The flavor of dried blueberry in wine

A domaine’s long history hoists its inanimate wines into life; biography brings meaning to the simple sensual pleasure of tasting a grower’s efforts. It’s important, though, to know what we are doing when we tell stories. And to know what to tell them about. Winemakers take the messy chaos of natural processes and add discipline, giving shape and direction to produce a stable and enticing wine. This was never nature’s intent. The storyteller takes a messy chaos of random events, either imagined ...

The Napa Valley 2022 harvest got underway in early August for some sparkling and white wine styles. ‘We had our earliest harvest ever, and started picking Sauvignon Blanc on Monday 1 August,’ said Stephanie Honig, of Honig Vineyard and Winery. ‘The fruit came from our grower partner Gordon Family Ranch, which is located in the southeast area of the Napa Valley appellation,’ said Honig, who is export director at the family-owned winery. Harvest typically begins with older ...

Some Châteauneufs are more reliable than others. When I visit the region to taste the new vintage every year, Domaine de la Janasse’s cuvée Vieilles Vignes regularly features among the best. It’s a particularly dense and concentrated wine when young, and it always strikes me that, even for Châteauneuf, it’s a wine that needs extended ageing to show its best. I was keen to acquire a more complete understanding of how this cuvée develops, so I visited brother-and-sister team Isabelle and Christoph ...