Rupert Millar

London

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Freelance fine wine journalist, history and NFL geek. Tweets cover much besides wine. I write short stories too and @vinportequoi. Views my own

Featured in: Favicon

spectator.co.uk Favicon

thedrinksbusiness.com Favicon

hudin.com

decanter.com Favicon

newsbreak.com Favicon

harpers.co.uk Favicon

the-buyer.net Favicon

cluboenologique.com Favicon

wine.co.za

Articles

Decanter cellar: 16 must-try Syrah

5 days ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

There are many tall tales around the origins of Syrah – also known as Shiraz. One claimed that it was Rome’s legions that brought the grape to southern France. The soldiers had been in Sicily before and brought with them vines from the city of Syracuse. But then Pliny the Elder claimed that it was a variety called Vitis syriaca that came from Syria. Later still a legend emerged that its origins lay further to the east, around the ancient Persian city of Shiraz.
Bordeaux 2024: Haut-Bailly offers biggest cut so far

5 days ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

The Pessac-Léognan estate was released this week with a reduction of 36% on its 2023 price. In a surprising release (given the 8 May bank holiday in France), Pomerol estate Lafleur emerged today (Friday 9 May) but with a much smaller cut. Also out this week were Château Montrose, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Lynch-Bages.
Bordeaux 2024: Montrose sweeps into view with 29% price cut

1 week ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

Château Montrose, Château Talbot and Château La Gaffelière lead another day of 2024 en primeur releases. All three estates have offered cuts in price versus their 2023 releases. Since the release of Château Lafite Rothschild last week, cuts have (mostly) been deep across the board with each new offer.
Bordeaux 2024: New Lafite is cheapest on the market

2 weeks ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

The Pauillac first growth has offered its grand vin for €288 per bottle ex-négociant, the same price as the 2014 was released at. It’s a pricing strategy that makes it the cheapest vintage of the estate currently available in the market.
Bordeaux 2024: The campaign begins in earnest – and early - Decanter

3 weeks ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

Merchants and critics have barely returned from Bordeaux and prices for wines have already been made public. Château Pontet-Canet, Château Batailley and the various Right Bank wines from JP Moueix have led an early charge to declare the price of their 2024 vintage wines. There have been price cuts, but perhaps not ones as radical as many were hoping for.
Bordeaux 2024: Market conditions and pricing strategies

3 weeks ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

The poor 2024 vintage is not even a year old and risks being written-off before the first hopeful offer wings its electronic way to inboxes at some point in the coming week. As a vintage it was… difficult. There was a lot of rain (as much as 50-70% above the 10 year average) and crop losses were considerable due to poor fruit set and then mildew and other disease pressure. The final crop is the smallest since 1991. Small doesn’t mean bad quality of course, sometimes quite the opposite.
Decanter Cellar: 20 must-try Chardonnay

1 month ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

Chardonnay can almost certainly lay claim to being the foremost white grape in the wine world. The driving force behind white Burgundy and a key ingredient in Champagne, its fame as a grape and its capacity to thrive in all manner of environments has seen it spread across the globe.
What's on Premium: April 2025

1 month ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

April is the cruellest month. No sooner have we mixed memory and your desire for good claret with our comprehensive retrospective of the 2022s then we make you wait a full month before the great Bordeaux highlight of the year – the review of the new vintage and en primeur!But that’s coming in May don’t fret, and we’ll have plenty for you to swirl in your glass between now and then.
What's on Premium: March 2025

2 months ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

A Fine Wine February gives way to March Madness. After a brief hiatus, the vintage reports come rearing back. Complementing the Bordeaux 2022 in-bottle report published in the magazine, online we’ll be running an entire package with more analysis and everything you need to know about the vintage from top-to-bottom. How has the vintage developed since En Primeur? What are the best labels? Where’s the value? Are these wines worth your time?
Oeno P: Paris Sigalas pushes Assyrtiko to greater heights

2 months ago | decanter.com | Rupert Millar

Paris Sigalas looks exactly as one might imagine a French-educated, Greek mathematics professor-turned-winemaker to look. Which, strangely enough, is a little like the late Sir Michael Gambon. Now in his late 70s, he exudes a very particular sort of ineffable, laid-back cool – shot through with a robust intellectualism and good sense of humour. One senses that an afternoon with Paris could, very quickly, become an evening, and conversations would become very branching indeed.