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1 month ago | 
newwinereview.com | Fintan Kerr |Jon Fine
Here’s what’s happening on the wine internet this week:🍇 The most exciting grapes in Italy aren’t the ones you’re thinking of. 🧠 A smarter guide to Napa’s classic Cabernets. 🥩 Non-obvious pairings for that big, juicy steak. 🇮🇹 Chianti Classico is still a tremendous value, even if prices are rising. 🦫 Vogue’s guide to the Willamette Valley. ⚽ Jancis Robinson says the young wine scene in Manchester is a total delight. 🥾 NatGeo finds gold in New Mexico’s vineyards and Gran Canaria’s wine route.
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2 months ago | 
newwinereview.com | Patrick Comiskey |Jason Wilson |Fintan Kerr |Susannah Skiver Barton
Grenache is heat-seeking. Everybody knows this. Grenache hugs the Mediterranean Sea like a pasty-faced Scandinavian in search of a suntan in February. It thrives in torrid Barossa and arid Spain, it cozies up to cobblestones in Châteauneuf-du-Pape as if those fist-sized rocks were slippers.
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2 months ago | 
newwinereview.com | Jason Wilson |Fintan Kerr |Susannah Skiver Barton
It was early evening in Barcelona—that wonderful time in Spain when work is over, but the sun is out, and dinner is still a few hours away. I lounged outside a buzzing bar called Morro Fi, drinking vermouth over ice, and nibbling olives, potato chips, and convervas, those tinned fish that are such a delicacy in Iberia. Morro Fi is sleek and modern, with a minimalist interior and equally minimalist menu. “We only serve vermouth, beer, and snacks,” said owner Marcel Fernandez.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
decanter.com | Fintan Kerr
Wine rarely comes from ugly places, but few wine regions can compete with the beauty of Priorat, southwest of Barcelona. As you head inland from the coastal city of Tarragona – a particularly beautiful train journey that winds through the hills – the land starts to rise and the population becomes notably sparse. There are barely 2,200ha under vine here – a mere 30th of the size of Rioja, according to that region’s annual reporting.
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
newwinereview.com | Jason Wilson |Sara Keene |Susannah Skiver Barton |Fintan Kerr
I’ve been spending my summer on the quiet end of an island at the Jersey Shore. So, I’ve had seafood, particularly shellfish, on the brain. Though restaurant options here are limited and touristy, there are always fine oysters to enjoy, overlooking the bay at sunset. Yes, I know I shouldn’t really eat oysters in a month that doesn’t have an “r” but I don’t care. My wine options at the bayside bar are somewhat limited, too.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
newwinereview.com | Fintan Kerr |Christy Canterbury MW |Jason Wilson |Sarah Parker Jang
Few wine producing countries in the world are as naturally blessed as Italy. It’s home to hundreds of indigenous grape varieties, a genuinely long, uninterrupted history of winemaking, and more microclimates within individual regions than vast swaths of other countries.
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Jul 24, 2024 | 
newwinereview.com | Fintan Kerr |Susannah Skiver Barton |Dave McIntyre |Felix Salmon
European wine—or at least the European wine most worth caring about—is largely defined by the restrictions of planting within any of the prestigious appellations. These seek not only to maintain a minimum standard but also to create an understandable, distinctive style to link to the name. Elsewhere in the world, the choice is more open: plant what you want, where you want, and make it how you want.
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Jun 25, 2024 | 
cluboenologique.com | Lucy Shaw |Fintan Kerr |Mathilda Hill-Smith |Joel Hart
Molecular gastronomy is what comes out of the microwave,’ says Spanish writer Pau Arenós, which might make you feel better about dinner the next time your ready meal goes ping. The term came to prominence in the early years of this century, thanks in large part to the label being applied to restaurants such as El Bulli in Spain, The Fat Duck in the UK and The French Laundry in California. All were top-ten regulars in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, which launched in 2002.
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Jun 24, 2024 | 
cluboenologique.com | Fintan Kerr |Joel Hart |Mathilda Hill-Smith |Ciaran Griffiths
Episode 167 of The Drinking Hour is the first of two special editions dedicated to the wines of Chablis. Host David Kermode is joined by Rosemary George MW, an author who once famously declared that ‘Chablis is Chardonnay but not every Chardonnay is a Chablis’. Their conversation includes an exploration of the region, looking back on its history and to its future to see what direction the wines are heading in.
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Jun 20, 2024 | 
cluboenologique.com | Fintan Kerr |Mathilda Hill-Smith |Louella Berryman |Nina Caplan
The Largo is on a hill – but then, everything in Porto is on a hill. That’s why the views are so spectacular. Swimming in the hotel’s tiny rooftop pool, I could see the towers of the city’s cathedral in one direction and the names jutting from the roofs of the port cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia just across the Douro – branding for a more innocent age: Dow’s, Warre’s, Kopke… but the river that made them famous was invisible, far below.
