The flavor of gun smoke in wine of Lower Volga

There are going to be some utterly splendid wines to taste at our New York Fine Wine Encounter – many of the world’s grandest winemakers have brought some of their very best bottles to our event, knowing their hard work and talent will be appreciated by a discerning audience.  My team of experts have picked out a great selection of their personal favourites from the wines on offer, and for their superbly detailed analysis and opinion, you should read the pieces and the picks from Georgie Hindle, ...

Brad Pitt has filed a lawsuit against Angelina Jolie at a Los Angeles court regarding her sale of a stake in Provence winery Château Miraval last year, according to media reports, including in Bloomberg (via Associated Press) and the Los Angeles Times. There had been speculation for several years about how Pitt and Jolie’s divorce proceedings would affect their joint ownership of Miraval, which they acquired in 2008. It was the Hollywood couple’s wedding venue but the estate has also gained a re ...

The French shipment of 600 bottles of De Haartman & Co Cognac – plus 15 boxes of Bénédictine liqueur – is believed to have been destined for Tsar Nicholas II, but was intercepted in the Baltic Sea and sunk by a German submarine in May 1917. Now Cognac house Birkedal Hartmann has refilled 300 of the recovered bottles with Cognac dating from the early 1900s, using packaging identical to the original, and is selling them for €9,000 each. The wreck of the SS Kyros was discovered by Swedish explo ...