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3 weeks ago | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
Biochar is charcoal made using pyrolysis, in which biomass (organic matter such as wood, food waste and sewage sludge) is heated to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. Interest is growing in the potential benefits of applying biochar to vineyard soils. These include increasing the soil’s water-holding capacity, increasing its carbon-storage potential, and regenerating life in the soil. But not all biochar is created equal.
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3 weeks ago | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
Veuve Clicquot launched the 2018 vintage of its top-tier cuvée La Grande Dame at a luscious dinner event in the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology in Paris. The decadent yellow-drenched table arrangement, set for 100 guests and bedecked with a frothing, golden scene of daffodils, buttercups and dainty gypsophila, aptly reflected the streets of the city, dripping with spring blossom.
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2 months ago | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
Irrational fears aside, bees are an important part of any ecosystem, including vineyards. I spoke to beekeepers and vineyard owners to find out why. ‘There isn’t a direct link between the vine and the bee,’ says Victorine Fraisse of Domaine de Villeneuve in Pic St-Loup, north of Montpellier in Languedoc. Her father has been a beekeeper since 1989 and the estate has about 1,000 bee hives.
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2 months ago | 
chicagomaroon.com | Natalie Earl
It is time to get excited for spring! Our beautiful campus is beginning to bloom, and the days will (hopefully) be warmer from here on out. Most importantly, ducks have officially returned to the Botany Pond, and UChicago’s resident expert, professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution Jerry Coyne, assured the Maroon that they are here to stay. Jerry, as he introduced himself, has been the pond’s official “duck master” for the past eight years.
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2 months ago | 
chicagomaroon.com | Natalie Earl
The UChicago South Asian Students Association (SASA) held their annual cultural show on Saturday, March 29, at 8 p.m. in Mandel Hall. The show was accompanied by an art display outside the hall that showcased SASA members’ visual art, poetry, and photography.
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2 months ago | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
After studying viticulture and oenology, he worked in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in the Rhône valley, at Domaine de Beaurenard, followed by stints in New Zealand, Languedoc and Luberon. The Piwi adventure started in 2021 when he returned home and realised that fungal vine diseases were a big problem in his region. ‘All my friends were already losing 80%-100% of their production,’ he tells me.
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Feb 17, 2025 | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
Naturally, it’s aimed at wine producers, importers, exporters, retailers and wholesalers. I’m none of those, but I read it anyway, because as a wine drinker, I also have a strong interest in the container that gets this precious liquid cargo safely from the winery into my hands. I care what it looks like, how it’s presented, but I also know that its environmental impact can be significant.
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Feb 10, 2025 | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has released its 2022 wines in bottle and the UK wine trade and press were the first to taste them in London last week. The domaine’s co-directors Perrine Fenal and Bertrand de Villaine were present, alongside UK agent Corney & Barrow’s managing director Adam Brett-Smith. Following cripplingly low yields in the frost-stricken 2021, the 2022 vintage delivered an abundance of healthy grapes.
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Jan 30, 2025 | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
There may be answers, however, in young companies such as EthicDrinks. A Bordeaux-based, new-wave négociant that sources organic wines from across France and further afield, it supplies retailers using a transparent, ethical, sustainable, plastic-free, decarbonised supply chain. Too good to be true? It recently launched a wine with UK retailer Laithwaites packaged in the lightest glass bottle on the market, at just 300g.
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Jan 19, 2025 | 
decanter.com | Natalie Earl
The river Loire drains into the Atlantic ocean on France’s western coast just south of Brittany. Stretching between the coast and roughly 120km inland are the vineyards of the Nantais. This area comprises four Muscadet appellations (Muscadet, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu), along with the three lesser-known APs of Gros Plant du Pays Nantais, Coteaux d’Ancenis and Fiefs Vendéens. Muscadet’s popularity boomed in the 1980s, notably in the UK.
