The Winery De la Luz of Walla Walla Valley of Washington

Our feet crunched through layers of dry oak leaves as we climbed a pebbly path towards the vineyards behind the farmhouse. Roots go deep here. Not just the tall oaks and squat vines, but families too. I walked the vineyards at Mas de Libian with Hélène Thibon, but it was her father Jean-Pierre that greeted me when I arrived. Hélène’s sister Catherine was out front with Bambi the horse, ploughing the sandier plots. Later, we tasted in the winery with Hélène’s son Aurélien. Three generations of a ...

On the 25th March there was a frost in the Southern Rhône. ‘It’s normal to have frosts then – it’s practically still winter,’ says Rodolphe des Pins of Château de Montfaucon. Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring Lirac & Tavel 2020 wines {"content":"PHA+QnV0IHdoZW4gdGhlIHZpbmVzIGhhdmUgd29rZW4gZWFybHksIGFzIHRoZXkgZGlkIGluIDIwMjAsIGl0IGNhbiBkZWNpbWF0ZSB0aGUgeW91bmcgYnVkcy48L3A+CjxwPjxkaXYgY2xhc3M9ImFkLWNvbnRhaW5lciBhZC1jb250YWluZXItLW1vYmlsZ ...

In preparation for this column I tasted 46 reds in total, and – taking both quality and value into account – I can recommend 33 of them. Overall, the reds were less consistent than the whites, and although the lows were lower, the highs were higher. This tasting confirmed that it’s still possible to buy genuinely excellent northern Rhône reds for under £30 in the UK. That being said, it’s virtually impossible to find any Cornas, Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage for under £30 a bottle these days, but ther ...