Discover a selection of the best wines of the world as recommended by leading wine experts in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2015
The joy of terroir • La Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa
John Stimpfig • ‘Whenever I serve a good dessert wine, it often steals the show’
EU planting rights amnesty sparks concerns
Bordeaux 1855 halts UNESCO bid
Around the wine world
In brief
Letters • Enraged or inspired by what you’ve read? Email editor@decanter.com, or write to: The Editor, Decanter, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU, UK
Letter of the month • Age of enlightenment
Andrew Jefford • ‘Which appellations might multiply in value 14 times in 50 years?’
What I’ve been drinking this month
Jane Anson • ‘Clos Vougeot remains in many ways the spiritual heart of Burgundy’
What I’ve been drinking this month
LETTER FROM PORTUGAL Richard Mayson • ‘Becoming a grape grower has turned me into a weather obsessive’
What I’ve been drinking this month
Translating Terroir: Five wines from Sierra Cantabria, five stories to tell
Best-buy Riojas: 50 top reds • We asked Sarah Jane Evans MW and Tim Atkin MW for their favourite red Riojas that represent the best of the region today. With Atkin focusing on reserva and generic wines, and Evans on gran reserva, crianza and non-Tempranillo wines, each has chosen 25 to drink now and keep, priced from just £6.95
RIOJA
Regional profile Méntrida • Lying close to the Spanish capital, this little-known wine region may not be remote but it’s certainly rugged. Viticulture here is far from easy, but the sandy soils and mountain air are now producing wines of distinctive and refreshing character, says Miquel Hudin
Méntrida at a glance
Méntrida: six producers to watch
Hudin’s 12 of the best: Méntrida and Sierra de Gredos
Tearing up the rule book • Ploughing their own furrow in the vineyard, or going against the grain in the barrel room. There are some, a precious few perhaps, who know no other way than to defy convention. Tim Atkin MW finds out what goes on in the mind of a rebel winemaker
California calling • Governed by firm tradition and law in their homeland, the wine producers of Bordeaux have long been irresistibly drawn to the regulation-light vineyards of America’s Golden State, as James Lawther MW reports
Ramón Bilbao is today’s Rioja
Tenuta San Leonardo • Framed by dramatically rocky slopes, this historic estate in Italy’s northeast is home to local plant life from Mediterranean to alpine, but it’s the international grape varieties that lie at its heart. Stephen Brook meets the father and son team at the helm of this Trentino trailblazer
Tenuta San Leonardo – a timeline
Five signature wines
Loire reds 2014 • From the delicate charms of Pinot Noir to the earthy aromatics of Cabernet Franc, the Loire offers a variety of reds to refresh the palate. Jim Budd has picked 30 of his favourites from the successful 2014s, and says that now is the perfect time to rediscover the region’s wines
Budd’s pick from the Loire reds of 2014 • Wines are listed within their appellations, then by score, then alphabetically by producer.
Watch this space…
Brian Croser • The founder of Petaluma, and more recently Tapanappa, is a happy man, and no wonder: his ducks are all neatly in a row. It didn’t happen by luck, of course, Croser planned it all – he’s nothing if not a forward thinker. Huon Hooke meets one of the Australian wine industry’s most influential figures
Brian Croser: a life in wine
Sulphur dioxide: friend or foe? • Many winemakers consider it essential for consistency and quality in wine. What is SO2, and why...
