Oeno-File, the Wine & Gastronomy Column

by Frank Ward

Posts Tagged ‘Alexis Lichine’

Beaujolais – France’s Most Underrated Wine Region?

Posted by Frank Ward on May 22, 2017

May 2017. At its best, Beaujolais gives us some of the most deliciously drinkable wines in all France. Most come from the region’s northern end, where all of the 10 Crus – the region’s finest growths – are to be found. Aptly, many of the names of these wines are most euphonious: Chiroubles, Fleurie, Saint Amour, Brouilly, Juliénas… Also aptly: the two toughest, most long-lived of them have more earth-bound names: Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent. Northern Beaujolais has an asset of incalculable value: a vast sea of very old vines growing on ideal terroir of decomposing granite.[….]

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A Fresh Look at Some Top Bordeaux Estates III – Pontet Canet and Pichon Baron

Posted by Frank Ward on January 26, 2015

AvatarJanuary 2015. I first visited Château Pontet Canet, the Pauillac Fifth Growth, in the early 1980s (for more details, see below). It was then undergoing yet another of the many upheavals it had been through since it was first “pieced together” (in David Peppercorn’s words) by Jean-Francois Pontet in the second quarter of the 18th century. He was eventually succeeded by Pierre-Bernard de Pontet, under whose stewardship the Château’s reputation grew markedly. After his death in 1836 it dipped again, which is the reason why, less than two decades later, this fine estate was accorded only Fifth Growth status in the 1855 classification. [….]

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Defining Vinosity

Posted by Frank Ward on September 8, 2014

Andrew Jefford in Jefford on Monday, Behind the vinous eyes. With a contribution from Frank Ward.

 

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