The Winery La Dame de Mons of Médoc of Bordeaux

Do growers make wine – or do markets? Growers, of course. Yet markets define the scope of the grower’s creative efforts by what they reward or sanction. When markets are neglectful and unresponsive, there’s little the grower can do but conform. It’s a problem the world over. Here’s an example. The river Moselle/Mosel rises to the wet west of the Vosges mountains, then curves in a long green arc heading north through Epinal, Metz and (along the left bank) Luxembourg’s Grand Duchy, turning east at ...

I n 2009 Prosecco was re-mapped in sweeping changes that created an extensive new zone for the production of Prosecco DOC and elevated the traditional growing areas of Valdobbiadene-Conegliano to DOCG, Italy’s top denomination. At that time, one might have overlooked the fact that the new legislation also created a small, independent DOCG for Asolo Prosecco to the west of the river Piave. The sparkling wines of the area had low visibility, producers were few and production was limited. However t ...

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 ...