The flavor of oak in wine

The prestige attached to winning at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) means that being awarded a Bronze medal for some wineries will mean huge celebrations in China, Japan, India, or Thailand. Since the competition began in 2004, I have often reminded judges on my panel about this – whether they are journalists, sommeliers, educators, Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers. Scroll down for new tasting notes and scores on Jia Bei Lan vintages: from the Chinese wine label that won big at DWWA 20 ...

Inside the February 2022 issue of Decanter Magazine: FEATURES: Wines of the Year An extraordinary tasting, our best ever, of 126 wines put forward by Decanter’s experts and staff, resulted in these 51 top-scorers Your choice: why you bought that wine But was it really? Rolfe Hanson uncovers a host of decision makers involved in you picking that one bottle Burgundy 2020: vintage report Charles Curtis MW on the standout wines of this exceptional if hot year Producer profile: Château-Grillet Matt ...

The voice drops a little; the tone grows more reverential. Everyone knows; everyone understands. There will be wry allusions to a quest, perhaps even the grail. Sacrifice is expected en route; failure (always forgiven: a badge of honour) beckons on every side. Kitted up, your hopes armour-plated? I might be talking about planting vines on a cleared slope, or simply about taking the corkscrew to a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine, but you all know by now what’s meant. Pinot Noir. ‘Pinotism’ ...