Franche-Comté is the regional PGI title covering both still and Sparkling wines from a large mountainous region in eastern France. The region is made up of the departments of Haute-Saône, Doubs and Jura, the latter of which is home to the Jura wine region and many appellations d'origine contrôlée (AOC) such as Arbois. The PGI offers more freedom to the region's winemakers, both geographically and in terms of winemaking. The Franche-Comté region - one of France's 27 official regions - borders Switzerland.
The wine region of AlsaceLies to the North, while the vineyards of Savoy occupy the Alps to the South. Burgundy lies to the west and has had a significant impact on the style of wines produced here: mainly from Pinot Noir, Gamay and Chardonnay, as well as the Swiss grape Poulsard. The terrain in Franche-Comté is dominated by the Jura Mountains which separate France and Switzerland. These mountains are formed of Jurassic limestone, which has given rise to the clay-limestone soils found throughout the region.
Haut-Brion 2021 released en primeur Château Haut-Brion 2021 was released en primeur at the same price as fellow First Growths Mouton Rothschild and Margaux – €420 per bottle ex-Bordeaux, down 2.8% on last year’s release, according to Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade. With an offer price of £5,100 (12x75cl in bond), data from both Liv-ex and analyst group Wine Lister suggested the new release was broadly in-line or slightly under current market prices for several recent vintages. Châtea ...
Springtime brings the so-called ‘Caldaia di Maggio’ to Barolo, a noise similar to a kettle simmering that is caused by evaporating water in the soils. This year, however, it’s unlikely that this phenomenon will occur. Drought is affecting the entire north of Italy; predominantly the Langhe but also Valpolicella and Franciacorta. Not even Tuscany is spared. The vineyards are lacking the reserves of water that their soils usually contain at this time of year. Winter passed without snow in almost a ...
Ardbeg single malt whisky, based on the southern shores of Scotland’s island of Islay, has recently unveiled Fon Fhòid: the latest in a number of highly unusual experiments. Back in 2014, the distillery team lead by whisky creator, Dr Bill Lumsden and former distillery manager, Mickey Heads (now retired) took the highly unusual approach of burying two already matured casks of Ardbeg underneath the peat bogs themselves, (burning peat smoke is normally used to dry the malted barley during producti ...
