A wonderfully fresh and zippy Hautes Côtes de Nuits bursting with aromas of citrus zest and green apple with subtle notes of toasted brioche. The palate has excellent tension with concentrated fruit flavours that linger on the finish.
2021 was a challenging vintage for winegrowers and producers in Burgundy. There were historically low yields due to catastrophic spring frost and hail, compounded by a cold, wet growing season. It is a return to a more classic vintage marked by bright acidity and freshness thanks to the cooler temperatures and resulting slower ripening, which allowed for full flavour development.
This wine has an intense cherry colour with slight garnet edge. On the nose, the aromas are powerful and complex, with notes of ripe fruit and fine cocoa. Fleshy on the palate, this wine is velvety, with ripe tannins and good acidity.
2020 was a year with very unique weather conditions. There was little rainfall over the winter, and a cold start to the spring led to some issues with flowering and fruit set, resulting in slightly lower yields and loose berry clusters. A heatwave in June and July forced some vines to shut down, further reducing yields. Berry ripening progressed more quickly than usual and harvest occurred more than two weeks earlier than in 2018.
‘La Rocca’ is golden yellow in the glass, with intense, concentrated perfumes that follow through to the palate. On the nose, classic ‘La Rocca’ aromas of nuts and exotic fruits lead to an elegant and beautifully balanced palate, with notes of spice and a light minerality on the long finish.
The 2022 vintage was characterized by a winter without significant rainfall, both snowy and rainy, and mild temperatures that led to an early but always dry spring. Prolonged below-average temperatures over the spring caused slow and stunted bud burst, followed by high temperatures in June which necessitated emergency irrigation in some vineyards where both the scarcity of substrate and the drainage capacity of the soil have made irrigation vital. Due to the difficult conditions, the bunches were smaller, both in size and yield, however the 2022 vintage shows great balance and a pleasant minerality.
This wine is dark ruby in colour. On the nose, there are intense aromas of cherry and rose with hints of amarena, wild berries, wet stone, mint and thyme. The palate is full-bodied, radiant and expressive with ripe tannins and a long, smooth finish.
2018 was marked by copious flowering, gradual ripening and one of the latest harvests of the past decade. The rainfall was abundant, especially in May, providing strong water reserves for the growing period. Harvesting of Nebbiolo took place at the end of October. The late harvest meant that the grapes were able to ripen at their own, gradual pace, developing complex varietal characteristics and red-fruit aromas. It is a favourable year for the best exposed sites and for high elevation and well-ventilated vineyards. The wines are fragrant with fine tannins and a balance reminiscent of 2004.
La Giustiniana Gavi di Gavi 2023 is straw-yellow in colour with a greenish hue, this wine delights with aromas of white fruit, stone fruit and lime zest, which are immediately beguiling and followed by a subtle yet persistent bouquet of green apples. The palate is well-balanced with a fresh acidity and impressive structure. Almond notes linger on the finish.
This wine has fragrant violet and red fruit aromas on the nose and a palate bursting with bright fruit and supple tannins. It is an elegant wine with a long, persistent finish, and the typical delicacy of the Fleurie appellation.
The 2023 vintage in Beaujolais was generally a very warm year, reminiscent of 2015, 2020 and 2022. Yields were lower than usual due to frost issues in the spring. However, it was a case of quality over quantity, with a small harvest of exceptional fruit with great concentration of flavour. Harvest began at the end of August.
Deliciously aromatic with scents of honeydew melon and orange blossom, delicately infused with herb botanicals. A bright expression of Sauvignon Blanc, with juicy lemon and steely cassis flavours and a generously textured palate garnished with a flourish of pastis and wildflowers. It is a wine with impressive structure and depth.
A relatively dry winter was followed by unsettled spring conditions, including isolated frosts. Minimal damage was sustained, but the intermittent cold nights continued well into spring, disrupting flowering and causing low berry numbers and millerandage (uneven berry size) in some varieties. As summer progressed, El Niño brought its signature warm, dry conditions. Extremely low rainfall was recorded throughout the summer, to the point of a drought being declared in mid-March. Bunch numbers were low across the region from the outset and the hot, dry summer condensed berry size, so reduced yields were inevitable. Fortunately the loose bunches reduced disease risk and resulted in immaculately clean, ripe fruit. Sauvignon Blanc ripeness levels were excellent across all sites. Cooler nights in February stretched out the ripening and led to wonderfully crisp acidity. 2024 saw pristine fruit with generous depth of flavour.
This is an elegant Sauvignon Blanc with signature aromas of blackcurrant leaf and flint on the nose, with subtle orange blossom notes. The palate is fresh with a racy acidity alongside lychee, pineapple, and tangy fresh lime flavours.
The 2023 vintage was characterised by low yields and early ripening, resulting in wines of excellent concentration and marked freshness, particularly in the whites. Late-season rain delayed ripening on reds, leading to challenges, but increased flavour development and elegance.
Deep ruby red in colour, this wine has aromas of ripe plum and sour cherry, with notes of tobacco and leather from oak ageing. On the palate, it has great depth of flavour, with juicy fruit and supple tannins giving way to a silky-smooth texture. This Chianti Classico has superb structure and finishes with a fine mineral note.
For Fontodi, the continued rainfall set the region up to thrive in a very hot summer, ensuring vines had sufficient water reserves. Hot days and cool nights allowed for optimal ripening and grapes with lively acidity and elegant and complex aromas. A hard but rewarding vintage that produced excellent quality wines with intricate complexity.
Château Tour de Capet lies to the south of Saint-Émilion, near Saint-Hippolyte, just below its sister estate Château Capet-Guillier. Since 2009 the property has been run by Antoine Moueix Propriétés, a négociant with over a century’s experience working in Bordeaux’s Right Bank. The wine is made by Christophe Grenier and benefits from the immense experience of renowned winery consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt.
Château Tour de Capet comprises 10 hectares of vines planted on a combination of sand, loam and clay which, combined with the loose structure of the soil, lends itself to a lighter style of Bordeaux. The estate’s vineyards are also farmed using a ‘zero residue’ policy which prohibits the use of herbicides.
The final wine is a blend of 90% Merlot with 10% Malbec fermented in concrete tanks with four to five days of skin maceration, aided by regular punch downs. Aged for 12 months in French oak, around one-third of which is new, Château Tour de Capet perfectly marries dark berry flavours with subtle hints of tobacco and spice, balanced on the palate by vibrant acidity and velvety tannins.
2020 was an incredibly hot vintage in the Cote d’Or. Winter was mild followed by an early budburst in the spring. The heat continued through the summer with drought being a challenge, as a result verasion also came early. The end of season storms did alleviate some of the troubles and so the grapes produced were of good quality with wines providing surprising freshness considering the heat.
David Moret’s 2022 vintage in the Côte de Beaune was characterised by abundance and excellence. The growing season began with a cold, wet winter, which resulted in a slower start to the growing season and delayed budburst, saving the vines from the worst of the spring frosts. The winter rains also replenished soil water reserves and sustained the vines through four heatwaves during the summer. Harvest was earlier than usual, but the quality of the fruit harvested was excellent, with vibrant aromatics and balancing acidity.
David Moret is a micro-négociant making wines in his small cellar in Beaune. Despite first studying oenology, he went on to sell winemaking supplies before finally deciding to make wines himself. With no family-owned vines, David bought grapes and purchased his first barrels in the late 1980s, starting his own, eponymous label in 2000. Since then, he has continued to buy small parcels of grapes from top growers and ferments using indigenous yeasts. His wines are bottled without fining or filtration, after being naturally settled while ageing in oak. David uses 20% new oak for his Villages wines and up to 40% new oak for his Premier and Grand Crus.
Chances are there wasn't collaboration, communication, and checkpoints, there wasn't a process agreed upon or specified with the granularity required. It's content strategy gone awry right from the start. Forswearing the use of Lorem Ipsum wouldn't have helped, won't help now. It's like saying you're a bad designer, use less bold text, don't use italics in every other paragraph. True enough, but that's not all that it takes to get things back on track.
The villagers are out there with a vengeance to get that Frankenstein
You made all the required mock ups for commissioned layout, got all the approvals, built a tested code base or had them built, you decided on a content management system, got a license for it or adapted:
This is quite a problem to solve, but just doing without greeking text won't fix it. Using test items of real content and data in designs will help, but there's no guarantee that every oddity will be found and corrected. Do you want to be sure? Then a prototype or beta site with real content published from the real CMS is needed—but you’re not going that far until you go through an initial design cycle.
No account yet?
Create an Account
