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Andrew Jefford
Tasting & Trends
Where are we headed? This is a question which all of us have probably asked ourselves at some point during 2020, as a global pandemic unfolds chaotically across a planet experiencing runaway climate change. Both challenges have directly affected French wine growers, with trade tariffs imposed by...
Jane Anson
Tasting & Trends
Author of Inside Bordeaux, a book that has been described as the 'bible' by Le Figaro newspaper and a 'category buster' by Jamie Goode, Jane Anson has lived in Bordeaux since 2003. Here she takes a look at the wine trends that are shaping the region, its economy, its climate, the industry and its...
Pierre Freyermuth
Latest News
Over the course of 15 years, Wine Scholar Guild has enabled committed students of wine to expand beyond general wine knowledge curricula and specialize in the three leading wine producing countries in the world: France, Italy, and Spain. Acclaimed for the academic rigor of its programs,...
Lisa Airey
Wine Education & Careers
Every wine appellation in France has a cahier des charges, a set of regulations that delineates the production zone and specifies viticultural practices and production standards. In many instances, a single cahier des charges references one zone of production and multiple wine styles within it...
Pierre Freyermuth
Latest News
We are delighted to announce that our Blog was ranked #12 on the list of the Top 101 Wine Writers Of 2020 Award by Corking Wines!
Pierre Freyermuth
Tasting & Trends
As part of a partnership between Wine Scholar Guild and Decanter, we are pleased to share with our readers this article pulled from Decanter Premium. Try Decanter Premium for 4 weeks for just $1! More information HERE Robert Parker says a 100-point wine should be ‘as exceptional as a particular...
Kevin Day
Regional Spotlight
Whether it is in the bilingual wine labels of Alto Adige, or the occasional Slavic grape name in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italian wine often reveals the duality of culture present in some of the country’s border regions. Tucked into Italy’s northwestern corner, Valle d’Aosta certainly demonstrates...
Julien Camus
Latest News
This month, the Wine Scholar Guild celebrates its 15th anniversary! Such a milestone gives pause for thought. I’d like to share with you—our students, members and supporters—some key moments, joys and stressors we’ve had on this extraordinary journey.
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: Separately, some natural wines have failed to qualify for their appellation status because they were deemed atypical of their region’s wines. Simon, what’s your opinion on the subject of typicity? Have regulators developed a taste for non-natural practices and allowed that to colour their...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: Do you see the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the global wine market as changing the trajectory of natural wine in any way? AJ: Yes and no. Social distancing will be difficult for this movement, since it is very event-focused and venue-focused, a youthful community movement predicated...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: One of the most rancorous subjects in the debate is how much sulphur should be allowed. Simon: where do you stand on this issue? Is there a certain threshold where, consistently, sulphur interferes with the expression of a wine in your opinion? Or is that threshold more universal than personal...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: There also seem to be two currents flowing whenever natural wine is discussed. One is the fundamentals of making natural wine — organic and/or biodynamic viticulture, ambient yeast, minimal intervention in the winery. And then the other, for lack of a better word, is political. People are...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: Let’s shift gears and talk about flaws. Detractors of natural wine consistently point to flaws in the wine as their main point of criticism. Andrew: have people’s notions of what constitutes a flaw changed because of natural wine? Or have people lost sight of what a flaw is? AJ: I like this...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: How do you see natural wine and the question of terroir, Simon? SW: There are good and bad examples in any wine style or niche. Natural wine is no different. There are terrible Riojas made with oak chips and fruit that was half rotted, then there are divine examples that are amongst the...
Pierre Freyermuth
Natural Wine feat. Andrew Jefford and Simon Woolf
KD: Can all regions and grape varieties be successful at making good natural wines? SW: I see no reason why not. When growers complain that they can’t convert to organic or biodynamic farming because their region is too cold or too wet, I just refer them to people like Aphros in Vinho Verde...
Kevin Day
Wine Education & Careers
Wine is full of spirited debates, but few can argue that any subject matter generates more intensity these days than natural wine. Should sulphur be allowed or not? Do natural wines reveal terroir better than conventional wines? Has natural wine changed our notion of flaws? Perhaps most...
Rick Fisher
Wine Education & Careers
Cosecha. Joven. Viejo. And the list goes on. Many wine-producing countries use local-language wine-related terminology without realizing their consumers are unaware of their meaning. Even native language speakers are sometimes confused by these terms as they are technical and/or relate to wine...
Kevin Day
Tasting & Trends
Italy’s wealth of grape varieties presents wine connoisseurs with many tantalizing prospects, particularly on the red wine spectrum. While Sangiovese and Nebbiolo still reign supreme, numerous grape varieties have re-emerged from hiding in recent years to spellbind wine lovers around the world. In...
Andrew Jefford
Tasting & Trends
As a wine region, Burgundy embodies both the past and the future. On the one hand, Grands Crus that have been celebrated for centuries remain in the hands of multi-generational family domaines. On the other hand, outside investment, adjustments to the appellation system, and the realities of...
Pierre Freyermuth
Wine Culture
Award-winning author and Decanter Magazine columnist Jane Anson draws us deeper into the Bordeaux conversation and reveals what she discovered while working on her massive new book project, Inside Bordeaux, and what to expect when the book is launched in Spring 2020.