Guest Opinions

Strasbourg 2021: Le Mondial des Vins Blancs

Le Mondial des Vins Blancs, The white wines of the world wine competition in Strasbourg, France, is the only wine competition in the world held under the patronage of the International Vine and Wine Organisation (OIV), dedicated entirely to the diversity of white wines, writes John Salvi MW who was invited to the Competition recently and shares his experience of the Competition

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TechTalk: Measure to Combat Climate Change

With the changing climate, heat and hydric stress alter the grape composition and affect the quality and yield depending upon complex interactions between temperature, water availability, plant material and viticultural techniques, so we must start making adjustments now, writes John Salvi, Master of Wine who focuses on Bordeaux vineyards and makes various suggestions that can be generally implemented elsewhere too

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TechTalk: Climate Change and Consequences of not Adapting

It has been widely known that the quality of grapes and the wine are related to climate yet a great majority of grow continue to carry on with their old practices as if nothing has changed and so the wine remains insufficiently stabilised and would not mature as it should, writes John Salvi MW, who explains why the finest red wines are rarely produced in the hottest and driest regions, which are becoming fewer and fewer and might include Bordeaux

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Bordeaux 2020: A Trinity in the Making-Structure (Part-3)

Given current climate trends marked by increasingly extreme events, comparisons between vintages are becoming more dubious. Each vintage boasts a unique identity and extreme weather exacerbates local variations. The success of a vintage should be considered at the level of individual vineyards and focused on the personality of each wine. One should remain wary of general assumptions, asserts John Salvi Master of Wine as he looks at Bordeaux 2020 touted as an exceptional Trilogy-2018, 2019, 2020 by Château Palmer and The Divine by Château Angélus, and discusses Structure in this Part of his Magnum Opus

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Bordeaux 2020 : A Trinity in the Making (Part-2)

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Bordeaux 2020 : A Trinity in the Making (Part-1)

Given current climate trends marked by increasingly extreme events, comparisons between vintages are becoming more dubious. Each vintage boasts a unique identity and extreme weather exacerbates local variations. The success of a vintage should be considered at the level of individual vineyards and focused on the personality of each wine. One should remain wary of general assumptions, asserts John Salvi Master of Wine as he looks at Bordeaux 2020 touted as an exceptional Trilogy-2018, 2019, 20100 by Château Palmer and The Divine by Château Angélus

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Nagpur Wine Club completes 10 Years

Getting manic to write about Mr Sharad Phadnis, President of Nagpur Wine Club (NWC) and the success stories of the wine club in India’s orange city Nagpur on the occasion of Club’s 10th Anniversary on 19 January, 2021, our guest writer Sheetal Kadam says she has always enjoyed interacting with him about wines and it was a pleasure meeting him last at the delWine Excellence Awards 2019 organised by the Indian Wine Academy and the Delhi Wine Club at Hotel Pullman Aerocity in Delhi and discussing the club activities

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A Case for Wine in Cask (Bag-in-Box)

For various practical reasons including ease and convenience of carrying, storage, serving, environment, lower carbon footprints, when new containers like Aluminium cans and paper bottles are finding acceptance, it is an opportune time for the 2 litre casks (Bag-in-box) to penetrated the market, writes the Aussie wine journalist, write and taster, Dan Traucki suggesting it could be a practical step as well for India with high import taxes

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John Salvi MW revisits Bordeaux 2019 En Primeur

An earlier Article on En Primeur 2019, one of the first ones in the segment, by our Bordeaux resident specialist John Salvi Master of Wine, was admittedly too critical and harsh and he revisits and revises it because he has been persuaded that his earlier, long and detailed analysis of the 2019 vintage in Bordeaux was too severe on the Red Wines and did not give them sufficient credit or analyse their quality and merit

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Choosing Wine to order with No Idea How To Select

Wine is undoubtedly one of the most popular drinks in the world that pairs with several dishes but it can also be confusing because of numerous styles and price ranges making it difficult to select the right wines for the meal. Our guest writer Beatrice Beard tries to unravel the mystery and guides our readers how to go about choosing a wine even if it means buying the cheapest wine on the Menu in a restaurant or a wine shop

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Lev Golitsyn International Wine Competition 2019 in Russian Crimea

There are several interested wineries that exist in Russia and Crimea some of which have hosted important OIV-based International Wine Tasting Competitions in the past and his previous visit had been to one when Crimea was part of Ukraine but this time when John Salvi MW was invited for the Lev Golitsyn International Wine Competition in Crimea, it had been annexed by Russia and it was a different ball game, he writes

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Greece: The Wine Word in Greek

Greece had not been making quality wines till a few years ago but now several small size wineries have come up with high quality as the objective and with so many local interesting grapes available, they are ready to find their place on the international shelves, writes Dan Traucki who attended a Masterclass by Yiannis Karakasis MW, where he could taste wines from 20 Greek wineries and came out as a fan of the Greek wines

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Truth behind the Greek Myth

It used to be a case of beware Greeks talking up their wines but that has all changed says our Australian guest writer Dan Traucki who investigated into this myth and discovered that although they were producing mundane wines earlier but with modern winemaking techniques coupled with unique ancient native grape varieties, they are making some really interesting wines.

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Why Wine Whine Australia

Wine Australia, formerly known as Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation, used to do a wonderful job of keeping the exports honest by checking every wine before it left the Australian shores but replacing the system with only random audits in Australia by flying auditors does not auger well for the reputation of Aussie wine exports, writes Dan Traucki a vocal critic of the new policy, from Australia

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Abrau Durso: Tale of a Wine Competition in Russia

The huge Sparkling Winery of Abrau Durso, in the small village of the same name, decided to organise a mini wine competition along the lines of the Paris tasting organised by Steven Spurrier, to compare Russian wines to those from Outside Russia. John Salvi MW who was one of the 4 non-Russian judges, reports on the event

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