South America 2014 vintage report
Written for Wine-Searcher Ā© Amanda Barnes | Rainclouds were common over Mendoza during the 2014 vintage The grapes of the 2014 vintage in the Southern Hemisphere are safely in wineries and, while the weather has not been kind to many regions, overall the quality looks good. Argentina For a land that is normally blessed with […]
The silver lining to Chile’s 2014 harvest
Written for Wines of Chile While the year certainly started on a hard note for Chile with an unexpected and ferocious frost across many of the wine regions, nine months later the wine that has made its way into the wineries is looking promising for a high quality vintage. The difficult start to the vintage […]
Lunching in Mendoza’s wine country: Ruca Malen
Ever since moving to the sunny and pleasant land of Mendoza, my favorite pastime has been eating in wineries. Yes, the mountains are awe-inspiring, the sunny days permeate your skin to warm your soul and the people all flatter you till your knees melt; but for me, itās all about lunchā¦ Ruca Malen has been […]
Keeping Cool in Casablanca
When imagining ācool climateā wines, what springs to my mind first is the image of soggy, wet vines and miserable days of drizzle that leave your head firmly in the clouds ā and not in a good way. Spending the first 25 years of my life in England probably didnāt help that image. But in […]
The plunging peso is like a Latin lothario
Written for The Telegraph, 29 Jan 2014 Argentinaās economy is not easy to write about. Iāve had to rewrite this article 15 times. Not just because of my shoddy writing, but because of the shoddy state of the economy. When I started putting pen to paper at the end of December, the exchange rate was […]
Argentina’s 10 Most Expensive Wines
Written for Wine-Seacher, 8 Jan 2014 You wonāt see Argentina headlining wine auctions yet, but the worldās fifth-largest producer is beginning to make collectible wines. At this stage, buyers are more likely to have romantic reasons for embracing Argentina, though producers hope that wine investors may soon follow them into the market. āMost of our […]
Getting to grips with Argen-time
Written for The Telegraph, 17 December The first wedding invite is a cardinal moment for every expat. My excitement at opening the envelope was palpable. “You are cordially invited to the happy coupleās wedding party at 01.00 hours.” No, that must be a misprint. Surely that’s a typo for 18.00 hours? Or maybe 21.00? But […]
Drinking Stars: Who invented champagne?
As the story goes, an old French monk, Dom Perignon, discovered Champagne completely by accident one day in 1697 ā one of those beautiful mishaps that would change the world forever. After bottling his wine, he laid it down to rest for the winter and when he cracked it open the following year, he poured […]
A rising star in Elqui
āThey thought we were loco,ā says Giorgio Flessati, winemaker at Vina Mayu. A common story for pioneers and winemakers who push the boundaries. And fifteen years ago anyone would have thought Giorgio and his cousin Aldo Olivier and co-partner at Vina Falernia were crazy for planting vines in Elqui. A land of extremes, Elqui Valley […]
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to meā¦ Luigi Bosca Icono!
Greedy as I am, Iām going to open a nice bottle of wine each day that leads up to Christmas. Today a bottle of Luigi Bosca Icono arrived on my doorstep ā holidays are coming! A fourth generation family in Argentina, the Arizu clan have been pumping out wine in Mendoza since the Italian immigrant […]
