The Winery Anselme Deslar of Rhône septentrional of Rhone Valley

You don’t need a state-of-the-art winery to make wine. You don’t need rows of pristine oak barrels. One thing you do need to make good wine is good vines. Have you ever asked yourself where all these vines come from? How do they find their way into the ground? It used to be easy. In the past, winemakers simply took cuttings from their vineyards, propagated them, and planted them in the ground. But phylloxera put a stop to that. What was a simple process acquired layers of complexity: winemakers ...

Basketball legend Tony Parker announced today (17 November) that he has officially purchased Château Saint Laurent, which lies just to the east of Avignon in southern France. Financial details weren’t disclosed, but the move marks a new winemaking venture for Parker, a six-time NBA All-Star who retired in 2019 after a glittering career that also included representing France at international level. Tony Parker’s new property near to Avignon. Photo credit: Château Saint Laurent. Picturesque ...

Whenever I visit Domaine Richaud, just outside the village of Cairanne, the winemaking team remind me of friends I made at free parties in the 1990s in fields and disused warehouses. I’m not talking dreadlocks and dogs on strings, but there’s always an anarchic frisson in the air. You get the impression they know how to enjoy themselves. Perhaps it’s to be expected, given the radical furrow Marcel Richaud has ploughed. He’s approaching 70 now, but still thrums with pent-up energy, his ice-blue e ...