The flavor of hay in wine of South Eastern

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking up at some terraced vineyards in St-Joseph with an Australian friend. He remarked that he’d never seen a steep vineyard like this in his home country. Who could afford to rip out the trees, build the access roads, construct the terraces, and plant the vines, without being certain beforehand that the resulting wine could be sold at prices high enough to recoup the investment? It might not be the most romantic way of looking at it. But that’s the modern reality ...

Only 10? I feel a little like I do when faced with a hefty restaurant wine list. So many lovely wines, so little time to do them justice. My mind tracks the names, vintages and regions in fleeting time, flipping like a kaleidoscope. The effort is always accompanied by that nagging worry you’re missing the absolute gem. All the while, your dinner date is itching simply to get on and tuck into the evening with a good glass of wine. The Tooley household has been through a lot in 2021, including som ...

Last chance: You can still buy tickets to watch this E Guigal LaLas virtual masterclass and taste the wines, via the Decanter at Home series – book here A so-called ‘vertical’ tasting is of the same wine, but over multiple vintages. A ‘horizontal’ tasting is of different wines, but in the same vintage. That’s what makes the Decanter at Home tasting particularly special – it’s both horizontal and vertical. Not only do we taste the three jewels in Guigal’s Côte-Rôtie crown; La Mouline, La Tu ...