Wines from Moldavia, a quick look and a disappointing tasting

Production and some context According to the OIV and the year 2017 (which are the latest figures available) the wine production of this small country located on the north-west corner of the Black Sea, surrounded by Romania and Ukraine, place it in 20th place amongst the world's wine producers in volume terms. These figures of …

Not particularly seasonal miscellanae

1). Wine brochures should always be read with a critical eye Naturally various documents, such as brochures, flyers, catalogues etc, that are conceived by wine producers or retailers to accompany or present their wines are designed to place their products under the most favourable light. But is that a sufficient reason for them to be, …

Marmande, where and what?

  The south-west of France contains a fair number of widely (for France) spread wine appellations, many of them quite small and little-known outside the country, and even within it for many inhabitants of this country. It also harbours, by virtue of this fact and its viticultural history, quite a few unusual and rare grape …

Georgian wines and travels

As promised last week, I am writing a few comments and reflexions about the wines of this country that I have just left after a week's stay to teach about wine in general, although not about Georgian wines as I am almost a complete beginner here. This article therefore makes no pretention at anything like …

What wines do most people drink?

I am often struck by the apparently huge gap there is between what we, as wine writers/critics of various descriptions, consider to be "interesting" wines, and those wines which are actually consumed by the vast majority of wine drinkers. How many of us (wine writers) taste the wines that the majority of our contemporaries actually …

Looking for flor: Vin Jaune, Jerez and Tokay Szamorodni 2/2

As I promised at the end of my article of last week,(https://les5duvin.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/different-roads-to-flor-vin-jaune-xeres-and-tokay-szamorodni/) this second article will attempt to provide more details, both  technical and historical,  about flor wines that were exposed and explained during the recent symposium organized at Lons-le-Saulnier in France's Jura region. a). Vin Jaune, Jura These wines are followed from a technical …

De beaux vins de Croatie et une petite interrogation sur le goût

Au détour d'un récent travail à Vienne (Autriche) j'ai pu déguster, lors d'un salon organisé par l'antenne locale de GaultMillau, une sélection très bien faite de vins de la Croatie, pays invité à ce salon dédié surtout à la cuisine mais qui incorporait aussi bon nombre de vignerons, à commencer par ceux d'Autriche bien entendu …