Revenge of the Schist
“I really don’t want a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Chardonnay,” I told the waitperson in a restaurant and pointed to a wine on the list. “Please bring me this one listed under Gravel over Clay.” This is the fantasy of a diehard wine terroirist: to have wines identified by soil... Read More
Revisiting Champagne
Sophie Larmandier (Champagne Larmandier-Bernier), of Vertus in the southern end of the Cote des Blancs, and her husband, Pierre, have taken a biodynamic course as a way to nurse their land back to health. Pointing down at the ground in her vineyard, she exclaimed, “This soil is alive again. Pierre’s... Read More
Atlantis Found
While Santorini is well-known for its spectacular panoramas, its wine industry remains relatively undiscovered. Vines dot the slopes and plains that skirt down from the crater. The soil is a powdery gray volcanic ash peppered with chunks of pumice stone and black lava. The strong winds which are typical to... Read More
This Seasons Harvest of Wine Books
BILL NESTO’S ANNUAL REVIEW of WINE BOOKS Malbec has taken the shine off Merlot. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc dazzles while Pouilly-Fume has slid off the table. Wine is subject to trends and so is wine literature Currently, there seems to be three dominant trends in recently published wine books. One... Read More
Always Hungary For Dessert Wine. Tokaj Rules!
This April, I traveled east across the vast Great Hungarian Plain to visit this corner of the world little known to Americans. Near my destination, the Zemplen hills rose to the north of the train and vineyards appeared in their foothills opening their skirts to the Great Hungarian Plain. The... Read More
Heading Off To Uruguay
The story goes that when Portuguese explorers, desperate for the site of land, first spied the diminutive hill that overlooks present day Montevideo harbor and city, they cried out, “Monte vide eu”. This means, “I see a mountain”. Today, thriving Buenos Aires across the River Plate makes Montevideo seem like... Read More
A Grand Cru From Hershey?
During my first pilgrimage to Tain-L’Hermitage in 199O, the smell of chocolate, not wine, filled the air. I learned that Tain was not only home to Hermitage wine, but also to one of France’s most famous chocolate producers, Valrhona. Given the proximity of the Rhone Valley’s most famous cru, it... Read More