Winery of the Week

Distillery of the Week • Carlos I

Carlos I brandy was launched in 1958 to mark the 400th Anniversary of the death of Spanish monarch Carlos I (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558). The image of the emperor – by Italian Renaissance painter Titian – to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Muhlberg of 1547 …

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Chateau d’Yquem • The Super First Growth

When Sandrine Garbay joined Chateau d’Yquem straight from the University of Bordeaux in 1994, she was never, ever going to use the specialised subject of her doctorate thesis: malolactic fermentation. The world’s most famous sweet wine would never consider converting malic into lactic acid because it thirsts for freshness. Yquem …

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Champagne Boizel • A Family Concern

Located on the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, visitors to Boizel can tour their cellars, new winery, Trésor (containing vintages going back to 1834, 1870 and 1893), and enjoy a tasting at the Visitors’ Centre. Champagne Boizel was founded in 1834 by Auguste Boizel and Julie Martin who married in …

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Pagoda • Shaoxing’s Finest Rice Wine

Huangjiu – made from millet, rice and wheat – has been fermented and enjoyed in China for about 4,000 years. It predates today’s more popular baijiu by around 3,000 years because China only really started distilling alcohol during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 – 1279). So, when you see 3,000-year …

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Bodegas Osborne • Rare, Stunning Sherry 

Bodegas Osborne is located in El Puerto de Santa María. The company is the second oldest company in Spain still in family hands after 248 years. In 1772, Englishman Thomas Osborne Mann founded his first winery in Cadiz in the deep south of the country. Osborne was from Devon and …

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Freemark Abbey

In the 1976 “Judgement of Paris”, Freemark Abbey was the only one of 12 Californian wineries to have both its Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay included in the taste-off. Ted Edwards became winemaker in 1985 and is committed to producing “classically elegant” wines. Edwards is also the longest tenured winemaker in Napa …

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Mas De Daumas Gassac – A Wine Odyssey

Veronique Guibert de la Vaissiere (right) is an ethnologist and specialist in the myths and traditions of Celtic Ireland. Aime Guibert, orignally from Aveyron, came from an old Millavoise family of glove and leather craftsmen. It is believed that the vineyards of the Gassac valley go back to at least …

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Codorniu • Spainish Sparkler

In 1976 the Codorniu cellar was accorded the status of an “Artistic Historical Monument”. Each year, around 120,000 people visit. It is wonderfully reassuring that the oldest family business in Spain is dedicated to producing bubbles. Stream after endless stream of gravity-defying, upwardly mobile circles of wine. Each and every …

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Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron

Christian Seely, Managing Director of French-owned AXA Millesimes Christian Seely possesses a telling quality of the English public school. He is a very skilful raconteur. The fact the word is derived from the French “raconter” – meaning to recount or relate – is very apt since the Englishman is Managing Director …

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Winery of the Week • Chateau Chanson

LENG Xinghui, proprietor of Chateau Chanson, was trained in forensic medicine. ‘In forensic medicine, what are the crucial things we do and look for. Performing autopsies. Detecting for poison. Looking for physical evidence such as bloodstains, hair, and DNA. And then performing tests on these evidence.  At the time when …

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