The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England brought Aquitaine into the Plantagenet Empire. A flourishing wine market developed from the port of Bordeaux. The winegrowers of Bordeaux obtained the Bordeaux privilege from King Henry III of England in 12416: wines from the high country could not enter the port of Bordeaux before Christmas6. By then, navigation was more difficult and many ships had already left loaded.
This privilege allowed the Bordeaux winegrowers to sell their production. The King of France became the suzerain of Bordeaux after the battle of Castillon in 1453. To gain the respect of his New subjects, he renewed the privilege. It was finally Louis XVI who settled the conflict more than five centuries later in 17736, by setting up a mediation between the wine growers.
Malbec, a high-yielding red grape variety, produces tannic and colourful wines. It is produced in different wine-growing regions and changes its name according to the grape variety. Called Auxerrois in Cahors, Malbec in Bordeaux, it is also known as Côt. 6,000 hectares of the Malbec grape are grown in France (in decline since the 1950s). Malbec is also very successful in Argentina. The country has become the world's leading producer of Malbec and offers wines with great potential.
white wines from the region of Haut-Pays go well with generally quite well with dishes of pork, rich fish (salmon, tuna etc) or shellfish such as recipes of pork roulades with cream and mushrooms, wild salmon with verbena steam or pike dumplings with shrimp sauce.
On the nose in the region of Haut-Pays often reveals types of flavors of citrus, citrus fruit or tree fruit and sometimes also flavors of earth, oak.
The family-owned company made its first foray into Washington State last year when it began buying grapes from select vineyards throughout the Walla Walla Valley. The winemaking team was impressed by the quality coming out of the region, and it has now pounced on the opportunity to acquire land there. It snapped up 61 acres of an existing 117-acre property in Mill Creek. A local firm called Abeja, founded by Ken and Ginger Roberts, bought the land back in 2000 in a bid to grow world-class Cabern ...
Every year the hospitality industry holds its breath as the revised line up of the Michelin Guide is announced. A star won – or lost – is often a pivotal moment in the consolidation of a venue’s name and the reputation of the chef, sommelier and restaurateurs behind it. Yesterday, February 16th, the Michelin Stars were unveiled for this year’s Michelin Great Britain & Ireland Guide, with 19 restaurants having been newly awarded a star, bringing the total number of one starred restaurants in ...
In 1932, the Italian government expanded the boundaries of Chianti to incorporate neighbouring territories where grapes and chianti-style wines had long been produced. And in 1967, four years after the enactment of the Italian DOC system (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), the first official Chianti DOC was created, including seven sub-zones: Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Rùfina, Colli Aretini, Colline Pisane and Montalbano, plus the original Chianti Classico. The entire area was elevated ...
