Doug Decants: Bruno Duchêne’s La Luna
One of our “fauve-rite” summer reds 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…
Doug decants: Franck Balthazar, Cornas
Illustrious Hermitage is spoken with a regal drawl, all languorous and timeless, Cote-Rotie, with its pleasing assonance and alliteration, trips authoritatively off the tongue, then there is Cornas. Not Corn-ah,…
Doug Decants: The Auvergnate Wines of Domaine Maupertuis
Too much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find truth; give him too much, the same. --Blaise Pascal (born in Clermont-Ferrand) Jean Maupertuis tends 3.8 hectares of…
Another Rare Creature: Ribeyrenc
Our spare Ribeyrenc Ribeyrenc, also Rybeyrenc, though grape encyclopaediae will have it under the more prosaic-sounding Aspiran noir), is a variety that was traditionally grown between Minervois and Clermont…
Shock News: Les Caves sells Burgundies
Ever heard the following exchange? Where are you going today? We’re going to the Les Caves de Pyrene en primeur Burgundy tasting. I hear that they have an amazing range…
New Wines: France
La Nouvelle et La Belle With the brouhaha surrounding our new Spanish & Italian interlopers confidently twirling their moustachioes you would be forgiven to speculate that we had forgotten about…
A few new Frenchies (and an Argentinian)
Here're a few more newbies to have snuck onto our list in the past few months--well worth a taste. Check out what Doug Wregg has to say about them: 2010…