Magazine

Producing your own wine is a challenging task where seemingly trivial choices can rapidly become consequential. Winegrowers’ character traits can come into sharper focus and before Champagne becomes an art form, it requires technical skills. Joining forces to produce it may seem like a tall order, but the reality belies this assumption. Co-operative wineries account for a sizeable chunk of production and have met with significant success. To find out more, we questioned six co-operatives producing different styles of Champagne from different areas.

Chianti is probably the best-known ‘brand’ of Italian wine in the world, but not everyone knows its historical roots and the differences between the various designations, starting with Chianti and Chianti Classico. These are two different Docgs and Chianti Classico is not a sub-region of Chianti, but a separate area with different production regulations and a separate consortium.

South Africa has by far the most Chenin Blanc plantings in the world, constituting 50% of all global plantings. As a variety in South Africa, Chenin has unleashed a wine culture bereft of profanities, pretence, and the fear of imperfection. Instead, through the lucid exploration of Chenin over decades, authentic stories surfaced, many rooted in old vines discovered throughout the Cape Winelands. As a wine, it steers creatives and empowers people. And as a phenomenon, its character, quality, and success in diverse styles stir the interest of the global wine community.

The Côtes de Bordeaux group of appellations is a major player both in France and export markets, but it is increasingly under threat from a fragile, volatile economic climate. We decided to sound out some of the area’s leading lights and hear their testimonials about a wine market that is struggling to reinvent itself.

One of the region’s rising stars, with its multi-award-winning, extensive range of wines and cutting-edge technology, Bodega Inurietta is a great illustration of Navarre’s resurgence and its assertiveness in global wine markets. We take a look at what defines this young bodega shooting for the moon.

When you think about the Republic of Moldova, the image that immediately springs to mind is a country at the intersection between the new wine world and the old, between West and East. There is something Romanian about it, and yet it also has very local traits, all of which are woven into a blend of traditions gradually moving into the modern world.