Robert Joseph looks beyond the financially attractive top Grands Crus Classés, at the far less successful mass of Bordeaux and its sub-appellations where large swathes of vines are due to be uprooted.
A brief, wry note penned by Robert Joseph, while simultaneously watching England play Wales in the World Cup and idly following an online argument about wine closures.
There are moves to bring dealcoholised wine into the same legislation as conventional wine, and big brand owners are introducing zero-alc versions of their existing ones. Robert Joseph wonders if this is wise for the wine sector in general.
Responding to some of the feedback to his recent piece on the challenges facing wine producers looking to reduce the weight of their bottles, Robert Joseph wonders whether the focus on the carbon footprint of heavy packaging is not, in any case, distracting the wine industry's attention from some of its other environmentally-unfriendly activities.
Fifty years ago, as the world approached the end of 1972, and headlines focused on an ongoing bloody conflict in Asia rather than Eastern Europe, the wine industry bore little resemblance to the one we take for granted today. Reviewing that decade, Robert Joseph argues that it marked the flowering of modern wine.
Switch to lighter glass, say the wine media. Give us commercially appealing packaging say the customers. Robert Joseph considers the challenges facing 21st century producers.
The wine industry is only just recovering from the pandemic. Now Robert Joseph, playing Cassandra rather than his usual Devil's Advocate, suggests that the wine industry is facing tough financial headwinds. The only hope is of China coming to the rescue, but that's far from certain.
Austria’s sweet wines are perennial favourites at prestigious wine competitions, consistently earning top ratings and winning coveted titles. But where, exactly, do they come from, and what makes them so special?
