The Winery Haute-Calea of Monbazillac of South West

I’m busy, lazy or just tired… it’s half past twelve. I open the fridge and the same familiar labels smile up at me. The same with the repurposed coal hole under the front steps where the red wines live. I won’t tell you exactly what they are – although regular readers can have a pretty good guess. The ones that get mentioned least frequently are the ones that make an appearance on every routine day. When the soup (winter) or the salad (summer) comes out for a ‘working’ lunch, the bottle be ...

Niagara’s summer? It’s hot, and sticky. I tried a walk near my hotel in mid-July but could only find a large retail mall. It was early; the shops were still shut. Even so, I had to dodge from awning to awning, avoiding the prosecuting sun. I’ve been there in autumn, too, which happened to be mellow and easeful – though it can also be wild, wind-whipped, rain-drenched. The ‘shoulder seasons’ are feared here: you never know what’s coming. The first time I went it was deepest winter. That made an i ...

The Tinazzi family, owners of the eponymous group with estates in Veneto and Puglia, has expanded to Tuscany with the acquisition, in early 2022, of a property in the Chianti Classico DOCG area. The Pian del Gallo estate includes 5.5 hectares of organically farmed vineyards and olive trees, as well as hospitality facilities. A fruitful quest The acquisition was not a sudden or impulsive decision, but rather the culmination of a long search for a Tuscan property to enrich the Tinazzi portfolio. G ...