• OUR NOSE CAN DETECT ONE TRILLION SMELLS

    par | Mar 25, 2014

    By CHRIS MERCER — DECANTER.com — Tuesday 25 March 2014

    The human nose is millions of times more sensitive than previously thought, suggests new research, but wine tasters may struggle to find the vocabulary to take advantage and the one trillion figure could be an understatement.

    Experiments by researchers the Rockefeller University in the US found that humans are capable of detecting at least one trillion smells, the figure could be an understatement. (suite…)

  • LOIRE (7) : LES CÉPAGES DU PASSÉ ONT-ILS UN FUTUR ?

    par | Mar 20, 2014

    DANIEL J. BERGER

    La  Loire bordée de vignobles de Roanne à Nantes, en partie classés au Patrimoine de l’Humanité constitue l’une des plus grandes étendues vinicoles au monde, que 800 km de routes des vins sillonnent. La grande variété  des vins s’explique par les différences géographiques, géologiques et de climat, et autant par la vingtaine de cépages différents eux aussi, dont les plus connus en blanc sont le chenin, les différents sauvignons, et en rouge le cabernet franc.
    Après les variétés proprement ligériennes et celles venues de Bourgogne, scrutons celles originaires du Bordelais comme le     côt.

    Et interrogeons-nous sur le futur des cépages anciens, oubliés et disparus.

    3. Des cépages de Loire originaires du sud-ouest, c’est surtout le cabernet franc (l’ancien breton) qui est représentatif des pays de Loire, donnant des rouges fruités et de bonne garde récoltés au-dessus des coteaux calcaires de Chinon, de Bourgueil et en Saumur-Champigny. Il est aussi présent en Anjou dans la région de Brissac, dominant les petites vallées du Layon et de l’Aubance, où il produit les AOC Anjou-villages et Anjou-villages-Brissac, et aussi des rosés. (suite…)

  • ALFRED TESSERON, THE PROGRESSIVE LEADER OF PONTET-CANET

    par | Mar 19, 2014

    By — WINE SEARCHER Monday, 17-Mar-2014

    Alfred Tesseron is a man with a twinkle in his eye and great vision.

    In his 20 years at the helm of Pauillac estate Château Pontet-Canet, he has introduced unconventional methods including green harvesting, biodynamics and now amphorae. He reveals the ups and downs of his career.

    Interview by Rebecca Gibb

    Were you always destined to be in the wine and spirits game?
    When I was a kid I dreamed of being a farmer, not to be in wine.  Some kids want to be firemen or policemen or whatever, but I wanted to be a farmer.  So I am a farmer specializing in grapes.  Always on Sunday, my father would open wine for pleasure for us kids to try and to think about whether or not we liked it.  It was a game.  Somehow wine is in our blood.  I first studied but my father didn’t give me pocket money so I had to earn money to be able to have fun.  I was working as a wine salesman in Bordeaux [and in Paris].

    © Pontet Canet | Alfred Tesseron below, plans on building more stables to increase his horse power at Pontet-Canet
    Tesseron plans on building more stables to increase his horse power at Pontet-Canet

    (suite…)

  • LOIRE (6) : BATAILLE DU QUARTS DE CHAUME TERMINÉE

    par | Mar 18, 2014

    From JIM BUDD — DECANTER e-newsletter — Wednesday March 12, 2014

    Loire winemakers win Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru battle.
    France’s highest court has quashed opposition to the creation of a     Quarts de Chaume as a Grand Cru in the Loire, and producers hope it could prove a blueprint for the region.

    The Conseil d’Etat, France’s top public administrative court, has rejected Domaine des Baumard‘s long-running legal challenge to the new Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru of 2011, as well as to the Coteaux du Layon 1er Cru Chaume.

    « I am delighted by this decision, which brings to an end a conflict that has gone on for 20 years, » said Claude Papin, president of the Syndicat des Producteurs de Quarts de Chaume.  « Quarts de Chaume has long had a very special reputation.  The Loire now has a grand cru and a premier cru. This clear hierarchy may now serve for other special sites in the Layon. » (suite…)

  • WILL UKRAINE LOSE ITS WINE?

    par | Mar 17, 2014

    By ANDREW JEFFORD

    Is Ukraine beeing losing its most significant wine-producing region ?
    After an investigation on Crimea in Ukraine and Russia Andrew Jefford thinks it is quite possible in the     DECANTER newsletter issued on Monday March 17, 2014.

    Under Ukrainian law, yesterday’s referendum is illegal; its results will not be recognised internationally; sanctions will follow.  Russia, though, is in control of the peninsula.  Since no party wishes to see an armed conflict there, it is hard to envision the Crimea making a return to the Ukrainian fold, no matter how fervently its Ukrainian and Tatar minorities might wish for this.

    There are many regions of the world where international recognition or restitution of re-assigned borders is a diplomatic nicety which must wait decades for resolution. The situation in the Crimea, in fact, is an unusually complicated one, as I discovered last week in attempting to assess the feelings of local growers, as well as discuss Crimea with fellow wine journalists in both Kiev and Moscow. (suite…)