Wines made from Prunelard grapes

Launched at London fine wine club 67 Pall Mall on 28 March, the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation (RVF) is the brainchild of Stephen Cronk, owner of Maison Mirabeau in Provence. Cronk, who has seen extreme weather events ranging from exceptional frosts to the worst forest fires in living memory in the three years he has owned Mirabeau, feels that one of the most important ways we can fight climate change is through ‘unlearning’ current approaches to land stewardship. ‘This is a critical moment ...

The rapid rise of South Africa’s Swartland wine region over the past 20 years has been thrilling to watch. And arguably the most influential winemaker during this renaissance has – and continues to be – Eben Sadie. Sadie was in London recently for a vertical tasting of his flagship wines, the red blend Columella and white blend Palladius. He explained to a rapt audience of critics, buyers and sommeliers how his approach to winemaking has changed over the years, and revealed how he’s preparing fo ...

While taller overall vines do exist in regions such as Galicia with their pergola training method, the roots of any vine usually top out at 37cm. It’s at this top point where the Vitis vinifera shoot is grafted in and continues to grow, giving us such grapes as Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. This is opposed to the rootstocks which are composed of various crosses of vines such as Vitis rupestris which aren’t used for wine production but are resistant to the root louse, phylloxera. This new tal ...