The Winery Gunsight Rock of Unknow region

Having joined The Wine Society’s team in 1973 as promotions manager, Payne became the head buyer in 1985. He stepped down from this position in 2012, when Tim Sykes took over, but has remained on the buying team ever since. As part of his responsibilities, Payne has bought in every region throughout the years but, in recent years, focused mainly on Italy and Bordeaux. He was also instrumental in introducing wines from Eastern Europe and Greece to the portfolio. The Wine Society described Payne’s ...

It had been possible to produce sparkling wines in Rioja, certified as DO Cava, since the creation of Spain’s main sparkling wine entity. But this fact was often unknown to consumers given that 95% of Cava is produced in the Catalunya region. The area for production of Cava in Rioja is however limited to only 18 of the nearly 150 municipalities within the entire DO zone. In a bid to better show point of origin, the new subzone labelling of Cava that was approved in 2021 now refers to the p ...

The prestige attached to winning at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) means that being awarded a Bronze medal for some wineries will mean huge celebrations in China, Japan, India, or Thailand. Since the competition began in 2004, I have often reminded judges on my panel about this – whether they are journalists, sommeliers, educators, Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers. Scroll down for new tasting notes and scores on Jia Bei Lan vintages: from the Chinese wine label that won big at DWWA 20 ...