The flavor of sweaty saddle in wine of Dagestan

After a two-year hiatus imposed by the global pandemic, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) is hosting its 43rd annual congress this week in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. There is a sense of celebration among participants, but the joy of sitting around the same table again is clouded by urgency and worry as the industry faces significant challenges. The congress, a key event in the wine industry’s calendar, brings together a unique mix of stakeholders, including producers, ...

The focus of the symposium, unsurprisingly, was on the challenges posed by climate change. As if to illustrate the immediacy of the threat, the symposium took place during a heatwave, with temperatures of over 40°C  in Bordeaux and extreme weather events recorded across the coountry: parts of southwest France saw violent storms and winds of 112kph on the evening of 20 June, while vineyards across the Médoc and St-Emilion were damaged by hailstones ‘the size of golfballs’. As Olivier Bernard of D ...

The ‘Freedom Blend’blend uses a combination of indigenous grape varieties from Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to symbolise and celebrate freedom in those countries. Purcari is located just 15 miles from the Ukrainian border. It has turned its luxury suites, tasting rooms and conferences rooms into emergency accommodation, housing more than 5,000 people that have fled war-torn Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion. The award-winning winery – which claimed best-in-show, platinum an ...