Visiting Domaine Ramonet was always going to be something of a personal pilgrimage. Ramonet’s wines were among of the first white Burgundies to grab my attention, initiating a fascination which has only deepened over the years that followed. The domaine’s wines exhibit a rare amalgam of amplitude, depth and precision which always makes an arresting … More A visit to Domaine Ramonet
2016 has been a truly wonderful year, replete with great wines. Exploring the 2015 vintage in Burgundy and Germany in particular has left indelible memories—after all, who could forget tasting 2015s with the likes of Klaus-Peter Keller and Marie-André Mugneret? And I’ve been reminded time and again of the kindness and humanity that abound among … More The best bottles of 2016
What do we mean when we say a wine has fallen apart? As someone who regularly extols the virtues of bottle age, it seems appropriate to devote some attention to what happens when cellaring doesn’t bring improvement. And it seems to me that interesting discussions about the nature of graceful evolution in the bottle are … More Things Fall Apart
A visit to François Mitjavile is inevitably memorable. At Tertre Rotebœuf, contemporary Bordeaux—in reality just over the horizon—feels a world away. That’s partly because its proprietor is so uncommon: it would be easy to imagine this ‘charming genius’ at home among the Enlightenment philosophes; an impression only intensified by his elegant eighteenth-century farmhouse and the … More Inimitable Mitjavile: the wines of Tertre Rotebœuf
The reactions elicited by old wines sometimes recall the proverb, erroneously attributed to Nietzsche, that ‘those who were seen dancing were thought mad by those who could not hear the music’. Though for those who enjoy them there is nothing finer, sceptics suggest that appreciation for ancient vintages is at best an acquired taste; at … More Wine & nostalgia
This article originally appeared in Noble Rot (issue 11). Few North American winemakers are more deservedly celebrated than Burt Williams. Widely regarded as one of Californian Pinot Noir’s most accomplished twentieth-century exponents, his wines expanded the parameters of the possible. Ripe but vibrant and never cloying, above all clearly differentiated by site, in Burt’s hands … More Lunch with Burt Williams
Domaine Dugat-Py in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin produces some of the most controversial wines in Burgundy. On the one hand, critical plaudits abound: one of a handful of Domaines awarded three stars in the Revue du Vin de France’s famous classement, the Dugat-Pys’ wines have long been lauded by Allen Meadows and a succession of … More The wines of Domaine Dugat-Py
Marc Delienne quit a job in Paris to pursue his long-standing passion for wine professionally, purchasing the Château de l’Abbeye Saint Laurent d’Arpayé in the village of Fleurie after a stint under the tutelage of Eloi Durbach of the Domaine de Trévallon. He produced his inaugural vintage in 2015, and his two cuvées are very … More Marc Delienne: a new star in the Fleurie firmament
If Henri Bonneau’s wines are the apotheosis of traditional Châteauneuf du Pape, then Château Rayas is something altogether more singular. While Bonneau’s domaine is blessed with fine parcels in some of the appellation’s most celebrated terroirs, it is his idiosyncratically traditional cellar work that makes his bottlings so special. The soul of Château Rayas, by … More The singularity of Château Rayas
Originally published in Noble Rot (10) When Emidio Pepe established his winery in 1964, he was convinced from the very beginning that the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo could produce one of Italy’s great red wines. Nowadays, it would be hard to argue the point. The world beats a path to his cantina in the sleepy village of … More Emidio Pepe and the road less travelled
William Kelley 