Decanter

During his leadership campaign, Boris Johnson styled himself as a sceptic of so-called ‘sin taxes’ and a self-confessed ‘wine man’ with a penchant for superTuscan Tignanello (see ‘Notes & Queries’, p128). But the question remains as to whether Europe

Adelle ‘Boots’ Brounstein, the co-founder of Diamond Creek Vineyards and one of the pioneering generation of Napa Valley wine producers, has died at the age of 92. Brounstein and her late husband Al, who died in 2006, founded Diamond Creek in 1967. T

I adore Decanter and look forward to getting my copy each month; there’s no other publication up to the same standard. However, I’ve been dismayed that my magazine arrives wrapped in plastic. Given the numerous mentions of climate change in recent is

The South American wine industry is riding a swelling tide; as momentum grows, the excitement is palpable. What started as a quiet, underground revolution driven by a select band of passionate winemakers is now capturing the attention of consumers an

The site must have looked propitious: the soil was rich and red; the vegetation lush, dense and green. Christopher Columbus founded the colony of La Isabela in what is now the Dominican Republic in 1493 as a base from which to search for precious met

If Undurraga is one of the most important wineries in Chile today, this is no accident. Instead it is the result of years of hard work since 2010 when the leadership team put long-term plans in place to reinvent Undurraga over time. The recognitions,

In the past decade, winemakers in Chile and Argentina have moved beyond what was seen as the final frontier for South American viticulture and into the cool climates and wild terrains of Patagonia. Growing confidence and expertise; a quest for lower

One day he’s tasting Malbec berries from Mendoza’s highest vineyard, the next he’s armed with a spade shovelling skins out of a stainless steel tank, naked from the waist up to cope with Mendoza’s intense summer heat. ‘I always lose weight during har

Flanked by Argentina on one side, Brazil on the other and with the Atlantic Ocean pushing in from the south, Uruguay – only 176,000 sq km in size and populated by around 3.5m people – is arguably South America’s under-discovered jewel; a patchwork of

Even oenology professors didn’t know what it was. In November 1994, a group of Chilean scientists accompanied French ampelographer (vine expert) Jean Michel Boursiquot through the vineyards of Carmen winery in Maipo Valley. When they stopped to inspe

Since the first vines were introduced to Brazil in 1532 the industry has experienced its share of turbulence, but the overall progress has been astonishing given the challenges it has faced over the years. Investment in technology, infrastructure, tr

In 1986, Cuvaison Estate in Napa employed a young Portuguese intern who declared: ‘My first wine is going to be a monster, but in 20 years I’ll be making fine wines.’ That intern was Dirk Niepoort, and the journey he predicted – evocative labels from

Have you ever had the feeling that a bottle of wine you know really well does not taste as you expected it to after it has travelled with you? Have you ever been disappointed with wines you have brought home after a trip? If your answer is ‘yes’, the

There was a time when the panorama of South American white wines was limited to one grape, the perfumed and robust Moscatel de Alejandría, the grape that the Spanish conquerors brought to that side of the world at the beginning of the 15th century. M

If there’s one thing that gets wine lovers hot under the collar, it’s great Pinot Noir. As for the Holy Grail – well, that’s great Pinot Noir at a bargain price. Chile has long been the source of everyday Pinot – one of the few countries to consisten

Exploring Uruguay and its wine regions feels like you’ve just been let in on one of South America’s best kept secrets. One of the smallest countries on the continent, Uruguay doesn’t have the same bombastic personality as some of its Latin American n

Although locals drink yerba mate – an infusion of the dried leaves of a native holly plant, often drunk from a hollowed gourd – you may need coffee. The Lab (www.thelab.com.uy) has a great spot in Punta Carretas where you can start the day, coffee in

Rio, with its dazzling good looks and electric spirit, steals the heart of most first-time visitors. There are few other cities in the world that are fringed by sweeping sandy beaches, backed by jungle-strewn mountains and bathed in hot sunshine for

Below are the most recent merchant case prices (equivalent 12 x 750ml bottles) for wines that are actively traded among a global network of merchants on Liv-ex, the fine wine market. Liv-ex records transactions between its merchant members in the UK