The flavor of persimmon in wine of Dagestan

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: ...

Napa Valley wine producer Eisele Vineyard has purchased the next-door Alfred Frediani Ranch for $18.5m, said the estate agent responsible for the sale, broker James Keller. The ranch features two parcels of land totalling around 11.2 hectares (27.65 acres), Keller said. A spokesperson for Keller said the agent wished to make clear that the property sold was the Alfred Frediani Ranch on Pickett Road, and not the Frediani Vineyards estate on the Silverado Trail. Eisele Vineyard’s general man ...

AXA Millésimes has expanded its footprint in California by purchasing Platt Vineyard on the western reaches of Sonoma Coast for an undisclosed sum. The French insurance giant’s wine division made its first foray into the Golden State when it bought Napa Valley winery Outpost back in 2018. Managing director Christian Seely has been on the hunt for a vineyard of similar quality to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ever since. AXA Millésimes jumped at the opportunity to snap up the 111-hectare Plat ...