The flavor of wax in wine of Jujuy

When most winemakers retire, their most important legacy is the wines they made, tucked away in cellars around the world. But Serge Férigoule of Domaine le Sang des Cailloux leaves more than just his superlative red and white Vacqueyras. Diary of a winemaker Every day of his working life, Serge took notes of climatic observations from his vineyards, filling stacks of notebooks. They will provide an invaluable insight into a changing climate for generations to come. Scroll down to see Matt Walls& ...

Our feet crunched through layers of dry oak leaves as we climbed a pebbly path towards the vineyards behind the farmhouse. Roots go deep here. Not just the tall oaks and squat vines, but families too. I walked the vineyards at Mas de Libian with Hélène Thibon, but it was her father Jean-Pierre that greeted me when I arrived. Hélène’s sister Catherine was out front with Bambi the horse, ploughing the sandier plots. Later, we tasted in the winery with Hélène’s son Aurélien. Three generations of a ...

Some Châteauneufs are more reliable than others. When I visit the region to taste the new vintage every year, Domaine de la Janasse’s cuvée Vieilles Vignes regularly features among the best. It’s a particularly dense and concentrated wine when young, and it always strikes me that, even for Châteauneuf, it’s a wine that needs extended ageing to show its best. I was keen to acquire a more complete understanding of how this cuvée develops, so I visited brother-and-sister team Isabelle and Christoph ...