All posts filed under: Winemaking

We’re losing Rotundone’s peppery notes

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Now the days of comparing a
glass of Northern Rhône Syrah to
a strip of peppered bacon appear
to be coming to an end.

Alvarinho’s Authentic Terroir

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Alvarinho produced in its native terroir is incomparable to expressions of the variety grown elsewhere. But it may ultimately prove to be on a trajectory similar to that of Pinot Gris, which is renowned for producing light, delicately floral wines in Italy’s Collio region and wines of great mineral intensity and fruit purity in Alsace. Time will tell.

A Milestone for Schug Carneros Estate

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Walter Schug departed this world in 2015 but his passion for Pinot Noir lives on at Schug Carneros Estate which is celebrating 41 years of devotion to the variety. Axel and Claudia Schug, third generation winegrowers, were joined by chef Kristine Schug and winemaker Johannes Scheid as they presented a retrospective tasting that spanned the past, present and future of the Carneros estate winery.

Alpine Sauvignon Blancs of Styria

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It’s Sauvignon Blanc—not Grüner Veltliner—that’s the star of the show in Austria’s Südsteiermark DAC, a historic winegrowing region in the country’s southern state of Styria that has evolved rapidly over the last thirty years. The variety is grown at high elevation in all five of Südsteiermark’s sub regions and on steep slopes that rival those of the Mosel.

Bobal: Past, Present and Future

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As one of the first American wine writers to conduct modern field research in the Utiel-Requena DO, an extreme winegrowing region in central Spain, I found a treasure there that has been hiding in plain sight. Other than having tasted the region’s indigenous grape—Bobal—on rare occasions, I was in the dark about the region’s ancient winegrowing history. Guided by Nora Favalukus who had visited Utiel-Requena five years earlier, and presented a master class tasting on the region for the Society of Wine Educators, we embarked on a three-day immersion designed to demonstrate the modern range of style afforded by Bobal and the region’s extreme terroir. Right time for old vines As the region lies is 45 minutes northwest of Valencia, Utiel-Requena’s primary agricultural crops are oranges and almonds with one wine only recently being recognized as a value-added source of revenue for a winegrowing region that is Spain’s third-largest. You begin to see vineyards as you approach the city of Requena with themajority of wineries located here while much of the land under vine stretches …