The flavor of persimmon in wine of Villa de Leyva

I’d visited Kakheti, Kartli and Imereti before – Georgia’s dominant central wine-producing zones; but never the wild exterior. From the ice-crisped cemetery grass of the 11th-century church of St George, dominating the mountaintop village of Mravaldzali, we looked north across the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, Europe’s highest. The silence, and the vista, was daunting. Hundreds of dry, drab valleys lost themselves in as many snowy peaks. Russia lay beyond. There was, apparently, a way over: ...

Think of Colombia, think of balmy evenings dancing to salsa, fuelled by shots of aguardiente and arepas. But there’s plenty more than the anise-based spirit and cornmeal cakes to sample in the South American country. Chefs have stepped up their game to put gastronomy on the map, with sommeliers and bartenders following suit. Not just appreciating local ingredients and distilling spirits, they also seek out wines from around the world to accompany fine-dining experiences. Their endeavours have pa ...

The lengthy process arriving to this point has been rife with controversy as this new DO overlaps with what has since 1998 been the named Rioja Alavesa subzone within the greater DOCa Rioja. This subzone has been part of DOCa Rioja, regarded as Spain’s pioneering denomination of origin, since its original creation as a DO nearly a century ago in 1925. The core of the issue is that nearly all of DOCa Rioja falls administratively within the Spanish autonomous region of La Rioja, with the exception ...