Château de MarjoletVendange Automnale

There’s no doubt that 2021 was a challenging vintage. Most explanatory statements or technical sheets handed out over the past few weeks have mentioned the unfavourable, oft disastrous weather conditions, the sometimes very low and disheartening yields and the slightly varied or unusual blends on offer in 2021. Difficulties faced by vignerons both inside and outside of the cellar have been explained in detail as has the raft of highly important decisions needed be made throughout the year, ...

On the highest volcano in Europe, the magic number is 142: the contrade of Etna represented on a colourful new map just released by the Consorzio Tutela Vini Etna DOC. In the age of viticultural cartography, the Sicilian district has embraced ‘zoning’ to enhance every single nuance of its territory, mostly cultivated with Nerello Mascalese and Carricante. ‘This map establishes the full viticultural maturity of our district and underlines the attitude of its winemakers to team up,’ said Francesco ...

There’s been a focus on making wine production less energy intensive as well as environmentally friendly in order to address climate change. The efforts continue but, as is the case for electric cars where it’s the battery technology that needs innovating, it’s in wine bottles where we’re seeing rapid change. It comes in a two-pronged attack to reduce energy use in manufacturing and then an even bigger emphasis on reducing bottle weight for shipping to reduce fuel usage and thus CO2 production. ...