WorldWine English pages

Bulk trade - Dramatic increase

The future of the world wine trade lies in bulk shipments, if you believe a recent study of Netherland's Rabobank. Analysts of the Dutch bank who are considered to be among the most experienced wine market specialists worldwide, assesss that the share of bulk wine in total shipments has grown dramatically during the past two decades ...

read more



South Africa follows Aussies

South Africas wine exports, under pressure for a certain time already, could face dramatical structural changes in the coming years, if you believe the statistics and previsions of the wine industry body SAWIS (South African Wine Industry Information & Systems) which were recently published ...

read more



A legend says Ciao!

Italy mourns Giuseppe Quintarelli, the doyen and Grand Master of the Valpolicella area near Verona (Veneto), who died today at the age of 85. "Bepi", as Quintarelli was called by his friends, was a legendary producer of Amarone and Valpolicella wines ...

read more



Chinese stars

China is on everyone's lips. Not only as a saviour for all wine-exporting nations but also as a wine producer. Having noted the excellent results of Chinese wines in international competitions, in the recent past, we have asked one of the most renowned Chinese cellars to send us some samples. Our verdict, after the tasting: Yes and no!

read more



Bordeaux superstar

I must admit that, in more than 30 years as a wine writer, I have never experienced a tasting at such a consistently high level - with wines from one single wine growing region and from two vintages only. Subject of our tastings were the two Bordeaux vintages of 2009 and 2010 - in a proportion of about two thirds to one third -, two vintages which, already during the relative en primeur tastings had been acclaimed as vintages of the century ...

read more



Dreamwines of 2011

This year was a real top year for us - at least as far as the wines are concerned which we were able to taste between January and December. If in "normal" years we are already happy to find five or ten dream wines, 2011 we were able to award this distinction an astonishing 27 times. And another 15 wines were so close to that magical line that separates the perfect wines from the the universe of the dreams that we recognized them the potential to pass it with a little more ageing ...

read more



South Africa "alla grande"

More than three years have passed since we last published a comprehensive overview of South Africa's top wines, but the waiting has been worth it. On three different occasions, in Berlin, London and in our Hamburg office, we were able to convince ourselves of the extremely high standard of performance of the Cape viticulture. Already our tasting in 2008 had resulted in a very good overall level of the wines tasted, but this time we were even more impressed by the roughly 300 wines tasted: four "dream wines", more than we sometimes find in a complete year of tastings, and a total of 80 five star wines ...

read more



Germany's Pinots '11

Germany's Pinot noir, mostly called Spätburgunder, is on the advance, a fact which has recently been confirmed by two renowned wine writers, Britain's Tim Atkin and Ed McCarthy of winereviewonline.com. We have tasted, during the last four months, close to 400 wines from all over Germany for you and were deeply impressed by the results ...

read more



Burgundy - lights and shadows

No, it wasn't a difficult vintage, at least if you just look at the meteorological parameters. 2009 - in sharp contrast to the following 2010 - offered ideal ripening conditions for grapes in vast parts of Europe, from Bordeaux to Austria, passing via Burgundy and Germany. All the more were we surprised during the tastings organized for us by the BIVB ...

read more



China: Is the bubble bursting?

Critical observers of the wine market, in particular of the market of highly priced Bordeaux growths, had been warning for a while already. Now, the bubble of that overheated special market with its mad prices - for some of the top growths far more than 1,000 Euros per bottle were asked during this year's primeur campaign - could burst even earlier than the most sceptical insiders had guessed ...

read more



Georgia - Beyond the amphorae

Four years had passed since I first visited Georgia, the ancient Caucasus nation. Therefore, I gratefully accepted the invitation to a Symposium on the history of Georgian viticulture and on the traditional winemaking in amphorae, kvevris as the Georgians call them more precisely. Like my first visit, this one, enabled by Tina Kezeli and her Georgian Wine Association, was extremely interesting and thrilling. Yet ,the quality level of the wines, which I was able to taste during the trip last September, had dramatically improved ...

read more



50 years old but not tired

Only red wines can age, whites must be drunken in the first or second year after the vintage? Luckily, this prejudice ist to be heard less and less often. Nevertheless even wine geeks and pros often look at me in utter astonishment when I tell them that I am right now finishing my (dry) whites of the 1980ies - at the same time as the reds from that decade. Yet, what I was able to experience with some old wines of Austrian Geyerhof, astonished even me ...

read more



Franciacorta: Moretti's best

No! The surname "little Champagne" certainly does not fit the Italian Franciacorta region. Mainly because its products are far too distinctive - just think of the Satén. Bellavista's Premium sparkler Vittorio Moretti is no Satén but an Extra Brut with less than 3 g / l residual sugar. Yet it is a stand-alone product anyway, and to prove it, Moretti an his enologist Mattia Vezzola had organized a vertical tasting in Hamburg ...

read more



Sardinia's Gallura

No, we had not been invited to one of the legendary Bunga Bunga Parties of Italys Prime Minister Berlusconi, neither did the other passengers on our flight look as if they were regulars at George Clooney's or Roman Abramovich's homes or yachts. But our destination in fact was the Costa Smeralda, Italy's attractive tourist destination - some cynics say millionaires reserve - on the north eastern pinpoint of Sardinia, where "Berlusco" likes to spend his off-time. To be more precise: its hinterlands ...

read more



Piedmont 2011

It was a real feast for the senses, this tasting which I shouldn't even have experienced, if the organizers of the annual Piedmont tasting event had had their way. A tasting which I had even instigated some 20 years ago, but for which was not been invited this time. I therefore had to make all the sampes be sent to Hamburg but it was worth the effort, in particular as far as the 2007 vintage of Barolo was concerned, a vintage which I have seldom seen in this perfection and regularity ...

read more



English pages: Archives