry white AOC Graves, Clos Floridene. Next to it, I think you'll come across a bottle of Delamotte Blanc de Blancs NV champagne. The reason that this is such an insider's choice is because the grapes from Delamotte are sourced from the same place as Champagne Salon, perhaps the world's rarest champagne: one... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1551104/wine-opinion-delamotte-blanc-de-blancs-nv-champagne-insiders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1551104/wine-opinion-delamotte-blanc-de-blancs-nv-champagne-insiders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Jul 2014 16:09:31 +0000 Anything But Chardonnay was a backlash against the buttery, over-oaked style of wine that had become synonymous with California, and even I can't help but think about it as I pull up outside the Napa Valley Vintners building in St Helena for a tasting. I was just a little bit nervous about what I was going to find. To be fair, Napa was hardly insensitive to the criticism. Perhaps stung by the ABC movement, chardonnay has fallen out of favour in the vineyards. In the 1990s, the grape overtook... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1526017/wine-opinion-californian-chardonnay-comes-cold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1526017/wine-opinion-californian-chardonnay-comes-cold?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:08:34 +0000 The summer heat in Languedoc is all pervasive. Even the geckos can barely lift their heads off the rocks. It's why the wines from this part of France tend to be so muscular, powerful and richly-fruited - the grapes can drink in as much sunshine as they need and winemakers struggle with low acidity rather than alcohol. But head along the Aude river, due south from the fortified walls of Carcassonne, and you'll escape from its worst excesses. Here in Limoux, where timber-framed houses straddle the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1501690/look-beyond-limoux-label-find-excellent-chardonnay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1501690/look-beyond-limoux-label-find-excellent-chardonnay?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 May 2014 01:46:46 +0000 We can talk up, down and around the 2013 vintage in Bordeaux. The tasting week for the en primeur campaign has finished, and the thousands of wine buyers and journalists who have trooped from chateau to chateau have now packed up their toothbrushes and headed home. Attendance figures were down 10 per cent, with overseas tasters accounting for one-fifth of the overall numbers compared to almost one-third just two years ago for the 2011 tastings. Perhaps that's because, as Kenneth Ren of Vintasia... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1473962/bordeaux-throws-surprises-2013-vintage-after-patchy-growing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1473962/bordeaux-throws-surprises-2013-vintage-after-patchy-growing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Apr 2014 04:20:08 +0000 Robert Parker is finishing up the sold-out Asian leg of his Grand World Tour before heading off to the US and Bordeaux later in the year. Tickets came in at over US$1,000 per spot, but in return guests have been treated to an array of top-drawer Bordeaux and 100-point Parker wines. The dinners and tastings come just over a year after the announcement that Parker, the world's most famous wine critic, has sold The Wine Advocate to a group of Singaporean investors for US$15 million. He has now... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1458552/there-life-after-robert-parker-world-wine-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1458552/there-life-after-robert-parker-world-wine-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:00:15 +0000 The heavy, glass-engraved bottle is one of the most distinctive in wine. Most of us allow our fingers to linger briefly over the embossed keys of St Peter and the papal insignia whenever we open a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, an absent-minded gesture but seeking all the same the reassuring sign of the most acclaimed appellation in the southern Rhône. But it wasn't long ago that this tiny Vaucluse town was a place for rustic, pile-'em-high bottles from the high-alcohol grenache grape that were... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1436395/chateauneuf-overcame-diseased-vines-become-acclaimed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1436395/chateauneuf-overcame-diseased-vines-become-acclaimed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Feb 2014 02:15:00 +0000 New year, new drinking plan? So let's make 2014 the year of drinking smarter. I'm listening to Denis Dubourdieu, winemaker, professor and consultant, who says: "Anyone can taste better if they pay attention to what they're drinking. The more attention you pay, the more you will enjoy it, and the more you will remember for the future. It is our memories that make us good tasters; having the ability to understand how one wine fits with another." Getting to know a region, appellation, even a single... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1406931/wine-opinion-how-learning-archetypes-will-make-tasting-easier?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1406931/wine-opinion-how-learning-archetypes-will-make-tasting-easier?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jan 2014 01:36:41 +0000 The village of Gevrey-Chambertin lies just above Morey-St-Denis, the last of the big stars on the Route des Grands Crus before it slides into the outskirts of Dijon. As if it needed it, the appellation got an unexpected shot of publicity last year when Louis Ng Chi-sing, chief operating officer at SJM Holdings in Macau, was revealed as the new owner of Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin. Ng reportedly paid €8 million (HK$85 million) for the two-hectare estate, or double what it was "officially" worth... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1379082/wine-opinion-burgundy-chateau-flourishes-under-its-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1379082/wine-opinion-burgundy-chateau-flourishes-under-its-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:28:19 +0000 New York is probably the only city on earth that rivals Hong Kong for the sheer number of wine-tasting options available each day. In a global market where producers follow, sheep-like, the hot consumption spots, all eyes have been on China for the past five years. But America is once more on the upward trajectory, overtaking France and Italy as the country that gets through the most bottles per year, with 324 million cases, an increase of 7 per cent over the past five years. China was at 159... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1362054/wine-opinion-new-york-now-rivals-hong-kong-daily-tasting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1362054/wine-opinion-new-york-now-rivals-hong-kong-daily-tasting?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:00:00 +0000 New York is probably the only city on earth that rivals Hong Kong right now for the sheer number of wine-tasting options available each day. In a global market where producers follow, sheep-like, the hot consumption spots, all eyes have been on China for the past five years. But America is once more on the upward trajectory, overtaking France and Italy as the country that gets through the most bottles per year, with 324 million cases, an increase of 7 per cent over the past five years. China was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1361869/wine-opinion-new-york-rivals-hong-kong-daily-tasting-options?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1361869/wine-opinion-new-york-rivals-hong-kong-daily-tasting-options?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Nov 2013 04:10:01 +0000 Like gilt jewellery boxes or cubic zirconia engagement rings, Hong Kong's wine drinkers are actually much cheaper than they look. Contrary to the city's luxury-loving reputation, about half of its wine retail outlets derive most of their revenue and volume from the relatively modest HK$151 to HK$350 bracket. This is not including supermarkets, whose average bottle price is considerably less than that. That is what we gleaned from research into our guide to the Hong Kong wine trade in conjunction... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1355945/wine-opinion-hong-kong-buyers-are-more-frugal-they-realise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1355945/wine-opinion-hong-kong-buyers-are-more-frugal-they-realise?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Nov 2013 12:05:00 +0000 If you happen to be in a French wine region this October, you may want to avoid narrow roads. If you do take a picturesque track that steers you alongside vineyards heavy with fruit, your reward will most likely be trailing behind a slow truck loaded with crates of grapes, or sitting nerve-wrenchingly close to a harvesting machine that will wave its oversized arms towards the bonnet of your car as you pointlessly beep your horn and look for a safe place to overtake. There is, however, a little... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1328662/wine-consultants-help-salvage-poor-harvest-france?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1328662/wine-consultants-help-salvage-poor-harvest-france?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The stone gatehouse, manned by well-spoken National Trust staff, lies a 2.5-kilometre drive from the manor, past rolling countryside, deer parks, stables, an aviary, a rose garden, and immaculate terraces landscaped by 19th-century designer Elie Lainé. Following instructions, we turn left at the fountain, take a few more well-sculpted turns, and come face-to-face with a Loire-style effusion of turrets and spires, set in the rolling Buckinghamshire countryside. This is Waddesdon Manor in England... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1313060/wine-opinion-all-manor-styles-rothschilds-lair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1313060/wine-opinion-all-manor-styles-rothschilds-lair?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Wine, as we all know, is about playing the long game. Returns on investments if you buy a vineyard are usually talked about in terms of decades - not dissimilar to the amount of time you have to wait for an expensive bottle of red Bordeaux to reach its peak. So it's fair to say that if you're a wine lover, you have to cultivate the art of patience. But even taking that into account, the waiting game for Pessac has been longer than most. The patience of chateaux owners in this region - just to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1296908/wine-opinion-pessac-chateaux-show-wines-are-worth-wait?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1296908/wine-opinion-pessac-chateaux-show-wines-are-worth-wait?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 It's rare for there to be a stampede to buy a celebrity wine. And rarer still when that wine is a rosé. But two things made Chateau Miraval sell 6,000 bottles in five hours, and provoke articles and wine reviews everywhere from the Huffington Post to Vanity Fair. The first reason was the name Jolie-Pitt behind the label. But another name, Marc Perrin, joins theirs and it has added credibility to the rebranding of this Côtes de Provence estate. "Miraval has always been known to produce one of the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1275388/hollywood-stars-pitt-and-jolie-lend-their-name-fine-french?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1275388/hollywood-stars-pitt-and-jolie-lend-their-name-fine-french?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000