The flavor of wax in wine of Xinjiang

By 1965, the vineyards of Condrieu had largely been abandoned – phylloxera and two world wars had decimated the place and its people. There were just 8ha of vines remaining on these granite slopes. If it weren’t for the hard work of a few steadfast vignerons, the appellation might have disappeared entirely, reclaimed by the forest. Thankfully, Condrieu survived and has since flourished – but great appellations have been lost before. We know this because some have recently been rediscovered. In f ...

Ardbeg single malt whisky, based on the southern shores of Scotland’s island of Islay, has recently unveiled Fon Fhòid: the latest in a number of highly unusual experiments. Back in 2014, the distillery team lead by whisky creator, Dr Bill Lumsden and former distillery manager, Mickey Heads (now retired) took the highly unusual approach of burying two already matured casks of Ardbeg underneath the peat bogs themselves, (burning peat smoke is normally used to dry the malted barley during producti ...

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking up at some terraced vineyards in St-Joseph with an Australian friend. He remarked that he’d never seen a steep vineyard like this in his home country. Who could afford to rip out the trees, build the access roads, construct the terraces, and plant the vines, without being certain beforehand that the resulting wine could be sold at prices high enough to recoup the investment? It might not be the most romantic way of looking at it. But that’s the modern reality ...