The Château La Tour Billet of Libournais of Bordeaux

Merchants making up La Place de Bordeaux distribution system are continuing to take on new fine wines from around the world and the latest round of ‘beyond Bordeaux’ international releases has arrived in March 2023. In Bordeaux itself, this month has marked the first release of Château Latour 2015 and is set to also see Château d’Yquem 2020’s market debut on the 23 March (tasting note coming soon). Yet the rise of both March and September as key release periods for international wines sold via L ...

In November of 2021, Spain’s DO Penedès announced a massive overhaul of their bylaws with many changes aimed at re-orienting the region via a “10-year plan”. One of the key aspects was a new classification system for the estates of the region called, “Vi de Mas”, the first five of which have just been certified. While most wine regions looking to implement a system use the so-called “Burgundian Pyramid” as a structure, Penedès took a different approach that merged some of the Burgundian sy ...

It’s no easy task to establish a super-premium wine in an entirely new region, particularly when inviting potential retail partners or distributors to the vineyard involves journeying to a distant corner of the Himalayas in the outer reaches of the Yunnan province, southwestern China. For my journey, after four flights from Bordeaux to Shanghai, Chengdu then Shangri-La, it was a four-hour drive up through stunning mountain passes to the foothills (here, that means 2,200m above sea level) of the ...