by Wine Explorer | Dec 17, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
Why does extreme altitude winemaker Augustin Lanus age his wine Salvaje (malbec, single vineyard, 8,694 ft.) for a year in a concrete egg? Salvaje is a recent addition to the Partnership roster. Our man in Argentina, Diego, tasted it for the first time back in...
by Wine Explorer | Dec 10, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
Up at about 9,000 feet above the world, with little atmosphere to protect them from the sun’s rays, little white butterflies dance above lavender blossoms. “I had never been to Gualfin [the Bonner ranch in Argentina’s remote Calchaquí Valley] at this time of year,”...
by Wine Explorer | Dec 3, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
In 1395, Philippe le Hardi, Duke of Bourgogne, outlawed the wine grape gamay, calling it a “very bad and disloyal plant.” His objection was that gamay, which is easy to grow and ripens early, was displacing pinot noir in Bourgogne’s vineyards. Thus began over 600...
by Wine Explorer | Nov 24, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
Note: We’re sending out the weekly missive early this week, as we’re headed to spend some much-needed time with our family for Thanksgiving. Plus, we thought you might want to give this a read before your own turkey dinner... Bad news. Turkey is NOT the healthier...
by Wine Explorer | Nov 19, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
The earliest known record of people playing chess (or chess as we know it, at least) comes from Valencia, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, in the 15th century. At that point, Valencia was the largest city in the Kingdom of Aragon (proto-Spain) and one of the largest in...
by Wine Explorer | Nov 12, 2021 | The Wine Explorers Letter
In the northeast of Spain, just outside the coastal city of Barcelona, a small mountain range called the Muntanyes d’Ordal wring some of the moisture out of the Mediterranean air as it reaches the hill country of Penedès. Rainfall in parts of Penedès can be high for a...
