Sarah Kemp

1 week ago | wine-conversation.com | Sarah Kemp

In the early 1990s, he met Zelma Long and Dr Phil Freese, she an eminent California winemaker, and he an internationally acclaimed winegrowing advisor. They had been invited to South Africa as guests of the Cape Wine Producers Association. Both of them fell in love with the land and were intrigued by the country’s soils (they’re the oldest documented soils in the world). Though he was still young, Zelma and Phil decided to “take a chance on him” and formed a 50/50 partnership to create Vilafonté.

2 weeks ago | wine-conversation.com | Sarah Kemp

In our final podcast on En Primeur, Jane Anson talks to Sarah Kemp and gives her verdict on the Bordeaux 2024 vintage, after three weeks of tasting over 750 wines. She explains that it is not a vintage to buy blindly, either by appellation or château, but reveals there are at least 150 successful wines in the vintage: “If priced correctly, there is a reason to buy them.”“The guys who did a good job, huge congratulations to them, as it was not an easy vintage to handle,” she adds.

2 weeks ago | wine-conversation.com | Sarah Kemp

Sarah Kemp talks to two of Bordeaux’s most experienced directors, Frédéric Faye of Château Figeac in Saint-Emilion, and Alexander Van Beek of Château Giscours in Margaux, about the 2024 vintage, which both agree was challenging. Frédéric explains that the challenges came at flowering, especially with Merlot, and during September, when there was rain, but in July and August there was the necessary heat to ripen the grapes.

1 month ago | wine-conversation.com | Sarah Kemp

Sarah Kemp travels to Bordeaux to join Jane Anson on the mammoth task of tasting the 2024 vintage. Jane has already spent a week tasting the consultants’ wines, and after this week will have a further week of tasting to go. As we record, Jane has tasted over 500 wines and Sarah has tasted over 250 wines, so two-thirds of the way through, it’s time to divulge their first impressions.

1 month ago | wine-conversation.com | Sarah Kemp

Justin Gibbs, co-founder of Liv-ex, the online trading platform used by over 600 merchants, talks to Sarah Kemp about how the Bordeaux market has fared over the years, and shares his thoughts on the 2024 En Primeur Bordeaux campaign, which is about to begin. Liv-ex is one of the world’s largest collectors of data on fine wine; 35-40% of Liv-ex’s global market share is Bordeaux – 25% down in the last two years, in line with the fine-wine market, which has seen a steep decline since October 2022.