Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Decanter

EDITOR’S LETTER You’ll notice the move away from polythene wrap to a paper bag for our issue this month. And our new monthly column on sustainability in wine, by Regional Editor Natalie Earl (this month on p130). It’s not intended to be preachy, just an attempt at giving readers a deeper understanding of the issues, in case it’s something you would like to factor into your wine-buying decisions. It’s also an opportunity to give a shout out to some of those producers who go above and beyond in their efforts to make wine as sustainably as possible. It’s a very nuanced subject and I hope we manage to get some of that across in the limited space available. For instance, very heavy ‘vanity’ bottles are a bugbear of mine (I…

It was 3 June 2024 – or ‘Hangover Monday’, the day that follows Sanlúcar de Barrameda’s six-day Feria de la Manzanilla celebrations. Casa Bigote, by the mouth of the river, was one of the few bars still open. We ordered a half-bottle of manzanilla (priced just €7) while we waited for Thomas de Wangen of Sotovelo. The copas glistened; the wine in them was steel-green. ‘Oh no,’ said de Wangen, walking in a few minutes later. ‘Look at that colour!’ The remark shocked me. His glance told him that the wine had been filter-stripped before bottling, eviscerating its character. At that moment, it sunk in. Yes, the Sherry world has changed. Here’s an intriguing story. Twelve years after founding a wine-importing company in Shanghai, de Wangen sold it (in 2019),…

When it comes to Vitis vinifera genetic diversity, the New World could save the Old World.’ This dramatic statement was made in 2023 by Dr Etienne Neethling, a South Africa-born viticulture researcher now working in France. This view may be surprising, considering the country that’s home to the largest number of native vinifera grape varieties is Italy. But in general, there has been a dramatic reduction in genetic diversity within many of the ‘noble’ grape varieties over the last century. Today it’s rare to find a commercial vineyard with more than three or four clones of a variety such as Cabernet Sauvignon. The situation is different in the wine-growing nations generally still referred to as the New World. Argentina, in particular, has remained a sort of Galapagos Island for same-variety…

TRAVEL: URUGUAY 1 Tannat This thick-skinned, deeply coloured grape variety first arrived in Uruguay from Spain’s northerly Basque country in the 1870s. Today it accounts for a quarter of Uruguay’s vineyard plantings and is the undisputed king of Uruguayan wine. Tannat is one of the world’s most tannic varieties and nowhere else has mastered it quite like Uruguay. Local winemakers have honed their skills – in both vineyard and winery – to manage these feisty tannins, producing wines of distinction and approachability. The different regional expressions of Tannat offer an insightful guide to Uruguayan terroir: from the riper, more silky wines of Rivera to the spicier, more refreshing iterations of Maldonado, through to the bolder, more structured Tannat wines of Canelones. There's a surprising variation of styles to discover, too:…

OUTPOST: AXA’S NAPA ACQUISITION BY AMY WISLOCKI Christian Seely was viewing another vineyard for sale in Napa in 2018 when he got the call about Outpost, on Howell Mountain. AXA Millésimes had decided to add a Napa estate to its winery portfolio two years previously and managing director Seely had been searching since then for the right property. ‘We were open-minded about location and size,’ he recalled on a visit to London to introduce the wines to the UK press, along with Frank Dotzler, the previous owner, who has stayed on to manage the estate. ‘The only imperative was that the vineyard had great terroir, producing Cabernet Sauvignon with a real sense of place.’ A tasting of recent and back releases showed that box ticked. Planted at 700m, well above…

EXPERT’S CHOICETASTED NON-BLIND The stellar reputation of South America’s premium red wines has been built on the region’s iconic varietal wines: Argentinian Malbec, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère, and Uruguayan Tannat. Yet these wines are a relatively recent phenomenon, only really gathering pace in the 1980s when South American wineries – their sights set on export – joined the wave of varietally labelled wines emerging from the New World. Prior to this shift in focus, South American winemakers had been more interested in producing European-style blends – and Bordeaux blends in particular. This was a reflection of the early French and other European influences on the local wine industry. The first South American vineyards were planted by Spanish settlers and missionaries in the 1500s, but it was the wave of European…

La Place releases into tricky market September has become a key month for Bordeaux négociants to distribute new vintages of international fine wines to certain markets, potentially providing more evidence of buyer sentiment. While there has been debate within parts of the trade about the suitability of the model for all wines, La Place de Bordeaux’s September campaign now represents top-quality labels from around the world and the concept offers a potential opportunity for producers to reach a broader collector base. Stay tuned for a full report of the ‘Beyond Bordeaux’ releases on decanter.com/premium, but key wines were set to include the 2021 vintages of SuperTuscans Masseto and Solaia. International merchant Bordeaux Index highlighted strong critical ratings on both wines, but said much would depend on price. Among other upcoming…

Andrew Jefford is a contributing editor to Decanter and a long-standing columnist, as well as a Co-Chair of the DWWA Off we go, into our third decade, and with a spring in our step. 2024 sees the DWWA Co-Chair team swell to five, with the appointment of Beth Willard (see ‘Meet the experts’, p12); we produced, for the first time, a written document outlining our Judging Guidelines, so that everyone involved in the competition can understand exactly how it works; we refined our price categories (see ‘Judging process’, p10). For the fourth year running, we judged more than 18,000 wines (18,141 this year, in the final reckoning), from 57 different countries. We welcomed 243 judges (from 33 nations) to our judging venue in London’s Docklands, and they included (a new…

When the Decanter World Wine Awards was established in 2004, the goal was ambitious yet clear: to create the world’s premier wine competition. Achieving this vision required two crucial elements. First, attracting global talent: the competition needed the most discerning, experienced and knowledgeable judges from around the world, not just the UK. Secondly, establishing rigorous competition protocols was essential, to guide these experts in making respected and credible awards. Now, in our 21st year, we’re proud that about 43% of our 243 judges travelled in from around the globe, among them 62 Masters of Wine, 20 Master Sommeliers, trade buyers and leading specialists including top journalists and authors. Their expertise is based on the daily scrutiny of wines and the latest consumer trends, contributing to the DWWA’s unparalleled reputation. We…

Alsace GOLDSparkling white 95 Pierre Sparr, Réserve Brut, Crémant d’Alsace, France NV (12.5%) $19-$24 Bauer Wine & Spirits, Columbus Circle Wine, Cool Springs Wine & Spirits, Somm Cellars, Total Wine & More, Wine.com Sparkling with personality and charm; parading delicious pear and apple skin notes with a savoury edge and filling the mouth with an incisive mousse. Long, lemony and persistent. GOLDWhite 95 Domaine Hurst, Muscat Grand Cru Brand, Alsace, France 2020 (13%) A stunning perfume of fresh rose petal with a lick of Turkish delight. Delicate and refined with a backbone of mandarin-infused acidity perforating the supple sweetness. Gorgeous. ALSACE WON 0 Best in show0 Platinum For Silver-winning wines go to decanter.com/dwwa/silverFor Bronze-winning wines go to decanter.com/dwwa/bronze Argentina & rest of South America (excluding Chile) Argentina GOLDWhite 95 Bodegas Fabre, Alta-Yarí Gran…

BEST IN SHOW 97 Chapel Down, Rosé, Kent, England NV (12%) £31.99 GOLD 95 La Val, Gran Añada Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain 2019 (12.5%) £29.99 SILVER 94 Fief Guerin, Muscadet Côtes de Grand-Lieu, Loire, France 2023 (11%) £9.99 92 Camel Valley, Pinot Noir Brut, Cornwall, England 2021 (12.5%) £35.99 92 Paul Mas, Réserve Blanc, Languedoc, France 2023 (13%) £9.99 92 Kopke, Colheita Port 2010 (20%) £42.99 91 Inama, Foscarino, Soave Classico, Veneto, Italy 2021 (12.5%) £24.99 90 Mirabeau, Classic, Côtes de Provence, France 2023 (12.5%) £13.99 90 Samos, Vin Doux, Aegean Islands, Greece 2023 (15%) £9.99 94 Bousquet, Finca Lalande Organic Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2023 (14%) £10.99 91 El Piadoso, Gran Reserva, Rioja, Spain 2015 (13.5%) £17.99 90 Gaia Organic Malbec, Tupungato, Mendoza, Argentina 2022 (14.5%) £16.99 BRONZE 87 Waitrose…

AMANDA BARNES is a writer and presenter specialising in South American wine and travel. A DWWA judge, she is author of the award-winning South America Wine Guide (£35 southamerica wineguide.com) BEN BERNHEIM specialises in the wines of southern France and rosé wines. He has worked in vineyards and as a hotel sommelier, and is co-author with his mother Elizabeth Gabay MW of Rosés of Southern France (£22 Amazon) LAURA CATENA is managing director of Catena Zapata and Luca Wines in Mendoza, and founder of the Catena Institute of Wine. She is a Stanford Universitytrained medical doctor and a graduate of Harvard University JONATHAN CRISTALDI is Decanter’s Napa Valley correspondent. Based in California, he is a widely published writer on wine, spirits and beer, and is editor-at-large for both The Somm…

Many people dream about working in a job they truly love, and on that front I am lucky. Wine has always been full of wonder for me. I admire the romanticism associated with it, and find it fascinating to discuss the aromas and characters of wine. My curiosity grew with age and led me to sign up to my first wine course. Years later, I was determined to transform my interest in wine into a career. Naively, I assumed that passion would be enough, but soon realised that it wasn’t so. My lack of experience as a sommelier resulted in countless application rejections and unsuccessful interviews. But, just like in the movies, the proverbial doors of the industry finally opened for me. I was filled with excitement at what was…

You might, in seeking out a special bottle of tequila, gravitate towards those amber-coloured, long-aged luxury expressions – añejos and extra añejos – in their fancy packaging. But a growing number of noteworthy blanco tequilas are doing things differently, without an oak cask in sight. Meanwhile, cristalinos – aged expressions that are filtered to remove their colour – are also on the rise. Together, they’re changing the face of premium crystal-clear tequila. Blanco tequilas – sometimes called plata or silver – are typically bottled without any time in oak but are sometimes aged for up to two months. They’ve long been the choice of tequila purists, showcasing the flavour of the agave plants from which the spirit is made, without any wood to interfere. ‘Blanco or plata tequilas are agave-forward,…

TRAVEL: BRAZIL Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s first city of sun and fun, but São Paulo is its capital of dining and cocktails. Thanks to the melting pot of communities that migrated there from diverse corners of Europe and Asia, Brazil’s largest city will satisfy even the most demanding palates. ‘Sampa’, as it’s widely known, is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of metropolis, busy and fast-paced, whose 12 million paulistanos (residents) dance to their own beat. Getting around can be time-consuming (many chief executives commute by helicopter; the city has the world’s largest helicopter fleet), but the intense traffic jams are offset by spontaneous samba gatherings on street corners, precious moments where Brazilians’ joviality hot-steps to life. Once you have become accustomed to the hustle, the steep, leafy streets and never-ending avenues…

TASTED BLIND The judging panel were impressed by the outright quality on show in this tasting, from areas as diverse as the Niagara Peninsula and Nova Scotia in Canada down to the southerly extremes of Patagonia. At the end, Eugenio Egorov enthused about ‘the rise of American sparkling wine – a New World of bubbles’. He observed: ‘A quiet revolution is underway across the Americas, and the results are nothing short of impressive.’ Andy Howard MW agreed: ‘The quality came as a surprise, with fantastic balance and precision in the top-scoring wines.’ This six-nation tasting traversed Canada, the US, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. It was no great shock that many US wines did well, with the long-established Chandon (p138) performing strongly. And no surprise, either, that the Racines Grand Reserve…

Duca di Dolle, Nino Brut Nature, Prosecco Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore, Veneto, Italy NV £19.42 Armit Vibrant col fondo (aka pét-nat), cloudy from the presence of lees – typical for this style. It offers bready and lemon rind scents then a mouthful of pear, peach and citrus peel, and a gentle spritz. Food friendly. JB Alcohol 11% Domaine la Cabotte, Colline Blanc, Côtes du Rhône, France 2022 £15.50 Berry Bros & Rudd This blend of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Viognier and Roussanne really over-delivers. Lovely verve and energy: orchard fruits on the nose and palate, with hints of nougat, spice and preserved lemon. Textured and creamy but also lively and fresh. JS Alc 13.5% Radford Dale, The Wine Society’s Generation Series South African Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2023 90 £11.95 The Wine Society Lemon,…

WORKING WINE TO 5 How did you get here? I’ve been programming since my dad brought home our first Commodore computer. The tinkering at home led me to study electrical engineering, and my career started with Accenture as a technology consultant. I worked in the banking, military, retail and healthcare sectors before moving into the wine industry. My passions are in security and machine learning, especially the new AI landscape. What’s the best thing about your job? I love solving problems, in business and technology, and there’s always an interesting problem to solve. The coolest part about integrating AI into business is that it’s a blank canvas. It’s exciting experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t and moulding the technology to perfect the results. What’s the worst thing about…

ARGENTINA Doña Paula, Altaluvia Cabernet Franc, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Mendoza 2019 (14.9%) £38.10 Hedonism It’s hard to believe, today, that the first vines in Gualtallary weren’t planted until 1992 – and then only for sparkling wine. Three decades have seen an explosion of interest in its high-altitude, often steeply sloping sites, and we’ve now discovered just how propitious parts of this large zone (21,000ha, with 2,250ha planted) can be for both still whites and zesty, perfumed reds. This is the third time we’ve had an Argentinian Cabernet Franc in our Best in Show selection, underscoring how well suited this variety can be for high-altitude Andean viticulture. It’s warmly scented with loganberry and plum; on the palate, the fruit is balanced and poised. More soft loganberry dominates the palate, with both tannins…

French growers braced for further harvest woe This year’s wine harvest in France could be one of the smallest of the past 100 years, thanks to the widespread effects of spring frost, hail and downy mildew, according to official forecasts. The French agriculture ministry’s Agreste statistics unit predicted that wine production in 2024 could be 16% lower than in 2023, with unusually rainy conditions during flowering affecting fruit set, plus a wet early summer sparking outbreaks of downy mildew from Bordeaux to Alsace. Predicted production levels of 40m-43m hectolitres this year are the latest manifestation of the significant challenges facing French winemakers from extreme or unusual weather patterns: frost in both 2017 and 2021 pushed production below 40m hl. Volumes fell below that level only six times in the past…

The path that leads to Leonardo Erazo’s winery is narrow and slippery. The mud is thick from rain that has not stopped for almost a week, and the pine forests on both sides barely let in the light. I should have listened to Erazo when he told me to rent a 4x4 – instead I’m inching across the mud in a sedan. Fortunately, it manages to reach the end of the road, where the pine trees suddenly give way to a spectacular view. I can see the slopes of the round, green peaks of the coastal mountain range, about 4km away, dropping down into the Pacific ocean. This place is called Cobquecura. It has no viticultural tradition to speak of, but it is close to the southern Chilean DO region…

Trying to get a handle on Roussanne is like trying to grasp a cloud. Just when you think you’ve got it – pouf! – it slips through your fingers. It doesn’t help that it’s often blended with more assertive grapes. To shine a light on it, I pulled together 90 Roussanne wines from around the world. The ensuing tasting gave up some unexpected secrets. One of Roussanne’s most unusual attributes is that it can make exceptional wine in cool climates, hot climates – and everything in between. How many other white grapes can do that? It made for an interesting outcome: many of the top wines are stylistically totally unlike one another. Pierre-Jean Villa (pictured, right) regularly makes one of the finest varietal Roussannes in the Rhône’s St-Joseph appellation, and…

When cooking with fruit, let simplicity be your guide. Honest cooking begins with fresh, flavourful ingredients. It’s easy to improve almost any dish by tasting the ingredients first. In the case of fruit, this means tasting for ripeness and flavour. In the opinion of a dear friend who’s a sommelier, the best way to learn about wine is to drink it. This principle applies to food as well – tasting frequently and registering the taste in your mind is a meaningful lesson in becoming a good cook. By doing so, you awaken your senses to freshness and quality. What do we mean when we say that something tastes delicious? Wine experts discuss aroma, body, temperature, texture, acidity and how they interact. I believe the same can be applied to cooking…

Merlot rarely gets the limelight. This is particularly true of Merlot from South America, where signature regional varieties – Argentinian Malbec, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère, Uruguayan Tannat – dominate. Merlot is often overlooked, or blended with other varieties. However, this panel tasting of 52 wines demonstrated that Merlot has the capability to surprise and delight, particularly when sourced from the continent’s cooler regions. While Tannat accounts for more than a quarter of plantings in Uruguay, Merlot at 615ha accounts for about 10%, the third most-planted (INAVI, 2023). Of the six Uruguayan Merlots tasted, the three Highly recommended wines all hail from Maldonado, where cool Atlantic breezes seem to work their magic on this variety. Argentina may be known as a Malbec powerhouse, yet five of the 11 Argentinian Merlots…

Ridgeview, Fitzrovia Rosé, Sussex, England NV £35-£42 Booths, Ocado, The English Vine, Waitrose Floral and inviting on the nose. Soft and creamy, with hints of toasted nuts, fresh raspberry and refined bubbles that create texture and amplitude in the mouth. Being British, it would pair equally well with sandwiches and sunshine or a barbecue in the rain. NE Alc 12% Cambria, Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Barbara, California, USA 2021 £27-£32 De Bergh, London End Wines, Nickolls & Perks, Vinvm Owner Jackson Family Wines is a founding member of International Wineries for Climate Action. Taste the freshness from cool breezes and ocean influence, but also tropical fruit and a buttered toast warmth. AW Alc 13.9% R López de Heredia, Viña Bosconia Tinto Reserva, Rioja, Spain 2012 £32-£39.50 92 or More, Barrique Fine Wines,…

Now in its 21st year, the Decanter World Wine Awards is a pretty slick operation. But it was still a massive logistical exercise – inevitably, when you consider that there were more than 18,000 entries this year, with four bottles of each wine submitted. In the three months leading up to judging, the logistics team works in the warehouse round the clock, checking and categorising all wine details, and preparing the bottles to go into flights for tasting. Judging goes by in a blur of glasses, runners weaving between tables, bottles in bags, and a mix of familiar and new faces on judging panels. The next job is to get the results online, before it’s the turn of the magazine team to burn the candle at both ends, to get…

The Decanter World Wine Awards are rooted in regionality. Wines are judged first and foremost within their region, by a panel of experts in that region. The judges look for typicity above all, rewarding wines that are true to their terroir. Turn to p12 to find out more about the credentials of our DWWA Co-Chairs and Regional Chairs, as well as a list of judges for each region. There are three judges on each panel to ensure consistency of results – panels mostly comprise one Regional Chair and two panel judges. The Regional Chair sits on one panel per day, and tastes and scores each wine along with the other two judges. For some categories, the Regional Chair oversees multiple panels: each of these panels is led by a Senior…

ARGENTINA & REST OF SOUTH AMERICA Bemberg, La Linterna Parcela No1 El Tomillo Chardonnay, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Mendoza 2021 (13.5%) £78.99 Top Selection Exhibiting striking Gualtallary character with luminous pear, apple and lime fruit, which cascades bounteously over a flinty, wet stone mineral core. Alert and intense with a fine bead of succulent acidity and a very long, stylish finish. ARGENTINA & REST OF SOUTH AMERICA Pacheco Pereda, Legado Organic Malbec, Paraje Altamira, Mendoza 2021 (14.5%) pachecopereda.com A sublime perfume of violets, blackberry, black cherry and damson with a dusting of cocoa powder, coffee and soy sauce to enrich and enhance. Fabulously concentrated with a prevailing calcareous Altamira backbone and mouthwatering acidity. Spectacular! ASIA Camel Farm Winery, Private Reserve Blaufränkisch, Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan 2022 (13%) camelfarm.co.jp A gleaming exuberance of inky…

The Decanter World Wine Awards takes wine judging to the next level, recognising both quality and value. Beyond evaluating fundamental factors such as balance, structure and flavour intensity, DWWA ensures that each wine is assessed within the context of its price, allowing every bottle – from entry level to super-premium – the opportunity to stand out in its category. Wines are tasted blind and categorised by price band, country, region, style and vintage. This enables judges to determine how well each wine performs at its price point, ensuring that whether you spend £15 or £50, you’re getting the best possible value. As DWWA Co-Chair Beth Willard notes: ‘People shop at supermarkets and major retailers: not everyone has £50 to spend on a bottle of wine every night. In the Value…