The Winery La Masseria del Borgo of Primitivo di Manduria of Pouilles

Château Latour 2015 was released for the first time yesterday (14 March), as part of the Pauillac first growth estate’s well-established strategy of eschewing Bordeaux’s annual en primeur campaign in favour of releasing vintages after several years of ageing. Decanter Bordeaux expert Georgie Hindle rated Latour 2015 at 98 points, after tasting it at the Château earlier this year. ‘Still youthful and quite serious but there’s something so appealing about it,’ she wrote. Latour 2015 was priced at ...

Direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipments dropped by 10.3% in volume and by 1.6% in value in the US in 2022, according to the latest report from Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics. It’s the first drop in drinkers buying wines direct from US wineries in the report’s 13-year history. Yet DtC still accounted for around 12% of the total retail market (off-premise) for domestic wines, level with 2021. ‘After the all-time high of $4.2bn in value that the DtC shipping channel experienced ...

I first contributed to Decanter back in November 1988; the hundreds of columns and articles I’ve written since constitute a journey of discovery. I squirm, though, if I’m described as a ‘wine expert’. Whatever wine knowledge we acquire quickly cools, congeals and crusts over, like custard or gravy, as the years pass. The wine world expands at a clip. Every vintage rewrites history. It’s the chance to share discoveries – not just about wines, but about people, places and the act of drinking itsel ...