Natural, organic, biodynamic, real wine and the people and places behind them

Lava amour Vino di Anna is a small, family wine estate situated on the north face of Mt Etna, Sicily. Anna Martens and Eric Narioo have been making natural wines…

Thought sediment about wine (and other loosely related subjects)  Trash talking about wine Oh, the imperative of the pitch. I have 15 whole seconds to deluge the eager (or not)…

The crocuses (crocii?) are croaking and semi-spring is in the air and we are delighted to bring you news of three fantastic tastings in as many months! Very imminent is…

Herefordshire cider house rules It is said that the first recorded references to cider in this country date back to Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain where his armies found the…

The badger’s nadgers The Monte di Grazia estate is located in Campania in the town of Tramonti, inland and up from the Amalfi Coast, in the Lattari Mountains.  It’s a…

Jaén heir Though this is madness, yet there is method in it. Vinos Bio Pedro Olivares is a project in Murcia coordinated by the aforementioned Pedro Olivares with the objective…

Last week I read a tasting note in a wine magazine describing the flavours of a red wine as “black animal tobacco.” Now, while it is highly probable that the…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the majority of labels that adorn the many hundreds of different bottles of wines in the Les Caves portfolio are graphically… humdrum. And…

Thanks be to cob! Craig & Carla Hawkins and family live in Bandits Kloof, Eendekuilthe in the back and beyond of Swartland. It is a beautiful location, ringed by mountains…

We are delighted to announce that we are selling the English translation of ‘Calicata, Gredos as Terroir’,  a collaboration between Comando G and other local growers as well as journalists,…

The Antadze Winery was founded by Nikoloz (Niki) Antadze in 2006. A former nightclub owner and a gentle and reflective soul, Niki owns 3-hectares of vineyards in the Manavi micro…

Cold Mountain Wines Wade Sander dreamt about being a vigneron from an early age. He enrolled at Elsenburg Agricultural College in 2010, and after graduating, joined the CWG internship programme…

Aidan Raftery began making wine in 2013 with a label called Vin du Patron, produced in the garage of his home in Melbourne, Australia. He had just opened Persillade, the…

Queen of Tarot Ashleigh Barrowman wears many wine hats. She works with Dan Gillett at Wine Diamonds in Wellington, a leading retailer and distributor of artisan organic and natural wines…

In 1826 when Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer, politician, and famous gastronome, wrote: ''Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es'', which translates to 'Tell…

That was the year that was, again... There may be trouble ahead, But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance Let's face the music and dance Well, what…

Winemaker report ...in the words of Jean du Plessis, GM and Vigneron of Ancre Hill: Our neighbouring blackcurrant farmer, who has lived and farmed the area for more than 35…

Cedar house rules Lebanon is among the oldest regions in wine production in the world. Today, Eddie & Michelle Shami continue this legacy with the same passion that the Phoenicians…

Doug’s picks Towards the end of the year, I always make a little list of fondly-remembered wines tasted and drunk o’er the past twelve months. It’s always a personal take,…

Rebels with a cause Since the Middle Ages, there have been records about the lieu-dit “le Tue-Boeuf” and its excellent wines which were enjoyed by the local nobility and the…

  John Bojanowski writes  It was driest and hottest and early, Vendanges 24--Tres fort squirrely Beaucoup d'grapes in our baskets We throw'd off our blue maskets Shall be back for…

Home, home again I like to be here when I can And when I come home cold and tired It's good to warm my bones beside the fire Far away…

  If I were to create a woolly word wine cloud to encompass the language I use when talking and writing about wine – and natural wine, in particular -…

When the word drunkenness comes into conversation it has various associations. In my mind’s eye I think of the great Hogarth “Gin Lane” sketch of debauchery and unconsciousness. Or the…

When the Kioutsoukis family migrated from East Romylia in the early 1900’s, a region at the Black Sea coast well known for its wine to Greece, they carried with them…

A bottle of wine amounts to the framing of countless choices. It does not even have to be a bottle – a key keg, a pouch or a can may…

Making the delta an alpha The region which we now refer to as the Costières de Nîmes boasts a viticultural history going back several centuries BCE when the Greeks were…

“Real Pagne”   Nestled in Damery, just a few kilometres from Épernay, Maison Maurice Choppin has been working the unique terroirs of the Marne Valley for more than seven generations.…

Sparkling new adventures in “Corpinnat-shire” Bufadors (the name “Bufadors” refers to the Puig dels Bufadors, the hills of the Black Mountain of Cadaqués), is a new label created by Ton…

With France hosting the next rugby world cup final, whimsical variations-on-the-oval-ball-game seemed an appropriate theme for our tasting as, after all, we are Les Caves de Pyrene, our origins rooted…

Cecil Graham: What is a cynic? Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. Cecil Graham: And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is…

Over the next few months we will be publishing diaries and journals featuring the various routines, practices and thoughts of the U.K. growers and producers that we work with. At…

Over the next few months we will be publishing diaries and journals featuring the various routines, practices and thoughts of the U.K. growers and producers that we work with. Here…

As I was supping an old old favourite t’other evening, I was thinking of formative wines, those that helped to change our perceptions and the way we think about the…

Les Vins de la Gabare is a project involving Angevin producer Nicolas Réau and local growers in Anjou and Nantes to make as naturally as possible, wines that faithfully reflect…

Over the next few months we will be publishing diaries and journals featuring the various routines, practices and thoughts of the UK growers and producers that we work with. Here…

  The project known as La Garagista Farm & Winery began in 2010 on a mountain in Vermont. In essence, Deirdre and Caleb farm three parcels of co-planted, alpine varietals…

Pic of Satisfaction Deep in the Forez something stirs – The Wines of Vin & Pic   When Laurent Demeure moved to the southern part of the Côtes du Forez,…

An overview plus historical nuggets & oddments Les Caves de Pyrene, its name and reputation synonymous with the Pyrenees, was founded on the wines and gastronomy of the south western…

Pierre Jéquier was formerly an architect, but his passion for wine and the desire to have a craft close to nature led him to become a winemaker. After a lot…

A regenerative farming project in Bucks A couple of months ago we visited Richard Woodfine, eponymous founder and brains behind Woodfine Wine. He lives in Seer Green, a picturesque Chiltern…

A rose that is an orange by any other name Ovum Wines (John and Ksenija House) is dedicated to producing Riesling & Gewurztraminer (& Muscat) from single sites in Oregon and…

Beyond the pinky and perky cliché It’s August, and I’ve forgotten to rehash my ORA (Obligatory Rosé Article). This year with sweltersville coming at us from all sides, it would…

The Schmitt winery has been in the family for over 230 years with Bianka and Daniel working their 16 hectares for the last decade. They work in full biodynamics which…

What do you want to know about wine? Most of our customers want us to send them technical notes (known as fiche techniques). In its starkest form, an FT is…

Luna module Bruno Duchêne hails from the Loire Valley, where his family had a thriving business selling farm machinery. Before starting his career as a winemaker, he was a wild…

Think of a grape variety and you will probably envision it in its most basic iteration. Gamay? Think bubblegum and fruit pastilles. Malbec? Think chocolate. Chardonnay? Think warm buttered toast.…

Epiphanies, as I have written before, tend to coalesce around a single moment. It may be a moment in the immediate present that is so deeply moving, so sensorily involving,…

Ilaria Romano (née Bellotti) has taken over the running of this estate and the wines are as brilliant and energetic as ever. The white wines stood out at this year’s…

Yeah strawberries… not the cheese Pinot Noir? Hardest game in the world, as Archie from The Fast Show might have opined. Or opinoted. Pinot Noir, the eternal seductress, that most…

Christmas comes but once a year, but with shipping delays, US wines seem to arrive every other year. On a wing and a prayer rather than a ship. Rarer than…

  If 2020 was the strangest of all possible worlds, then 2021 was the worst of times. As if that annus horribilis hadn’t left a foul enough taste in the…

Organics is now more than a mere buzzword and a marketing hook, it is truly founded on the idea that quality is paramount, and that the better the farming (be…

A wine to knock you on your Chasselas! After half a lifetime abroad, Davide Bentivegna decided to return to his roots. Originally from the hills outside of Catania, he began…

Emotion recollected in tranquillity is like a fine vintage wine. As Wordsworth didn’t say.   The Real Wine Fair, vintage 2019, was a special event. All editions of the fair…

  The other day I was asked to do a pithy tasting note for a somewhat bland wine (let’s be generous) for a pub list. As well as the difficulty…

The Mad March Hares are thwacking each other on the noses, the sun has decided that it’s safe to come out, supermarket asparagus is still coming from Peru (but not…

The Les Chemins de l'Arkose domaine is located in the heart of Montpeyroux in the Auvergne region. Yvan Bernard and Audrey Baldassin cultivate 8-hectares of vines on the various beautiful terroirs of Puy-de-Dôme. The soils are clay-limestone,…

Networking with O2 When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be ~ Lao Tzu Only those who will risk going too far can possibly…

A native of the city of Catania, Salvo Foti studied oenology and began his career in 1981 as a technical and agrarian advisor to some notable estates in eastern Sicily.…

In 2015, Lisa Lavagne and Brice Banchet decided to build their life project in the family home in Morlanche, to grow vines and make wine on the land belonging to…

Symbolic Significance of Orange *Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and tropics.  *Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination,…

Thirty years ago Jasper Morris MW was hosting a wine dinner at a restaurant I used to work at. I can’t remember the wine region we were showcasing, but one…

The Schmitt winery has been in the family for over 230 years with Bianka and Daniel working their 16 hectares for the last decade. They work in full biodynamics which…

I love VA (with apologies to Randy Newman) There is a little-known HM Bateman cartoon with a picture of me drinking a beaker of wine, supported by the tagline: The…

In 2018, to commemorate the 30th birthday of Les Caves, I wrote a book. At the time of writing, we appeared to be at the peak of our powers. Business…

After travelling extensively in Portugal and Austria learning his craft, Craig Hawkins returned to South Africa and became the winemaker at top Swartland estate Lammershoek. Craig now makes his own…

This is a series profiling the producers on our list who make natural wines. Within this series we will be highlighting some of the extraordinary and rare bottles and vintages that…

On finishing their studies at agricultural college, Niels and Penny Verburg wanted to make wine but having no access to vineyards led them to leave South Africa in 1989. They…

Paul-Henri Thillardon, originally from Frontenas in the south of the Beaujolais region (where his father was a vigneron), settled in the appellation of Chénas in Beaujolais in 2008 at the…

Time was… …. that at the beginning of the year one sifted through the sediment of one’s knackered Christmas claret, rubbed a tartrate crystal ball and prognose-sticated on all the…

This is a series profiling the producers on our list who make natural wines. Within this series we will be highlighting some of the extraordinary and rare bottles and vintages that…

Who wants to know? Well, vegans, presumably. This is not a question that keeps me awake at night, but I know that message boards on forums are full of it.…

Christophe was born into a family of vignerons. His great-grandfather already made wine in cellars in the village as well as being a polycultural farmer. His father Gilbert left the cooperative…

Poetry in Prosecco Christian Zago, accompanied by Marika, represents the 5th generation of growers at Ca’ dei Zago, a family farm in the heart of Valdobbiadene. The most important part…

It is axiomatic that every producer of new-wave natural wine should have at least one label that is graphic or flirts with the suggestive. The No Sexual Services Pink Bunny…

At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the…

When eating out in restaurants, it is refreshing to encounter a clear focus on principal ingredients, showcasing two, perhaps three things on a plate, a dish that may be tackled…

--By Laura Milnes German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel developed a theory known as the Hegelian dialectic that posits: A beginning proposition called a thesis A negation of that thesis…

New thrillers from Parrilla El Pinto is a collaboration between Les Caves de Pyrene and Hacienda La Parrilla. The idea behind this project is to create excellent value wines from…

In the 1990’s, Philippe Meyer and Sophie Kumpf, both from long-established Alsatian winemaking families, married, and founded a new winemaking estate ‘Kumpf et Meyer’ with its winery situated in the…

The Dietrich family has farmed land in Alsace since 1600 mostly in the village of Scherwiller but also in an adjacent village. Historically, the family farm was to be run…

The process of fermentation in winemaking turns the must (grape juice) into an alcoholic drink called wine. During primary fermentation, yeasts transform sugars present in the juice into ethanol and carbon dioxide. The most common yeast associated with winemaking is…