The Château Moncel of Lalande-de-Pomerol of Bordeaux

The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...

A domaine’s long history hoists its inanimate wines into life; biography brings meaning to the simple sensual pleasure of tasting a grower’s efforts. It’s important, though, to know what we are doing when we tell stories. And to know what to tell them about. Winemakers take the messy chaos of natural processes and add discipline, giving shape and direction to produce a stable and enticing wine. This was never nature’s intent. The storyteller takes a messy chaos of random events, either imagined ...

A ‘very promising’ vintage is expected, said the regional wine council (CIVB), as the Bordeaux 2022 harvest gets underway for reds. It’s still too early to judge fully and yields will be lower in some cases following heat, drought and also hailstorms during the growing season, yet the CIVB cited ‘attractive but small berries’ and healthy vineyard conditions during the crucial flowering period and for harvest. Europe has seen early starts to wine harvests in 2022 and the C ...