Wines made from Gascon grapes

St-Emilion’s Wine Council announced its eagerly-anticipated ranking this afternoon, bringing a decade of disputes and court battles to an end. The classification awards Premier Grand Cru Classé A status to just two producers, while it also recognises 12 Premier Grands Crus Classés (B) and 71 Grands Crus Classés. These rankings can cause a winery’s value to soar – they have been likened to the Michelin guide for restaurants – so winemakers across the region awaited the results with bated breath t ...

St Hilaire is the patron saint of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the pretty Champagne village which is famous for scoring 99 on the Echelle des Crus. (This classification of Champagne vineyards was developed in the mid-20th century as a means of setting the price of grapes grown through the villages of the Champagne wine region.) Prime territory That the village missed out on grand cru status by one point is generally agreed to be an injustice – all the more so as it is home not only to the superlative Clos de ...

The idea for the summit at this remote locale came from Josep Cusiné of Parés Baltà and Ignasi Segui of Vinyes Singulars as the church sits on a ridge (‘cim’ in Catalan) at 643m in altitude. It has an unparalleled 360-degree view which opens up on the plain of Penedès and out to the Mediterranean Sea, 25km in the distance. Starting in 2015, the first years were friendly, loose affairs and took place inside the church but interest from those in the region (as well with sommeliers and the regional ...