Discovery

The 2025 vintage looks promising in Beaujolais, marked by early ripening, full maturity, and generally healthy grapes. After several sometimes-contrasted seasons, winemakers this year deliver a profile clearly oriented toward quality over quantity.

Although the Cape winelands are relatively small, with less than 100,000 hectares of vines planted, there are 22 official wine routes to explore.

After a 2024 vintage marred by challenging weather conditions – causing mildew and aborted flowering – yields in Muscadet reached an all-time low. But could this relative dearth of wines help the Loire white wine region along its journey upmarket? We went to a region that has been shaken but remains determined to investigate.

Languedoc-Roussillon boasts 246,000 hectares under vine and 38 appellations and designations, making it France’s most extensive wine region. Its variety of soil types and grape varieties along with its typical Mediterranean climate shape its myriad vineyard sites, all of which can be leveraged to show off their distinctive features. But how effective is it at doing so?

In the heart of the French wine region that boasts the largest number of appellations, the emergence of a category other than still wines might come as a surprise. Although they do not really compete with Champagne, Crémants de Bourgogne certainly have quality credentials and excel for their ability to create a loyal following among fine wine enthusiasts.

If one had to introduce Pinotage as a person, it would be a lab baby who defied the odds; a wild child that grew up so fast, it could never be left unsupervised. But once it was finally given the space to be itself, it thrived - through tough conditions, harsh opinions and shifting expectations. It built its personality under pressure, always a little rebellious. Maybe that’s exactly what propelled this misfit to grow into a South African cult icon, now celebrating its 100th birthday.