KD: So much of this conversation — balance, freshness, alcohol content, etc. — stems from when the grapes are harvested. My question has to do with ripeness, because the ultimate outcome of a wine’s composition often stems from when and how the winemaker harvests the grapes. However, it means...

KD: Andrew, how do you discern balance when you are tasting wines? Do you have any tips? How much of it is a feeling? AJ: The first thing to say here is that I strongly believe that the key to finding and understanding balance in a wine becomes apparent as you drink a wine, rather than when you...

KD: You touched upon this a moment ago, Andrew, but currently, lower alcohol wines are in vogue within many circles of the wine industry, and among consumers. Within other circles, so-called “Parker” wines — a style predicated on boldness, richness and amplified tones — remain the driving force....

KD: I want to get both of your opinions on this next question: the elements that help preserve wine long-term — for example, acidity, tannins, and alcohol — are also the ones we discuss in terms of balance. Wines that age well are always balanced, but not all balanced wines can age, correct?...

Few, if any, moments in wine are more dramatic than when a producer decides it is time to pick fruit. Whether they rely upon a Brix reading, a visual cue from the grape seeds, or the finely tuned instrument of their own palate, making the call to harvest a plot of grapes is a decision fraught with...

The WSG is delighted to announce our support for The Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships in association with Liquid Icons and the Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation. Liquid Icons, the fine wine research and content production company founded by the late, great Gerard Basset OBE MW...

After several months of dormancy, the first signs of the new vintage begin to show in March (in temperate to warm climates). The fresh pruning wounds begin to “bleed.” This initial sap flow is triggered by rising temperatures. Shortly after the bleeding stops, the buds will begin to swell.

In many ways, wine education relies on face-to-face contact between educators and students. After all, wine is a drink to be shared and which — for centuries — has stimulated conversation among those partaking. So last March, when it became apparent that the global spread of COVID-19 was about to...

February is still a relatively quiet time in the vineyard. Pruning continues in warm climates while in cold climates it may not begin until March or later. This is primarily due to the risk of winter bud kill. Different varieties have different tolerances for cold. February, in the northern...

One of the most significant trends happening in Bourgogne today, is a movement towards sustainable, organic and biodynamic viticulture. Due to the warming of temperatures, increase in sunlight and shift in rainy season, there has been less vineyard mildew pressure, drier soil and earlier harvests....

Andrew Jefford, award-winning author and columnist in every issue of Decanter and World of Fine Wine, Co-Chair Decanter World Wine Awards; Vice-Chair Decanter Asia Wine Awards as well as Wine Scholar Guild Academic Advisor, gives us his insight about the 2019 vintage in France. The beat goes on....

WSG launches “Vine to Wine,” an exciting, new blog series that will chronicle what is happening in the vineyard and in the winery each and every month of the calendar year. Nova Cadamatre, MW and winemaker, will author these authoritative and detailed posts drawing upon her studies (Cornell...

KD: Hypothetically, what would the wine world look today if it weren’t for appellations? Would the concept of terroir even be a discussion point without them? And do appellations create unrealistic expectations about terroir? AJ: Terroir would exist as a concept because there would be a small set...

KD: Andrew noted that without appellations — specifically European ones — the “global wine offer” would be simpler and that wine would have to rely more on marketing strategies. Do you agree, Robert, and secondly, would that be a good thing for wine consumers? Would it be more accessible to more...

The Great Debate: What is the Future of Appellations? with Andrew Jefford and Robert Joseph KD: It would seem that with climate change, the notion of a wine region holding on to a rigid identity over the next several years or decades is borderline ridiculous. We need look no further than...

The Great Debate: What is the Future of Appellations? with Andrew Jefford and Robert Joseph KD: One final question..., are we moving toward a future of appellation irrelevance? Has “the everyday consumer” already made them irrelevant? AJ: Not at all. Remember, as I outlined earlier, that...

KD: Let’s shift gears and focus on what appellations have accomplished, and what role they might play in the preservation of wine heritage going forward. As an Italian wine fanatic, few things excite me more than geeking out over rare grape varieties that demonstrate something unique in the glass....

KD: Let’s move on. While the EU wine quality pyramid for appellations (i.e. PDO/PGI) is intended to have some semblance of a hierarchy, all three of us could cite dozens of examples of exceptional, rule-breaking wines made as “table wine” or with a broadly generic regional appellation. Andrew, is...

The Great Debate: What is the Future of Appellations? with Andrew Jefford and Robert Joseph KD: The original genesis of appellations was to place importance on “somewhereness,” but also to authenticate wine and guard against fraud. The desire for authentic wines and terroir has not gone away, and...

KD: The natural wine movement in particular has challenged many tenets that appellations have held dear, namely ‘what is typicity?’ We discussed some of this in our last debate where some appellations have defined their wines by a set of standards which excludes some natural wines. So, is...