2016 Brunello di Montalcino: Radiance Personified
Italy: Tuscany, featured
, Nov 2020
In this year of incredible stress, heartache and forced changes to the way that we all have to live, there is certainly a comfort in looking at past vintages that are only now being released. Never before have these wines been more like a time capsule. There is no other vintage or category of wine that I’ve been looking forward to more than the 2016 Brunello di Montalcinos. The big question is: Do the 2016s live up to our expectations?
Champagne: 2020 New Releases
France: Champagne, featured
, Aug 2020
For the first time in a dozen years, this past spring I was unable to travel to Champagne to taste the new vintage and survey the latest releases. Given the extraordinary challenges this year of both traveling and collecting hundreds of samples in a timely fashion, we will be publishing Champagne reviews within this article in a continuous stream over coming weeks and months, as I taste the wines. This latest installment covers wines tasted in October and November 2020. The best way to stay up to date on additions is to make sure you are receiving our emails and turn on notifications within the Vinous app.
The Year of Jazz & Wine: 1959
Verticals & Retrospectives, France, Germany, Spain, featured
, Nov 2020
Two extraordinary 1959-themed dinners at the end of last year presented a mouthwatering opportunity to examine this legendary vintage. This article looks at those wines and some of the stories that lie behind them.
Rheinhessen 2018: Revelatory Rieslings
Germany, featured
, Nov 2020
For any oenophiles still unaware – or seeking proof – that Rheinhessen justifies a buzz of critical acclaim and consumer excitement currently unsurpassed worldwide by any Riesling growing region, a perusal of the wines turned out in 2018 should do the trick.
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New Zealand Whites: The State of Play
New Zealand, featured
, Nov 2020
In her first report for Vinous, Rebecca Gibb MW takes the temperature of the New Zealand white wine scene and uncovers the latest vintages: 2019 and 2020.
Generosity and Diversity - Mosel 2018: Graach to Grünhaus
germany: Mosel, featured
, Nov 2020
It’s the rare wine among Mosel Rieslings of 2018 – a generally forthcoming, even effusive bunch – that seems to demand cellaring, and then usually only because a surfeit of sweetness is among a given wine’s generous-to-a-fault characteristics. Continuing upstream, I offer my second of two reports on the 2018 vintage Mosel Rieslings, here including those from estates based along the Ruwer.
Trentino & Alto Adige: Worlds Apart
Italy: North, featured
, Nov 2020
As if engrossed in a Tolkienesque fantasy novel, we delve into the labyrinth of producers, varieties, labels, languages and the diverse terroirs of Trentino and Alto Adige. However, while traversing this realm where Italian meets Austrian meets German, it quickly becomes apparent that the effort we put in to comprehending its people and the array of fascinating and stimulating wines they produce is truly worthwhile. Together, let's take a trip down the rabbit hole to better understand two of Italy’s most under-the-radar regions.
2018 Santa Lucia Highlands: What a Difference a Year Makes
United States: California, featured
, Oct 2020
Following the epically hot 2017 vintage, Mother Nature paid Santa Lucia Highlands growers and winemakers back, with interest, by delivering a picture perfect season and an abundant crop of healthy grapes in 2018. The wines feature distinct energy and fine definition, with expressive fruit, well-integrated tannins for the red wines and relatively uncommon nerviness for the whites.
Joseph Drouhin “Monty and Moose”
Verticals & Retrospectives, France: Burgundy, featured
, Oct 2020
Who doesn’t enjoy munching through a packet of M&Ms? But these M&M’s are different: Montrachet & Musigny from Domaine Drouhin. I examine these two wines via separate verticals from recent vintages back to the 1940s.
Barbaresco: The Highs & Lows of 2016-2020
featured, Italy: Piedmont
, Oct 2020
Readers will find a wide range of wines from Barbaresco in the market ranging from majestic, soaring 2016s to the far more variable 2017s and the first 2018 releases. With its stunningly beautiful, hillside vineyards, Barbaresco remains a terrific destination for consumers looking for site-specific, Old World wines that won’t break the bank.