CATEGORIES

Brunello di Montalcino 2019: 30 picks from a 5-star vintage

It's a vintage to bring cheer to Tuscany lovers' hearts, and the first of what is being billed as a strong run of three to come. The successful 2019 Brunello wines offer richness, balance and immediate appeal while also managing to avoid excess

Brunello di Montalcino 2019

It's a vintage to bring cheer to Tuscany lovers' hearts, and the first of what is being billed as a strong run of three to come. The successful 2019 Brunello wines offer richness, balance and immediate appeal while also managing to avoid excess

Italy's FUTURE GREATS

If you want to know about rising-star winemakers, who better to ask than producers in the same region who have been at the vanguard for decades? We invited 10 major names in Italian wine to highlight their pick of the top up-and-coming producers in their respective regions

Aldo Fiordelli - 'Deep historical reasons connect Italians to the bitter taste in wine'

In Italy, soils are rich in magnesium, which is responsible for the bitterness in wines,’ Lydia Bourguignon told me in Franciacorta, on the sidelines of the presentation by founder Maurizio Zanella of the redisgorged 1980 Annamaria Clementi Franciacorta cuvée at Ca’ del Bosco last October.

Andrew Jefford Without the younger generation we'll lose farming as it exists here'

Airy, it was: a high saddle at the seaward end of the Mayacamas ridge. The newly planted vineyards splayed upwards from the crux of tracks that met there.

A drink with...Michele Faro

Mount Etna has rapidly become one of the world’s most talked-about wine regions. In a short span, wines from its black soil have reached unprecedented heights, but the rush to the volcano puts quality at risk, believes the owner of Etna winery Pietradolce

Uncorked

A snapshot of what’s happening in the world of wine

Inside a professional's everyday life

What’s the best thing about your job? The versatility. Every day is different. Working across nursery propagation, grape farming, winemaking, marketing, travel and research and development. It’s never boring.

Navarra

From its famed bull-running capital to its dry and rocky badlands, this northern Spanish region is blessed with a wide variety of international grapes, but its indigenous Garnacha is the rising star

Pedalling Priorat A Catalonia cycling guide

For the firm of thigh, pedal power may be the best way to experience the switchbackstrewn landscape of Priorat. With wines as exquisite as the hills of the Costa Daurada are steep, it’s surely worth saddling up for this two-wheeled adventure

British rums

Craft distillers in the UK are turning their enthusiastic attention to a spirit that’s usually associated with tropical climes... We explore the burgeoning British rum scene and recommend six bottles to try

FIVE OF THE BEST

New-wave vodkas

UKRAINE A wine odyssey

Fully committed and determined is perhaps understating it when it comes to the winemakers of Ukraine. Appearing more widely now in the UK and other markets, theirs are wines that feature familiar grape names along with a whole cast of new varieties, styles and geographies waiting to be discovered

Hundred Acre

In arare in-depth interview granted to Decanter, we meet the dauntless Jayson Woodbridge. The founder of Hundred Acre is a controversial figure in the Napa Valley, yet the wine community can’t ignore the fact that his wines are celebrated by pundits the world over

Understanding Castilla y León

This wide expanse of territory in Spain’s northwest incorporates at least three major DO regions and numerous others, giving huge scope for wine exploration, with many styles to choose from. Here we discover the producers, wines and latest trends to look out for

XAREL·LO RISING HIGH

Spain's answer to white Burgundy? Its more passionate advocates like to argue so.For a long time lost in an ocean of nondescript Cava, Xarel·lo is now emerging as one of Spain's most lauded native white grapes

Wine wisdom

Our regular learning section helps you get more from your glass

Northern Rhône 2022

The 2022 vintage is full of surprises and couldn't be more different to 2021. Variations in style make choosing which wines to buy a bit of a challenge, but having tasted more than 1,200 wines, Decanter's Rhône expert has done the work in pinpointing the best buys of the vintage

Telmo Rodríguez

Determined to create a new conversation around Rioja, the prolific and world-renowned winemaker teamed up with six of his growers to make a range in which each wine is imbued with a distinct sense of its place of origin

Hugh Johnson 'There is real excitement to be found among neglected grape varieties'

Gondolas were everywhere. That’s what they call the skips brimming with the harvest – the Venetian analogy presumably from the fact that they both turn up at the ends.

Andrew Jefford 'Biodynamically grown, artisanally crafted - and free of chemicals, of course. Not so'

Welcome; come in. Please sit. Here’s a complex mixture of chemical compounds in solution, served in a black-glass beaker. It won’t kill you; trust me. Have a sip.

Marinela Ivanova

Beverage manager, residential ship

Alsace Pinot Noir

A blind tasting of 2019-vintage wines showed that this classic yet sometimes overlooked French region is now more than capable of matching better-known, quality Pinot Noir-producing areas

Wine wisdom

Our regular learning section helps you get more from your glass

Low and no-alcohol spirits for dry January

FIVE OF THE BEST

Distilled

Your guide to the latest trends in spirits and cocktails

Chris Losh: What's the alternative?

'Aperitivos are a really hot part of alcohol-free with complex examples where you don't miss the alcohol'

Elaine Chukan Brown: For an emerging region, success with a grape like Chardonnay proves tricky'

Recognition of a wine region outside its own borders often depends on its success with a well-known variety or a singular style.

Andrew Jefford: 'Serious wine glasses are intimidating: they're a prelude to silence and endeavour'

The Alsace town of Riquewihr was where I found them. A march up the cobbled Rue du Général de Gaulle, past the coloured, half-timbered houses, to a shop called L’Aventure. Not misnamed: it was chaos in there.

ANNIVERSARY WINES Celebrate in 2024

It's largely 'vintages ending in 4' for anyone looking for wines to mark a significant milestone this coming year. This is bad news for some based on vintage performances, though promising for others. Our annual expert selection will help you locate that ideal bottle for the perfect 2024 gift