Wine ChroniclesBordeaux 2021 from barrel
Make Acidity Great Again By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Friday 13 May …đ± 2022 A quick reference to tasting notes below. For now, I have published the white wines of Bordeaux, which I think shine most in 2021. Next week, I add the reds. With thanks to estates that offered barrel samples to taste and […]
Perfect Champagne Day in Reims
By Panos Kakaviatos 27 March 2022 UNESCO World Heritage sites include two in Reims: the Notre Dame cathedral, inscribed together with the Palace of Tau and the Saint Remi Abbey in 1991, and âChampagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellarsâ in 2015. A majestic example of Gothic architecture, the 13th century Reims Notre Dame impresses with stained-glass […]
Jury selected Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge of 2019
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 16 November 2021 As I taste through Bordeaux’s recently bottled 2019 vintage, with an article to appear in Club Oenolgique early next year, a shout out to the more humble Bordeaux and Bordeaux SupĂ©rieur appellations. I joined a jury of 30 people to pick out my favorites based on samples the […]
Bordeaux 2020 : Saint Emilion shines bright
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 June 2021 For my summary on the vintage, please read what I had published in Club Oenologique. And you can also read my overall Top50+ wines across appellations, after having tasted hundreds of barrel samples of Bordeaux’s latest vintage, 2020. Saint Emilion is a star appellation in 2020. Readers […]
2020 Bordeaux: MĂ©doc, Haut-MĂ©doc and Moulis
Making it worth your while, from barrel By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com As I noted in my initial review of âTop 50+â Bordeaux 2020 barrel samples, the Left Bank features wines that in 2020 can have stricter tannins than usual, but the vintage also includes excellent wines, at various price points and from less celebrated […]
Top 50+ hits: Bordeaux 2020 from barrel
The emotional, the intellectual, the (i)Deals In a vintage that favors Merlot from cold clay and limestone soils By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 May 2021 No ads, no fees charged: Here my objective and experienced impressions of 2020 Bordeaux, 18 years in a row assessing Bordeaux from barrel, including visits during the pandemic era. […]
ChĂąteau Tour Saint Christophe
Beautiful estate, excellent price/quality ratio By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 18 April 2021 I just arrived in Bordeaux, where I will be tasting the 2020 vintage from barrel over the next two weeks with dear friend Jane Anson. Much of the vintage buzz has been rather positive, although too early to pronounce a modern trilogy […]
Weekend White: 2017 dry Bordeaux
ChĂąteau Tronquoy-Lalande Blanc By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles 20 February 2021 Much is said of 2019, 2018 and 2016 as recent “great” Bordeaux vintages, naturally regarding red wines. However, this world famous region crafts many whites, dry and “sweet”, so it was useful to taste a just-released 2017 dry white from the excellent Saint EstĂšphe estate […]
New grapes in Bordeaux to fight climate change
Foresight, or an easy way out? by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 6 February 2021 Late last month it became official: France’s wine appellation authority (INAO) authorized six new grapes for Bordeaux to better adapt to climate change. Two are very well known: Touriga Nacional and Alvarinho. As most readers know, the late ripening Touriga Nacional, […]
Do wine scores miss the point?
by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 3 February 2021 When I look at how I scored wines about 10 years ago, the scores were more conservative. Many more wines were rated between 88 and 92, and that was just swell. For a while, I never gave any wine 100 points, because perfection can be boring. 99 […]