Undiscovered Uruguay

Michelle Locke
Feature Stories
4 min read
Harvest is under way and internationally known enologist Alberto Antonini is giving a master class on the coming vintage. Behind him, framed in the large windows of the new winery, a landscape of terraced vineyards unfolds under a lacy blue sky, a view reminiscent of his native Italy. But these

The world’s most pathetic wine grape

W. Blake Gray
Features
6 min read
This story is about the world's most pathetic wine grape. Its history is exaggerated. It was used for a few decades to play one role that is no longer needed, yet still people grow it – though even its proponents don't think it has much virtue. It reminds me of the

What kind of pink will China drink?

Erika Szymanski
Features
5 min read
It's no secret that the wine drunk in China is, overwhelmingly, red. Chinese tradition has it that red is a prosperous color. Red wines Some Chinese drinkers see red wine as having health benefits, good for the skin or for blood circulation. Wine consumption is often a social status-building move

Clairet: the Super-Rosé?

Roger Morris
Feature Stories
4 min read
Several years ago when I was on assignment in Bordeaux, one of the winemakers I interviewed was Esme Johnstone, a former major British wine merchant who had taken up residence as director of Château de Sours near Saint-Quentin-de-Baron.  His biggest opportunity, Johnstone told me, was to make loads of rosé

Remembering Peter Mondavi

Michelle Locke
Feature Stories
3 min read
Peter Mondavi of Charles Krug Winery, a luminary of Napa Valley Wine, passed away recently. Palate Press remembers his legacy by revisiting this interview with columnist Michelle Locke from 2015, back when he was only 100.  Peter Mondavi. Sr. is holding a cork from a 1966 bottle of Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon,

On the ryes: Canadian whisky gains respect

Michelle Locke
Feature Stories
3 min read
Canadian whisky has always had respectable sales in the U.S. It just hasn’t always gotten a lot of respect. That’s changed. Take the Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye whisky that was named World Whisky of the Year by expert Jim Murray in his 2016 Whisky Bible.  Other brands of note