LIVE, DISPATCHES FROM THE VINEYARDS AND WINE REGIONS: Follow our wine travels in real time with short text updates and plenty of photos in dispatches sent straight from the road, live or almost live from the vineyards and wine regions, direct field reports. Explore wine regions and meet winemakers around the world from your couch and get inspired for your next wine tour.
A fabulous and very instructive tasting at Domaine de Cebene in the beautiful region of Faugères, famous for its amazing schist soil. With owners and wine makers Brigitte Chevalier and Pierre Roque. Among the wines
Lunch at Chateau Beychevelle, Saint Julien, Bordeaux. I certainly would not mind to come back. What an extraordinary place, what extraordinary wines, such a memorable meal.
A great morning visit at Château Cantenac Brown in Margaux, Bordeaux. A very impressive cellar, some poor guy emptying a tank, cathedral barrel cellar, and, of course, a tasting, a vertical of four vintages.
And then we went to E2M and met winemaker not like others, Nea at Chateau Carsin, Entre-deux-Mers, Bordeaux. Exciting things happening here, exciting wines, looking towards the future.
Good luck with the weather. We had lunch in Sauternes by the vineyards overlooking the vines of Chateau Guiraud. Well-deserved Michelin star. Blue lobster, Chateau Guiraud sauternes 2003….
A rather very, very nice lunch at Chateau Haut-Bailly, Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux, so delicately composed and so delicious wines. A privilege to have Véronique Sanders greet us.
At Paradise Rescued in Cardan, Bordeaux, we had a really deep dive in all that has to do with soil, plants and environment. And tasted a true garage wine. Some really original products.
One of the oldest chateaux in Bordeaux, with roots back to Medieval times. An afternoon at Chateau Olivier, Pessac Leognan, Graves, Bordeaux. Making both white and red.
Chateau Haut-Bailly, Graves (Pessac Leognan), Bordeaux, has an amazing wine cellar, both beautiful and very easy and efficient to work with.
At Chateau de France, we came when it was 2 days left of the harvest. Lots of activit and a very personal story by the owner. Graves (Pessac Leognan), Bordeaux
Château Phélan Ségur i Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, in its beautiful location. A look at the gravelly soil. Harvest just started! Some small sun damage to the grapes, this extraordinary summer. Impressive wines with a little surprise.
A long and lovely lunch at Chateau Phelan Segur, Saint Estephe, Bordeaux. Enjoying some delicious food and excellent wines in the chateau.
A few châteaux along the Route des Grands Crus in Médoc. Do you recognise them? They are all very famous. Two close to each other. The third à bit further away.
What a lovely morning at Château Lascombes, Margaux, Bordeaux. A great visit, at the very last days of the harvest. Great tasting of four vintages, a vertical back to 2000!
Champagne Vaucelle in the Cote des Bar has just finished harvesting its grapes. A record early harvest with high sugar levels. Promising.
Clotilde Legrand took over the family estate in Saumur-Champigny some years ago. Her cabernet franc wines are magnificent. She releases them late, now she is selling vintages 2016 and 2018 (except for the lovely easydrinking
Chateau du Petit Thouars in Chinon is a beautiful 15th century castle. Wine has been made here for more or less 400 years. Sebastian du Petit Thouars is the 12th generation! White and red Chinon
Chateau Gaudrelle in Vouvray shows the different sides of the chenin blanc grape with its superb wines. Unorthodox labels! As always in Vouvray, a cool, pleasant (especially when visiting during a heat wave!) limestone cellar.
Already the end of flowering at Domaine du Mortier in Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil. Tasted some lovely wines with owner Fabien Boisard. Cabernet franc of course but also pet nat and some unusual wines made
Beautiful views over the vineyards in Roussillon. Most of it is probably grenache. After the first morning session of Grenaches du Monde
They do some odd things in New Zealand. For example, gigantic dogs and sheep in corrugated iron. And moses (?). I missed the stork in high heels. This is in Tirau, south of Auckland, New
Waiheke Island in Auckland Bay, New Zealand, is not a big wine region but it has several interesting wine producers. The biggest is Man O’War but we prefer to go to a smaller one. Podere
Admiring some of the most expensive farmland in the world. Looking out over the vines in the vineyard Le Montrachet in Puligny-Montrachet in Burgundy. They produce some of the world’s most highly appreciated chardonnay wines.
One of our favourite stops in Piedmont is at Bera. They are in Barbaresco but also make a number of other wines. For example, a vineyard barolo. We had a fabulous tasting of almost all
Sometimes it is not the most famous that impress. Not that Domaine Michel Magnien and Frederic Magnien, Morey St Denis, Bourgogne is a unkwown name. But it is slightly unusual. Eschewing barrel aging, in favour
