Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Decanter

It’s coincidental, but as we enter Decanter’s 50th year of existence, we also unveil a new look to the magazine. We’ve been looking through the past issues, stretching back to 1975, and it’s fascinating to see how it has evolved over that time. Design-wise, for sure, the mag is unrecognisable from the earliest issues published in the mid-1970s (thank goodness!). And yet there’s a common thread that remains unchanged, and that is the importance we attach to giving you the most authoritative and useful information we can – written by the world’s most respected wine writers – and delivering this information in the most engaging way possible. The pages that follow may look and feel unfamiliar at first, but the core pillars of our content remain the same: vintage reports,…

For the wine market, 2024 oozed gloom. Headlines and statistics alike left it bruised. Wine seems under siege. Many leading wine-consuming nations are drinking less: UK wine consumption was down 2.9% in 2023 compared to 2022; the USA was down 3% and Canada down 5.6%. Chinese wine consumption plummeted by 24.7%. France is about to pay wine-growers €4,000 per hectare to uproot some 30,000ha of vineyards, with a further 70,000ha targeted. Australia had two years’ worth of wine in storage in mid-2023, looking for a buyer; while New Zealand, for long a star performer, saw its wine sales drop 24% in volume and 22% in value from July 2023 to January 2024. In July 2024, Pernod Ricard sold off its wineries (including Jacob’s Creek and Campo Viejo) to AWL, the…

Few winemakers have the opportunity to be pioneers in new regions and fewer still in regions of extreme terroirs, where textbook viticulture doesn’t apply. Perhaps none see such groundbreaking efforts yield world-class wines in less than a decade. However, all of this is true of Juan Pablo Murgia, who, as head winemaker of the Avinea group, led the inception of its limit-defying Otronia project in Argentine Patagonia (see p59). But Murgia’s trajectory has been defined foremost by consistency and commitment rather than the exceptional opportunities he’s had – and that he has embraced with a calm, assertive focus. Son of Mendoza Born in Luján de Cuyo, in the heart of Mendoza, Murgia grew up among Malbec vines. The grandson and son of grape growers, he went on to study oenology…

I’m sitting in Rovi in London, one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurants, with a selection of small plates. The ingredients read almost like a gastronomic dictionary, a multi-textured, multicoloured assault on the senses. There’s vivid coal-roasted beetroot with dried shiso leaf of an almost iridescent pink, many-hued pickles, celeriac shawarma with bkeila and fermented tomato… Ottolenghi has probably done more than any other individual to change the way we think of vegetarian and vegan food – who doesn’t have one of his books on their bookshelf? But his innovative dishes, with their spices, pickles and ferments, may be harder to match with wine than the hearty, bean-rich vegetarian fare of the 1970s. Although she has customers who favour classic wines such as Chardonnay, Rovi’s manager Jelena Prosevic leans towards aromatic whites,…

In some ways, non-vintage rosé is the most creative, and perhaps also the most misunderstood, of Champagne styles. Our tasting was a riot of shades and flavours, seeing steely, dry and invigorating wines sitting next to explosive, dark, Pinot-dominant saignée styles (produced by allowing the colour to ‘bleed’ from the skins of red grapes), and everything in between. ‘This can be a confusing category for consumers to navigate,’ noted panellist Victoria Mason MW. Not only did the judges show a general preference for rosés that included a good dash of Chardonnay in the blend, but the top three wines all came from dedicated Chardonnay specialists. What’s the story? With the majority of the rosés here likely based on the hot 2019 and 2020 vintages, Chardonnay’s freshening power and bright acidity…

Celeb watch GORDON RAMSAY Who and what? Famous TV chef Gordon Ramsay launched an Italian red a few years ago, made by star Italian winemaker Alberto Antonini. Their Intenso Rosso blend of Tuscan Sangiovese with Merlot and Montepulciano from Abruzzo has now been joined on supermarket shelves by a white: Pinot Grigio DOC Delle Venezie. Why Italy? ‘[My wife] Tana and I have spent some incredibly happy times there,’ says Gordon, ‘with many of those moments made even better by a beautiful glass of local wine! So, when it came to creating my own wine range, it had to be from Italy.’ Is it any good? It was awarded Gold at the Drinks Business Global Pinot Grigio Masters 2024. We tasted it alongside the red and preferred it – it…

HENNA BAKSHI Who? Henna is a food and wine journalist and broadcaster, and the regional editor of Eater. She recently won two 67 Pall Mall Awards for Best Global Wine Communicator in Long-Form Writing and Short-Form Video What? Henna predicts what we’ll be drinking, around the world, in 2025 Why? Wine must evolve to keep up with its consumers. Henna’s predictions come from a global perspective. Born and raised in India, she has lived in the US for 17 years, and travelled the world in between, so she has a unique finger on the pulse of diverse palates and places CHARLES CURTIS MW Who? Charles is a US-based fine wine advisor and writer, and author of The Original Grand Crus of Burgundy (2014). Formerly head of wine at Christie’s US…

As I move my belongings out of boxes and into the cabinets of my recently remodelled kitchen, I’m discovering that I have, over the years, been bamboozled into buying wine glasses in eight different shapes. This is absurd. A reasonable person should only own one style of wine glass. I don’t need a towering Pinot Noir, a cavernous Cabernet Sauvignon, a bulbous Chardonnay and an abstemious Riesling glass. And yet, here they all are, vying for shelf space. And now, there are new ‘must-have’ shapes on the market. One is modelled after a jet engine (by Melbourne-based Denver & Liely, released last November, £106). Another, the Cocoon (Stölzle Lausitz, £65-£70), has curves like the Venus of Willendorf. Given its vaguely natal name, I wonder if it was designed to appeal…

1 Hedonistas de la Fe Espadín Mezcal £53.94-£59/70cl Amazon, Berry Bros & Rudd, Hedonism, Master of Malt, Soho Wine Supply, The Whisky Exchange Made in Mexico, mezcal can be produced from a range of agaves. This is made in Oaxaca from Espadín agave in small batches using traditional methods, including a stone tahona wheel and open-top wooden fermenters. There’s a good balance of smokiness, fruit and earthiness, with flavours of citrus, ripe peach, sweet orange and creamy vanilla, plenty of white pepper and red chilli spiciness on the finish, plus a lick of salinity. Delicious in a Margarita. Alcohol 46% 2 Lochlea Overtone Stout Cask Finish Whisky £60/70cl Harris & Co, Robert Graham, Still Spirit, The Good Spirits Co, The Spirit Specialist Lowland barley farm Lochlea is one of the very…

"Some people can be snobby about wine. But not me. Reds, whites, rosés – I love ‘em all. What about orange wine? I’m sorry, but I don’t think fruit belongs in my Riedel. As Tony Blair might say, I’m a ‘grapes or nothing’ kinda guy. I’ll hold off on that case of sangria I was going to get you for your birthday, then. But actually, orange wine is made from white grapes. It gets its name from its deep-yellow/amber colour. It has been pretty trendy for the last 10 years. Ah, I see – it’s one of these modern fads like Prosecco or air fryers. If by ‘modern’ you mean ‘first invented about the time the Bronze Age was kicking off’ then yes, I guess it is a bit of…

Packaging and transport are the wine industry’s biggest sources of CO2 emissions, and both understanding and reducing them is a huge challenge to businesses. Yet in the hyper-traditional wine biz, innovation is often met with suspicion and disdain. There may be answers, however, in young companies such as EthicDrinks. A Bordeaux-based, new-wave négociant that sources organic wines from across France and further afield, it supplies retailers using a transparent, ethical, sustainable, plastic-free, decarbonised supply chain. Too good to be true? It recently launched a wine with UK retailer Laithwaites packaged in the lightest glass bottle on the market, at just 300g. I spoke to vehemently anti-plastic co-founder Mickaël Alborghetti, who’s on a mission to drastically cut CO2 emissions from the wine supply chain. ‘By trade I’m an engineer in agronomics…

Burgundy’s large 2023 vintage on sale Many Burgundy 2023 wines will be released en primeur this month, and merchants have said they expect prices to remain broadly level with last year’s campaign for the 2022 vintage. The 2023 vintage represents the region’s second relatively plentiful crop in a row, potentially offering opportunities for buyers at all levels. Tastings in the region have generated a lot of positivity. Decanter’s Burgundy correspondent Charles Curtis MW said in his 2023 vintage report that both red and white wines are very good, even if quality isn’t quite as universally high as for the class of 2022. The new vintage release will be launching into a fairly subdued fine wine market, hampered by macroeconomic conditions. A small 2024 harvest could also affect wineries’ thinking. Several…

I had just spat out the wine, but my attention was much more focused than during the first few seconds of the tasting. Following my visual, aromatic and taste analysis of the wine, I had two things in mind: the quality of my saliva and the sensations left on my palate. It is a few years since analysis of my saliva became an integral part of my tasting protocol, after I discovered the work of Jacky Rigaux and Jean-Michel Deiss on geosensory tasting. It started with Rigaux’s book Geosensorial Tasting: The art and manner of tasting wines of origin (Terre en Vues, 2015). Frustrated by the limits of analytical tasting, Rigaux wanted to highlight another form of tasting: that of 19th-century gourmets, winemakers and merchants. Using a tastevin – a…

It’s the iconic greeting you get when you walk into The Varsity, a hotdog and milkshake joint in Atlanta: ‘What’ll ya have?’ It’s a mix of southern US charm and the casualness of a friend: it lets you drop your shoulders and relax – no pressure or judgement. And this is the question, with all its warmth, that I pose to you. A fortune teller I am not, but the answer, I predict, will revolve around creativity and social impact. Whether it’s choosing wines from war-torn regions, bringing ancient, forgotten grapes into the fold or championing organic and biodynamic practices, drinkers will prioritise uniqueness over tradition. Pét-nats, natural wines and orange wines have experienced a huge boom in the last few years and we’ll continue to ride the aftershocks. Non-alcoholic…

When sommelier Jaime Smith drinks a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, he sees blocky, heavy red and blue pentagons approaching him – clumsily bumping together. Alcohol drips from above, pushing the muscular shapes out of the metaphorical ‘box’ in his mind. Smith, the first director of wine at the famous MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas and twice named best sommelier in America by Food & Wine magazine, has synaesthesia, a neurological condition that means that, when one of your senses is stimulated, you also experience another. There are many different types of synaesthesia – from seeing colours when you hear music to associating numbers with different colours and even tasting flavours when reading certain words. Scientists estimate that it affects between 2% and 4% of the population. Gustatory-visual synaesthesia, where people experience colours,…

I spend a lot of time tasting wine – and, if you’re reading this, chances are you do, too. But how often do we pause to think about how we taste – and what we’re really tasting? Not often enough, undoubtedly. A new book from Académie du Vin Library, Gus Zhu MW’s Behind the Glass: The Chemical &Sensorial Terroir of Wine Tasting, has forced me to think in just such a way. There are plenty of books giving tips on how to master the art of tasting, but few delve into the complex chemistry behind it. Zhu’s compact book is a practical guide to the science of tasting wine – guiding you through the elements that affect a wine’s colour, taste and smell, and our perception of these characteristics. It’s…

Winner of the 2024 IWSC/UKSA UK Sommelier of the Year award, Reinstaller was born in 1993 in Austria. After studying tourism at high school, he moved to Munich in 2013 to work at Michelin two-star Tantris. Three years later, he joined Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London (also two Michelin stars), where he worked with Stefan Neumann MS and Vincenzo Arnese for nearly five years. During this time, he was promoted to assistant head sommelier, and achieved the SSA Master Sake Sommelier title. In 2021, he moved to Trivet (two stars) as head sommelier, passing the Master Sommelier Advanced exam the same year. In 2023, he joined the opening team of Raffles London at the OWO as the head sommelier for Mauro Colagreco. Q My first memorable wine experience A…

With the original plantings taking place in 1838, Grenache was one of the first varieties to take root in Australia. Indeed, the country boasts the world’s oldest productive Grenache vines, planted in 1848, and its wealth of old-vine material has helped fuel the rise of single-varietal Grenache wines of increasingly notable quality. ‘There’s now a spectrum of Grenache that’s different to what people would have expected, even five or so years ago,’ said lead judge Beth Pearce MW. ‘There are the old-school, rich, opulent styles and the new-wave Pinot-like styles,’ explained Ben Chan. ‘The best wines have that sort of concentration that comes from old vines – all that Pinot-like perfume, but with a bit more muscle,’ Pearce added. Identifying which style is in your bottle isn’t easy. ‘It’s very…

Segura Viudas, Cava Vintage Brut, Penedès, Spain 2021 £12 Morrisons, Tesco Juicy white fruit and green citrus zest aromas with hints of brioche and sweet peach. Green fruits on the palate and touches of apple peel bitterness, with a good weight in the mouth thanks to nine months of ageing on lees and 9g/L of residual sugar. SW Alcohol 12% Asda, Lugana, Veneto, Italy 2022 £11 Asda This unassuming yet tasty white is the recipient of a 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards Silver medal. From Turbiana vines close to lake Garda, it’s a soft, rounded white with a slightly creamy character overlaid with yellow fruits, white pepper and herbs. JB Alc 13% Generation Series, Sicilian White by Planeta, Menfi, Sicily, Italy 2023 £12.95 The Wine Society A blend of Grecanico,…

Weingut Wess, Alte Reben Riesling, Kremstal, Austria 2023 £59/magnum The Wine Society Expressive, intense Riesling produced by young, talented winemaker Christina Juen-Wess. This is her first vintage at the helm of her family estate and, fittingly, this wine reflects a youthful energy as well as the complexity delivered by the 60-year-old vines it hails from. IS Alc 12% Torres, Mas La Plana, Penedès, Spain 2018 £51.99-£57.99 Cockburns of Leith, Majestic, Waitrose Cellar Probably Spain’s most famous Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s full-bodied, fragrant and concentrated, aged in French oak for 18 months. It’s still young, but open it now and you’ll find intense cassis, forest fruit, spice and cocoa, with toasty undertones. Mix-six price at Majestic: £43.49 AW Alc 14.5% Zorah, Karasi Areni, Vayots Dzor, Armenia 2021 £34-£36.50 Cambridge Wine Merchants, Hay…

As we step into another new year, many wine enthusiasts embrace a more mindful approach to drinking, whether through Dry January or simply seeking some balance. Moderate-alcohol wines offer a perfect solution, combining elegance and flavour without compromising on quality. These wines prove that moderation and enjoyment can go hand in hand, appealing to both seasoned connoisseurs and casual drinkers alike. Low- to moderate-alcohol wines have been gaining momentum worldwide, celebrated for their versatility, food-friendliness and ability to reflect terroir and grape character with precision. They’re a great choice for daytime sipping or lighter pairings, or for anyone looking to savour wine in a more ‘restrained’ way. Far from being one-dimensional, these wines offer depth, complexity and remarkable craftsmanship. The Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) consistently highlight the very best…

TIGNANELLO UNDER THE HAMMER Bidders have competed for a piece of Tuscan vinous history at a Christie’s auction of Tignanello wines sourced directly from the winery, and featuring the debut 1971 vintage. Two single-bottle lots of Tignanello 1971 fetched £813 and £750, including buyer’s premium, versus a pre-sale high estimate of £500 per lot. Christie’s held the London auction to mark 50 years since Italy’s Antinori winemaking family first released Tignanello, a Sangiovese-dominant blend that includes classic ‘Bordeaux’ grape varieties, but sitting outside the Chianti Classico denomination. The wine is today considered a pioneer of the SuperTuscan movement. ‘The saleroom was buzzing with many bidders,’ said Tim Triptree MW, the international director for Christie’s wines & spirits department. All lots sold, he said. A nine-magnum lot spanning every vintage produced…