Slideshows

Like so many legends, the house of Dom Pérignon is the subject of numerous tales. Although the monk whose name is now synonymous with great Champagne is often credited with having discovered the method for making sparkling wines, the historical record indicates that his contributions mainly involved improving the conditions under which the world’s premier […]

The past several years have witnessed significant changes at Burgundy’s Maison Louis Jadot. Last year the venerable négociant completed its first harvest in decades without the daily presence of Jacques Lardière, the master vigneron who retired at the end of 2012 after 42 years as Jadot’s technical director. A philosophical man who chose a career […]

Those who contend that Chardonnay grown in the sacred precincts of Chablis and the Côte de Beaune makes the best white wine on the planet can certainly find plenty of liquid evidence to support their argument. The soils of Burgundy, after all, have nurtured white wines of renown since the age of Charlemagne. These campaigners, […]

The Haag family, which practices its craft in Germany’s Middle Mosel region, enjoys a reputation for producing white wines of the highest quality with astonishing consistency. Their dependability, however, is explained in part by the fact that they have worked this land for more than four centuries. The Fritz Haag 2011 Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Mosel […]

An immodestly brilliant Pomerol… The first test of a truly great man is his humility,” asserted the English art critic and social theorist John Ruskin, whose contemporaries were unlikely to have accused him of possessing an undue measure of this virtue. Hardly a subject existed on which Ruskin did not hold an opinion that could […]

When most wine collectors think of Australia, they think of Penfolds; and when they ponder Penfolds, their thoughts ineluctably drift toward Grange, the label’s flagship wine, which emphasizes Shiraz and was first produced commercially in 1952. Like Grange, Bin 707—which debuted with the 1964 vintage—is sourced from multiple vineyards in multiple regions that include Adelaide […]

Some years ago, the tide of opinion turned against Merlot after a scene in the film Sideways convinced audiences that well-tutored palates avoid this varietal. Today, Syrah has met a similar fate, falling out of favor with U.S. consumers. Yet, just as many of the world’s most captivating reds are produced from Merlot—Château Pétrus and […]

A white wine with heart. Many wineries in California include the word family on their labels—a descriptor intended to suggest not only that the contents of the bottle are the result of a multigenerational labor of love but also that future generations will heed the call of the vine. In many instances, the families in […]

Never has necessity given birth to more arresting offspring than in Portugal’s Douro Valley, where production of fortified wines is capped by government regulators to ensure that the supply of port does not exceed global demand. The portion of each harvest that does not make the cut for Portugal’s best-known bottlings is diverted into table […]