The best winemakers of Bohemia

Severe drought and heatwaves have provided challenges for wine producers across Europe in 2022, from maintaining vine health to concerns about – and the impact of – wildfires. Early harvests have been a feature of the vintage and reports emerged this week of records being broken at some white wine-producing estates in Bordeaux. Spain’s Caserío de Dueñas estate in DO Rueda said it began a record early harvest on 16 August this year. While drought and heat have put pressure on yields in some regio ...

Severe drought in northern Italy has led to the country’s government declaring a state of emergency in several regions, including Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto. Funds of €36.5m (£31m) would be made available to these regions for drought relief, the government said. Agriculture body Coldiretti said last week that the Po river, which flows across northern Italy to the Adriatic Sea, was almost unrecognisable. Drought in the Po Valley threatened around 30% of n ...

In 2007, Frenchman Frédéric Albert founded the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV) with the goal of decarbonising the wine industry. The firm managed to sail its 50m-vessel four times from France to Ireland, England and Canada, before going into liquidation as a consequence of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite the failure, Albert’s pioneering project was a sign for things to come. In 2013, Le Havre-based TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT) followed in CTMV’s footsteps sailing some 3 ...