Winery Mark HeroldAcha Grenacha

I’d visited Kakheti, Kartli and Imereti before – Georgia’s dominant central wine-producing zones; but never the wild exterior. From the ice-crisped cemetery grass of the 11th-century church of St George, dominating the mountaintop village of Mravaldzali, we looked north across the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, Europe’s highest. The silence, and the vista, was daunting. Hundreds of dry, drab valleys lost themselves in as many snowy peaks. Russia lay beyond. There was, apparently, a way over: ...

Foundational to the notion of terroir is the story of Burgundy. It is a relationship between Pinot Noir and the monks’ investment in defining place, identifying growing conditions in a complex tapestry of climat and cru that has inspired winemakers worldwide. Countless vintners have sought to replicate its magic elsewhere, planting Pinot around the globe. With it has developed an assertion almost unquestioned – Pinot Noir is the grape most expressive of terroir. But in wines grown outside the Co ...

‘As a farmer, especially as a Finger Lakes grape grower, you have to be unendingly optimistic. This year is no different in that respect,’ said vineyard manager Tim Hosmer of Hosmer Winery. Difficult years like 2023 are nothing new to Hosmer, who oversees 28ha for his family’s Cayuga Lake property. Hosmer Winery, which sustained minimal damage in the May frost, has been farmed sustainably since the 1930s. As the season ploughs on and new challenges surface, Hosmer’s ‘unending optimism’ is echoed ...