Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Decanter

WHAT I’VE BEEN DRINKING THIS MONTH Bouza, B6 Tannat, Canelones 2016 Another wine world is possible; progress can continue in that changed world. The ‘most progressive’ wine I’ve drunk recently is the single-vineyard B6 Tannat 2016 – the first Uruguayan Tannat I’ve tried which exhibits the textural wealth of the variety as in its Basque and Gascon home, but without the daunting acidity of Madiran and Irouléguy in southwest France. Instead, here, it was spliced to a ripe, svelte sweetness of fruit, bringing that fruit ballast and dignity: deeply impressive.…

Letter from Champagne Caroline Henry ‘In many ways, the zero-herbicides movement is Champagne’s Brexit’ At the end of last year, Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagnes (UMC) and co-president of the Comité Champagne, made a commitment on behalf of the whole region to eradicate the use of herbicides by 2025. While the idea itself is applaudable and bold – Champagne remains the only wine region in the world to have made this commitment – it seems that the practicalities have not been fully thought through. In many ways, the zero-herbicides movement is Champagne’s Brexit, and the extraction of herbicides from the region’s patchwork vineyards may hold similar economic challenges as the UK’s extraction from the European Union. Champagne’s 34,380ha is made up of 280,000 vineyards with…

Anson’s Smith Haut Lafitte picks Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Blanc 2015 96 £77.50 (ib)-£120 Asset Wines, Corkr, Crump Richmond Shaw, Fine & Rare, Grand Vin, Millésima, Montrachet, Mumbles Fine Wine This expands outwards from the first moment; it’s rich and round with a creamy texture. Made from 90% Sauvignon Blanc with 10% Semillon, it has notes of apricot, fleshy pear and exotic fruits that fill the mid-palate, with menthol, white pepper and mouthscraping salinity on the finish. Beautifully juicy but concentrated flavours. Exemplary white Bordeaux, mixing tension and density. Ready to drink but will age. Drink 2020-2035 Alcohol 14% Le Petit Haut Lafitte Blanc 2017 93 £28.50-£40.28 Cru, Elicite, Wineye Has a little more density through the palate than the Les Hauts de Smith Blanc, with an intensity that adds…

DBR Lafite, Long Dai, Qui Shan Valley, Penglai, China 2017 93 RMB 2,300-2,500 Available exclusively in China via Pernod Ricard A sweet blast on the attack gives way to savoury black fruits and gentle spice. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 25% each of Marselan and Cabernet Franc, aged with 50% new oak. The Marselan is a smart addition, giving gentle flesh and soft tannins. The flavours are not fleshy or big-boned but exert a more subtle fruit-filled power, with well-managed oak and finely drawn tannins, expertly worked by winemaker and technical director Juliette Couderc. It has the drinkability you hope for from a Lafite wine. The length on the palate bodes well, with elegance and quiet power, and a minerality running through. As it opens, there’s real juice…

Anniversary wines ANNIVERSARY BUYS: the Decanter guide Looking for the perfect celebratory gift in a bottle for the coming year, and in need of some 2020 vision? Your luck’s in, says Anthony Rose, as you should find no shortage of options, ranging from the pretty good to truly great... Photograph: Mike Prior. Bottles courtesy of The Good Wine Shop (www.thegoodwineshop.co.uk), The Whisky Exchange (www.thewhiskyexchange.com) and Uncorked Ltd (www.uncorked.co.uk) A birthday or anniversary gift is welcome at the best of times, but there’s a particular thrill in receiving a special bottle that honours both your and the wine’s vintage. Fortunate indeed is anyone with a birthday or anniversary in a great year for wine, less so if you were born or married under the wine equivalent of a bad…

Steven Spurrier’s FINE WINE WORLD Decanter’s long-standing consultant editor and 2017 Decanter Hall of Fame Award recipient picks fine wines for drinking now and recommends others for laying down, all priced from £25 upwards FROM THE CELLAR Marqués de Riscal, Reserva, Rioja 1964 A fine September morning at London’s Vintners’ Hall saw the presentation of Marqués de Riscal Ð A Travel through Time by Andrew Caillard MW, the splendid book he had written about Rioja’s most historic estate, focusing on the incredible November 2015 tasting of 92 vintages of Marqués de Riscal from 1862 to 1964 in the famous Frank Gehry-designed Riscal hotel in Elciego. In the company of fifth-generation family owner José Luis Muguiro Aznar and head winemaker Luis Hurtado de Amézaga, the 1952 and 1964 from that tasting…

THE JUDGES Susie Barrie MW A widely published wine writer, author and broadcaster, Barrie’s credits include more than a decade on BBC1. She has authored several books, including The Essential Guide to English Wine, co-written with her husband Peter Richards MW. Together the pair also co-host the annual Wine Festival Winchester. Freddy Bulmer Having worked for two wine merchants in Yorkshire, Bulmer moved to The Wine Society in 2013, working his way up to start as a buyer in early 2017. He is now responsible for buying the Society’s wines from Austria, Eastern Europe, England, Australia and New Zealand, as well as beers and ciders. Stephen Skelton MW Skelton is a consultant to the English and Welsh wine industry, wine educator and awarded author. After studying in Germany, in 1977…

Panel tasting THE VERDICT There was consistency among the higher-scorers, and a host of good-value wines, especially from 2016, but disappointment too that some producers are not aiming higher, reports Georgie Hindle Overall it was something of an underwhelming tasting, with our judges disappointed at the low proportion of wines scoring at Recommended level or above. ‘My expectations as soon as I hear the words “branded Bordeaux” are not that high, to be honest,’ said Jane Anson, who felt quality ‘should be higher’ based on the standard that is achievable in the region. ‘We had plenty of wines from great vintages here and, knowing what producers are capable of, quite often during the tasting I thought,“I wish this was better”.’ Andy Howard MW agreed: ‘There’s definitely room for brands to…

DAWA DECANTER ASIA WINE AWARDS: BEST IN SHOW With 74 Gold and 18 Platinum medals awarded at DAWA 2019, our competition Vice-Chairs had the difficult task of choosing the top 20 wines of them all. Many wineries entering DAWA aim to target the Asian market specifically, hence some wines may not be available in the UK. While this selection includes some classic styles, the judges also found outstanding quality among lesser known styles. Piper-Heidsieck, Essentiel Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne, France NV £45-£54.99 Liberty Wines, Q Wines, The Fine Wine Co Purity and polished stone finesse, without a trace of austerity. Pure, soft, creamy aromas hint at dessert apple and plant sap. Lacy in texture, resonant and vivid, a fine-drawn and tapered finish. Drink 2020-2026 Alcohol 12% Ogier, Clos…

My Top 10 in Adelaide 1 Orana Chef Jock Zonfrillo’s innovative take on introducing indigenous Australian ingredients to a fine-dining framework has helped to redefine modern Australian cuisine. His 20-course dégustation menu at compact 30-seat restaurant Orana takes the diner on an extraordinary journey of new taste sensations, from the bracing ocean blast of pipis in a briny broth of ruby saltbush berry and crunchy beach succulents, to rare kangaroo loin rested in house kombucha, and roti stuffed with flame-grilled tommy ruff (Australian herring) smeared in a native jerk sauce. www.restaurantorana.com 2 Africola Part party house, part serious food den, Africola creates a winning vibe through mixing kooky decor and audacious modern art while presenting North African food from an exciting new angle. Vegetables are heroes on the…

PHILIPPONNAT, CLOS DES GOISSES 1964 Champagne, France A legend because… Many Champagnes aim to achieve a consistent house style through blending, using different grape varieties, vineyards or vintages. There are exceptions, such as Krug’s Clos du Mesnil and Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses, which are always vintage wines, so if conditions have been poor, the producer is under no obligation to make and release them in any given year. However, when they are produced, they are Champagnes with a distinctive terroir, reflecting the soil and exposition of the place where the grapes are grown. Unlike most other single-vineyard Champagnes, Clos des Goisses is produced in most vintages. From 1935 to 2007, only 12 vintages were skipped – since 1988 it has been produced every year. Looking back The house, based in…

Letter of the month Hungry for Hungary Being a Hungarian wine enthusiast I am perhaps biased when it comes to our wines, but when reading Decanter, my recurrent thought is, ‘why can’t I find more content about Hungarian wines?’. I read about the surrounding wine regions (in Croatia, Slovenia or Austria) and believe it would be worth dedicating a few pages to what’s going on in Hungary’s 22 wine regions. Yes, production volumes are low (less than 4 million hl in 2018, which is roughly the same as produced just in Bordeaux!), and this probably contributes to the lack of fame, but there is quite some effort brought into this industry by our local winemakers, some of whom already ship to Asia and the US. Besides…

Elin McCoy ‘Many heirs don’t hesitate to sell off wineries founded by their parents’ A Harvard Business School study estimated that 70% of family businesses are sold before the second generation takes over. Only 12% survive to the third. In the wine world, the causes are usually family squabbles, financial problems or, especially in France, taxes. Does it matter? I think it does. The people behind what we drink, be it wine or spirits, are part of the terroir and authenticity of the liquid in the glass. Most families view themselves as guardians of the land, which puts them in the best spot to respond to long-term challenges such as climate change. One way they can survive today is by banding together to exchange ideas and impress family spirit on…

WHAT I’VE BEEN DRINKING THIS MONTH Fleury, 30 Ans de Biodynamie, Champagne NV I have fallen in love with this extra brut cuvée by Fleury – a three-way blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc from the 2000 and 2001 harvests. Aged for 17 years, it’s sensual, rich and striking – and the bottle is never big enough. I’m also excited about the Louis Roederer et Philippe Starck, Brut Nature Rosé 2012, from its biodynamic Les Chèvres vineyard in Cumières. A field blend of equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this is Roederer’s first brut rosé.…

CHATEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE AT A GLANCE The team The Cathiards have been owners since 1990, after founding the Go Sport chain of sportswear shops, and early days in the 1965 French Olympic ski team. Fabien Teitgen is technical director, with Michel Rolland and Stéphane Derenoncourt as consultants Vineyard area 85ha (74ha red, 11ha white) split over 40% first wine and 60% second wine Le Petit Haut Lafitte. The estate also makes Les Hauts de Smith from young vines and specific plots Plantings Red 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot; White 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon, 5% Sauvignon Gris…

Washington TOP WASHINGTON BUYS With 1,000 producers and near-ideal grape-growing conditions, the second-largest wine region in the US might just make the best wines you’ve never tasted. Tina Gellie reports 'People keep saying: “Washington is an up-and-coming wine region”. We are no longer up and coming; we’ve made it and we’re here to stay!’ It was a rousing statement by Quilceda Creek winemaker Alex Stewart at a seminar in Seattle, where some of Washington State’s best Cabernets had been pitted against the likes of Pauillac’s Château Pontet Canet and Napa’s Chateau Montelena in a blind tasting. Stewart might have softened his words if the outcome had been different. But not only were the mature and recent vintages from Hedges Family Estate, Soos Creek, Leonetti Cellar and Quilceda Creek worthy enough…

The Decanter interview LOUIS BARRUOL One of the Rhône Valley’s most celebrated winemakers, the Château de Saint Cosme owner has elevated his long-established family winery – and the Gigondas appellation itself – to a new level of prominence in the greater Rhône region, and one of his latest projects sees him striving to do the same in Vinsobres, as Matt Walls discovers Photograph: Jon Wyand 'I’m 50 this year – oh my God! At 50 you suddenly think, “I’ve passed the halfway mark”. But I don’t feel old at all.’ Neither does he look it. Barruol was playing in rugby tournaments (fly half) until the age of 48, and looks ready to receive a ball and start running at any moment. From a certain angle, his…

SPONSORED GUIDE in association with Extremadura Avante Extremadura: 21 top wines to try Where you can find them in export markets, these wines represent fantastic value for money, says David Williams as he picks his top buys Encina Blanca de Alburquerque, Espumoso Brut, Vino de la Tierra 2017 87 N/A UK www.encinablancadealburquerque.es Rich and full in flavour, a blend based on Chardonnay, Macabeo and Cayetana with a citrus-fruit gum character and plenty of zip. Tangy and interesting on the palate with creamy apple fleshiness. Drink 2019-2020 Alcohol 12.5% Martínez Paiva, Brut Nature, Vino de la Tierra 2017 87 N/A UK www.bodegasmartinezpaiva.com Pure and clean, gently honeyed, quite refined sparkling Macabeo, well made with nice, bright sweet fruit. There’s a citrus-fruit note of candied mandarin that works very well. Good length.…

Celebrating Christmas HOW TO HOST CHRISTMAS The festive season offers plenty of occasions for wine lovers to enjoy their favourite bottles. But what should you serve when? Fiona Beckett offers practical tips for perfect wine service at home Photograph: M_a_y_a/Getty Images For any wine lover, Christmas offers the opportunity to bring out the best bottles in the cellar – but is this the wisest strategy? The truth is that the Christmas meal, with its stuffing, sauces and sides, is a bit of a wine killer – and there may well be family members around your table who would frankly rather be drinking their favourite Chilean Merlot. Still, it’s your Christmas as well as everyone else’s and if you don’t drink your best bottles on one of the biggest occasions of…

The Spurrier selection Yealands Estate, State of Flux Chardonnay, Awatere Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand 2018 94 £29.50 Great Western Wine Described by winemaker Nathalie Christensen as ‘Chablis-style’, the juice from 25-year-old vines is fermented in a 1,700-litre concrete egg. Lemony fruit with a supple texture and surprising length. Drink 2020-2026 Alc 13% Bodegas Palacio, Reserva Especial, Rioja, Spain 2014 93 £35 Ehrmanns Founded by Cosme Palacio more than a century ago, this bodega produces some of the finest wines from Rioja Alavesa. Robust red and black fruit with dry spices on the nose; richly textured with great Tempranillo purity and energy for a good future. Drink 2020-2028 Alc 14% Leeuwin Estate, Art Series Shiraz, Margaret River, Western Australia 2015 92 £30-£32 Bottle Apostle, Domaine Direct, Hedonism, Oz Wines, Swig A…

ENGLISH SPARKLING: KNOW YOUR VINTAGES 2018 A totally exceptional year. An early harvest saw yields at 13m bottles (2.5 times the average), with high sugars and balanced acids. 2017 Very hard spring frosts reduced crops in many vineyards. A very early flowering resulted in an early harvest. Good still wines and sparkling wines that will have ageing potential. 2016 Excellent weather from mid-August gave very high natural sugars. Both still and sparkling wines are very good, with sparkling drinking best until 2023. 2015 A frost-free spring and very late flowering. Very good ripening period gave excellent sparkling wines, especially Chardonnay-based, which will repay keeping. 2014 Very good flowering and a warm September and October produced excellent wines, both still and sparkling. Sparkling wines at their best now. 2013 Frost-free spring,…

THE JUDGES Jane Anson Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent and the DWWA Regional Chair for Bordeaux, Anson lives in the region and is an accredited wine teacher at the Ecole du Vin in Bordeaux. Her book titles include Bordeaux Legends, a history of the 1855 first growth wines (Abrams 2013), and Wine Revolution (Quarto 2017). Andy Howard MW Howard is a Decanter contributing editor and Decanter World Wine Awards judge. Having become a Master of Wine in 2011, he now runs his own consultancy business, Vinetrades Ltd, which focuses on wine education, investment and sourcing. He was formerly a wine buyer in the UK retail sector for 30 years. Gavin Quinney Formerly in computer sales, in 1999 Quinney bought Château Bauduc, with more than 25ha of vines to the southeast of…

Travel PEAK PERFECTION The finest European ski resorts offer sublime slopes and first-class hospitality. Gabriella Le Breton picks five of the best for this winter, while Robin Kick MW looks at the local wines on offer at each one Photographs: Jungfraubahnen Grindelwald, Switzerland WHERE TO FIND IT Encircled by the Bernese Alps, in the shadow of the north face of the Eiger HOW TO GET THERE Fly to Zurich and travel by train or car to Grindelwald in about 2.5 hours The resort Legend has it that it was an Englishman who first skied in Grindelwald. Although, when Gerald Fox strapped skis to his feet and skied out through the front door of the Baer Hotel in 1891, locals questioned both his sanity and the future of this peculiar sport.…

TASTING NOTES DECODED Cassis In tasting notes, cassis refers to ripe and concentrated blackcurrant flavours or aromas. It’s often used to describe rich and full-bodied red wines, such as mature Bordeaux, or those made from earthy southern Italian varieties such as Nero d’Avola, Aglianico or Primitivo. The blackcurrant flavour profile belongs to a broader ‘black fruit’ category. It’s more aligned with the tartness of blueberries, not with the sweetness of blackberry or dark plum. The term can cover different forms of intense blackcurrant fruit flavours, from a dollop of blackcurrant jam, to a handful of the fresh berries.The tasting term cassis is not to be confused with the predominantly white wine region of Cassis in Provence. To fully comprehend the flavour, try the blackcurrant liqueur crème de cassis, classically part…

Buoyant prices for Chave Rhônes at Hong Kong auction A rare auction of Jean-Louis Chave wines dating back to the 1920s and sourced directly from the Rhône estate’s cellars has seen high prices in Hong Kong. An eight-bottle cache of Cuvée Cathelin Ermitage, featuring every vintage released from 1990 to 2010 inclusive, was top lot after more than doubling its pre-sale high estimate (based on figures in auction host Acker’s auction catalogue) to fetch HK$545,600 (£54,120). Photographs: Quality Stock/Alamy; Thomas Thompson/Unsplash Winemaker Jean-Louis Chave was in attendance at the sale, which also saw a methuselah of the Cuvée Cathelin 2003 fetch HK$347,200 (£34,440), against a pre-sale high estimate of HK$280,000 (£27,770). A single 75cl bottle of the estate’s Hermitage Blanc 1923 vintage in its original wooden case sold for HK$94,240…

In brief Stay up to date with the latest wine news on Decanter.com, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @Decanter ■ Thieves stole about £65,000 worth of wine from the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest, which is owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The culprits raided the cellar at 3:38am on 11 November and made off with approximately 80 ‘high value’ wines. No particular bottles were specified, but the hotel’s wine list includes world-famous names, from Romanée-Conti to Screaming Eagle. ■ Iron Age Celts drank wine in Germany’s Baden-Württemberg region long before the Romans arrived, according to a study published in scientific journal PLOS One. On the site of Heuneburg, a fifth-century hill fort, researchers found 24 vessels that contained tartaric acid, signalling the presence of…

Andrew Jefford ‘The existing carbon footprint of wine is unsustainable’ We’re at the cusp of the year – and the decade. What lies ahead for the wine world? Conceptual trouble, first of all, in assuming that ‘the wine world’ is somehow separate from other worlds as a happy little pleasure bubble of its own. Perhaps this was once true in the politically dull, climatically quiet times in which the older readers (and writers) of this magazine grew up. That’s finished. During the next decade, all worlds collide – as the unruly politics of an age of populism crash haplessly into a force greater than any of us. We don’t yet know how climate change and the Holocene (or Anthropocene) extinction episode will affect the lives we have become used to…

WHAT I’VE BEEN DRINKING THIS MONTH Egon Müller, Scharzhofberger TBA, Mosel, Germany 2011 At the Primum Familiae Vini lunch at New York’s Le Bernardin, the group members brought a dozen great wines to share. The wow-bottle, served from magnums with a dessert of yuzu custard yoghurt sorbet and baked pears, was Egon Müller’s opulent Trockenbeerenauslese [£8,000 or more per 75cl, if you can find it]. This lusciously textured, apricot-toned sweet Riesling with fabulous Earl Grey tea aromas reminded me, yet again, why wine lovers should indulge in more great sweet wines.…

Wines of the Year WINES OF THE YEAR 2019 We asked our experts from around the world, and the Decanter team, to nominate the classic, offbeat and value wines that impressed them most in 2019, and called the wines in to taste. Here we present the top scorers from the 117-wine line-up. Tina Gellie reports Exceptional diversity and interest were once again the buzzwords following our third Wines of the Year tasting, in which a remarkable 87% of entries scored an average of 90 points or above. ‘This has become my favourite event in the calendar,’ said Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘There’s nothing more exciting than being presented with a roomful of extraordinary bottles recommended by fellow Decanter experts.’ Dirceu Vianna Junior MW agreed: ‘I’ve been judging for Decanter for…

Château Smith Haut Lafitte: a timeline 1365 Verrier du Boscq signs the first recorded deeds for the estate, which even at the time includes a few rows of vines 1400s-1500s During the Middle Ages, the estate belongs to a branch of France’s royal Valois family, who give it the fleur-de-lis on its coat of arms 1729 George Smith, Scottish wine merchant and sailor, acquires the property, building the magnificent chartreuse where the Cathiards now live. He also adds the crescent moon and three-legged stool to the coat of arms 1842 Lodi-Martin Duffour-Dubergier, mayor of Bordeaux, buys the estate, then 13 years later signs the document that will become the 1855 classification 1878 Oldest vintage that remains in the estate’s cellar today 1958 Eschenauer wine merchant buys the château, building the…

SPONSORED GUIDE in association with Extremadura Avante Introducing Extremadura Spain’s fourth-largest wine-producing region has much to boast about, yet it remains relatively unknown. Now, finding its own style and making the most of its little-known DO, Extremadura is starting to make its mark internationally, as David Williams discovers The people of Extremadura like to remark on how neatly their home region’s name fits its characteristics. This is an extreme place, they say, with a knowing smile – extreme and hard: extrema y dura. They’re talking about the climate out here on the border of Portugal, in Spain’s wild west. With its long, dry, searingly hot summers and cold winters, this is the ur-Spain, where olive groves and hunched clusters of whitewashed houses provide the visual relief in the dusty, sun-blasted,…

THIS MONTH’S PANEL TASTINGS English sparkling wines & branded Bordeaux reds WANT MORE? Decanter.com/ premium has full tasting notes for both panel tastings, plus exclusive tasting reports and more Steven Spurrier’s fine wine world Our consultant editor and 2017 Decanter Hall of Fame award recipient picks fine wines to drink now and for laying down, all priced at £25 and above Festive wine top buys By the Decanter team Looking to go the extra mile for your seasonal wines, but not sure which direction to go? We’ve found 34 of the best wines for drinking now – all great value too, at £38 or under English sparkling wines 53 wines tasted The must-trys of England’s exciting new wave of quality bubbly, in perfect time for all your seasonal…

FESTIVE WINES With even more recommendations this month and a higher price limit for the special occasion, the Decanter team has picked out 34 exciting wines to try over the festive season. All are UK-available and perfect for drinking now Masottina, Organic Prosecco Brut, Veneto, Italy NV 90 O £14.95 Berry Bros & Rudd A great food-friendly wine, produced organically in a drier brut style. It has delicate floral aromas with white peach, crisp apple and pear. On the palate it’s full of fine bubbles with a sherbet and pear drop-like taste, nicely balanced by racy acidity. A great aperitif for your celebrations. GH Alcohol 11.5% Contevedo, Organic Cava, Calalonia, Spain NV 89 O £7 Aldi If you like your fizz dry, then Cava is always a great option at…

Panel tasting THE VERDICT A strong performance from Sussex and Hampshire, and many high scores, though winemaking choices and England’s variable weather continue to play a dominant role, as Sylvia Wu reports Vintage variation, use of oak and the choice of variety played a more crucial part than regionality in shaping the quality of these new-release English sparkling wines, our experts found. The tasters identified high overall quality among the varied styles and vintages of the 53 wines tasted, with half (26) hitting the mark for Highly Recommended and one (see right) achieving Outstanding. Susie Barrie MW found the wines were generally ‘well made and attractive, but they hit the Silver spot (90-94 points), as opposed to Gold (95-97pts)’. Though there were some diverse individual scores, all three tasters agreed…

BEHIND THE TASTING Understanding what constitutes a brand is more difficult than might be expected. For this tasting, we had to discount some excellent wines because they didn’t fall into the category of ‘brand’: defined in the dictionary as ‘a product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name’. Clearly in Bordeaux many châteaux are also considered brands in themselves, as they are powerful names with global reach – for example, Château Mouton Rothschild is in many ways a brand with global resonance. But the wine it produces as an ‘actual’ brand is called Mouton Cadet, coming from grapes grown by different producers around the region under contract to Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA. This is a good example to use, because the history of Bordeaux brands started with…

Expert’s choice SAUTERNES 2015 Perhaps more reliant on getting the ‘right’ weather than most, Bordeaux’s famed sweet wine region struck lucky in 2015, and the wines are a delight for any fan. Stephen Brook selects his top picks It’s not always the case that a great year for red Bordeaux translates into an equally great vintage for Sauternes. Excessive rain is the enemy of fine claret, but without showers and moisture, the all-important noble rot fails to set in on golden bunches in Sauternes. A good example is 2000: it was a splendid vintage for red Bordeaux, but in Sauternes the heavens opened as the bunches were beginning to attract botrytis, and most of the crop rotted on the vine. In 2015, however, the viticultural and climatic planets aligned, and…

David Sly MY ADELAIDE Photographs: Josie Withers/South Australian Tourism Commission; Andre Castellucci/SA Media Gallery With regular foodie festivals, a thriving arts scene and renowned wine regions on its doorstep, Adelaide offers a creative and vibrant food and drink culture. David Sly recommends his must-visit highlights Adelaide is defined by wine. Ringed by famous winemaking regions – the Barossa, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale – the city plugs into a hedonistic love of sensual slow drinking and dining pleasures. Its abundance of new bars and bistros, as well as a balmy Mediterranean climate, allows a languid taste of the good life to extend through long summer nights. Located conveniently close to pristine growing regions, Adelaide’s easy access to premium produce informs a lively food culture that sparkles with delicious freshness, and serves…

ReadersÕ queries Notes & Queries Each month our experts answer readers’ wine queries and share their knowledge Decanting Bordeaux I’m after some expert advice on how one would go about decanting 35-year-old claret – I have a bottle each of Troplong Mondot 1985 and 1986. I’m anxious not to over-aerate them, as I’m aware of how delicate they are. I was thinking a quick decant and back into the bottle half an hour before pouring. Grateful for any guidance. Steven Burke, London Steven Spurrier replies: Mr Burke is lucky to have two back-to-back vintages of Château Troplong Mondot, which, thanks to the stewardship of the late Christine Valette and the consultancy advice of Michel Rolland for low yields and late harvests, was elevated to St-Emilion premier…

Market watch Clouds on investment horizon All the important fine wine investment news, compiled by Chris Mercer Optimism has been overshadowed by a growing sense of foreboding among several fine wine market observers as 2019 draws to a close. Small year-to-date declines on several major Liv-ex indices up to 31 October suggest that all is not rosy. ‘The second half of the year looks different to the first half,’ said Liv-ex co-founder Justin Gibbs. ‘A general sense of well-being has been replaced by one of concern.’ A new US import tariff (see ‘Month in wine’, December issue), ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong and concerns about how Brexit will affect sterling currency have created a backdrop of uncertainty in the world’s major fine wine trading hubs. ‘These…