I found myself in Paris this past week, lost in the labyrinth of VinExpo. From Monday to Wednesday, I wandered the cavernous halls, tasting my way through the world—France to Italy, Georgia to California, the familiar to the esoteric. By day’s end, my palate was shot,...
Do Calchaquí Winemakers Hate Oak?
At the southern edge of the Calchaquí Valley, in the town of Tolombón, the malbec vines are over...
The Silent Stone
Grapes from a single vineyard at 8,694 feet puts Agustín Lanús’ malbec Salvaje among the highest...
The wines we fell in love with in 2021…
No missive this week as we spend some much needed time with our family this Christmas. But today,...
The Concrete Egg
Why does extreme altitude winemaker Augustin Lanus age his wine Salvaje (malbec, single vineyard,...
Little White Butterflies of Doom, Revisited
Up at about 9,000 feet above the world, with little atmosphere to protect them from the sun’s...
A very bad and disloyal plant
In 1395, Philippe le Hardi, Duke of Bourgogne, outlawed the wine grape gamay, calling it a “very...
Is Turkey Meat Deadly?
Note: We’re sending out the weekly missive early this week, as we’re headed to spend some...
Pirates of Valencia
The earliest known record of people playing chess (or chess as we know it, at least) comes from...
The Champagne of the South
In the northeast of Spain, just outside the coastal city of Barcelona, a small mountain range...
Halloween Spirits
Happy Hallowine! In this week’s special Halloween video, resident expert Julien Miquel takes a...
The Oldest Winery in Haro, Rioja
A little ways inland from Spain’s northern coast, the wet sea air collides with the Cantabrian...
Sneak Peek: Old Vines and Crumbling Castles (Spanish Collection)
Nowhere else in Europe do the echoes of the ancient and medieval ages still reverberate so clearly...