GC

The Douro was arguably the world's first modern wine region. In the sense that it was given over almost entirely to the vine on an organized and massive scale, with the express purpose that the wines would be then shipped and sold all over the world. In its 400+ year history, however, the Douro has never evolved as much as it is doing right now, with new and old producers racing to create world-class dry wines from vineyards that for centuries were only used for sweet and fortified wine production. This new generation of wine and winemakers are incredibly exciting, focusing...

The Jura's wines are by many seen as a bit of an anachronism. The region first came back onto the world's wine drinking radar thanks to their excellent, but conventionally challenging, oxidative white wines. The most extreme of these, the Vin Jaun, is aged like sherry for at least 6 years before release. While these wines are amazingly complex and thought provoking, it can be hard to find a place for them among modern cuisine and for modern palates. In the past few decades, however, the Jura seen a surge in producers looking to shrug off the weight of history and...

There is perhaps no greater diversity of great wine in such a small geographic space as the Eastern Italian Alps. You can start in Valpolicella on the coast of Lake Garda, home to some of Italy’s richest and most concentrated wines, and be in Valtellina, home to some of the most ethereal wines in Europe, in just a few hours of windy mountain driving. Oh, and on the way you pass through one of the world’s greatest sparkling wine regions, Franciacorta. This is a study in the dramatic effect that elevation can have on the possibilities of winemaking even over...

  Saint Joseph contains some of the Northern Rhone’s most exciting terroirs. The trouble is that nothing about the label can really tell you if the wine your buying will be an outstanding value or disappointing plonk. This is because what was once quite a small appellation of about 100 hectares just across the river from the hill of Hermitage has long since been expanded to include almost 1000 hectares of largely unremarkable acerage. The vineyards, much like those in Hermitage, Cote Rotie, and Cornas, were once almost exclusively planted on steeply sloped granite hills, producing beautiful wines with unmatched...

Though once believed to be too cold for vines, Oregon has become a Garden of Eden for winemakers from around the world making a multitude of styles. It all began in the mid-60s when pioneers David Lett and Charles Coury struck out to the north, defying the accepted wisdom of their UC Davis professors. The Pinot Noirs produced over the next two decades in the lush Willamette Valley progressively caught more and more eyes - and palates. In the late 80s, the Burgundy negociant Maison Drouhin was so convinced of Oregon's potential that they began buying up land up and down...