The flavor of dried blackberry in wine

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, the seized goods consisted of more than 1,000 bottles of Penfolds from Australia and over 100 bottles of top-end Bordeaux wine, including first growth labels such as Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Margaux. The Chinese customs authorities discovered the cases of illegally imported bottles by checking the amount of wine declared on the offending company’s documents against the actual number of items being transported. The smuggled good ...

A luxury Napa Valley wine property covering around 34 acres (13.6 hectares) has recently been offered for sale at $35m. Listed by real estate agent Cyd Greer, with the Coldwell Banker agency, the Meteor Vineyard Estate features 22.58 acres of vines in the Coombsville American Viticultural Area, close to Napa. It’s predominantly planted to Cabernet Sauvignon with some Petit Verdot. Greer, a leading agent in Napa Valley for more than a decade, told Decanter that Meteor was the most expensive listi ...

As a wine critic, witnessing a relatively unknown estate rise up and receive the recognition it deserves can be a bittersweet feeling. From a purely selfish point of view, you watch the prices rise inexorably so you can no longer afford to drink wines from that estate as often as you once did. But primarily you’re delighted for the owners and for those who have discovered their wines. Scroll down for Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for five vintages of Domaine Gonon St-Joseph {"c ...