Rediscovering St Emilion

The wines of St Emilion are every bit as varied as its sprawling terroir, says Charlie Geoghegan. There’s no one style of St Emilion – and that’s truer now than perhaps ever before. St Emilion is a lot of different things. It’s a quaint little pocket of the fine wine world: a bucolic community of small estates, its rolling hills put […]

Domaine de l’A: an “estate without limits”

When he’s not advising Bordeaux’s biggest names, winemaking consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt can be found tending Domaine de l’A, his 12-hectare home estate in Castillon.    In 1999, Stéphane Derenoncourt was on the hunt for a vineyard of his own. “My dream was to buy a first growth in St Emilion,” he recalls. “But the bankers […]

Checking in on Bordeaux 2020

The 2020 vintage is in barrel, and En Primeur season is fast approaching. While our team waits to taste the new vintage, we’ve asked some of our Bordelais friends for their insights. Ch. Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan “It’s a vintage of conviction,” says Guillaume Pouthier, Director at the Pessac-Léognan estate. “We had to adapt all […]

Fattoria La Màgia: meet Fabian Schwarz

Montalcino-born Fabian Schwarz of Fattoria La Màgia has seen profound change in the region. Here, we speak to Fabian about family history, pursuing quality and the story behind his flagship cru, Ciliegio. “I don’t believe in God, why should I believe in [Rudolf] Steiner?” ponders Fabian Schwarz, second-generation owner-winemaker at Fattoria La Màgia in Montalcino. […]