About Académie du Vin Founded in Paris in 1973 by Steven Spurrier, the Académie du Vin grew out of a love of wine and a desire to share it with clarity and intelligence. What began as informal wine appreciation courses in 1970s Paris evolved into a publishing house dedicated to the finest wine writing of the past, present, and future. Today, the Académie du Vin Library maintains a deliberately small and carefully curated list, selecting books for their readability, authority and enduring insight into the world’s great wine regions – guided by the belief that fine wine writing, like wine itself, deepens with time. About this article This article presents the introduction to Côte d’Or: The wines and winemakers of the heart of Burgundy (2nd Edition) by Raymond Blake. In it, Blake sets the scene for Burgundy’s most revered stretch of vineyard, exploring the historical, cultural and human forces that shape the Côte d’Or. The introduction offers essential context on place, tradition and the vignerons themselves—laying the groundwork for a deeper understanding of Burgundy’s wines and the people behind them. Introduction The Côte d’Or, the Golden Slope, enjoys a reputation and exerts an influence in the wine world out of all proportion to its size. It possesses none of the grandeur of the Douro Valley, for instance, nor the picture-postcard beauty of South Africa’s winelands. It is not majestic; its beauty is serene, and what strikes the observer time and again is the tiny scale. From north to south it is about 50 kilometres long, is sometimes less than a kilometre wide, and can be driven in little more than an hour. At a push it could be walked in a day. Yet for a thousand or more years this favoured slope has yielded wines that have entranced and delighted wine lovers, with a fair measure of frustration and disappointment thrown in too. Avoiding hyperbole when writing about the Côte d’Or is a problem, for it has held people in thrall for centuries, frequently prompting poetic flights of prose: ‘The Pathetic Fallacy resounds in all our praise of wine … This Burgundy seemed to me, then, serene and triumphant … it whispered faintly, but in the same lapidary phrase, the same words of hope.’ Thus wrote Evelyn Waugh in Brideshead Revisited eighty years ago. Literary critics might cavil at such prolixity, and Waugh himself tamed it severely in later editions, but it was enough to intrigue me decades ago and engender a love for the region and its wines that has never waned. Greater Burgundy is a bigger, more geographically diverse, region than might first be supposed, stretching from Chablis, south-east of Paris, to Beaujolais, north of Lyon. The subject matter of this book, however, is Burgundy’s heart, the Côte d’Or. There is no more celebrated stretch of agricultural land on earth. It has been pored over and analysed, feted and cosseted, obsessed about and sought after for centuries and today, if anything, it exerts a greater pull on wine lovers than ever before. ‘Astronomical’ does not begin to describe the prices now being paid for prized patches of grand and premier cru vineyard, and for the wines produced from them by the top domaines. Such prices hog the headlines and paint a dazzling, though severely one-dimensional, picture of the Côte d’Or today. In the early years of the twenty-first century they are part of the story but they are not the only part. This book aims to get behind the dazzle and flesh out the story, to add some nuance and extra dimension. The Côte d’Or cannot be captured in a sound bite nor, it must be admitted, in a book of this scope – but my hope is that it may add another chapter to the ever-unfolding tale, setting it in the early years of the twenty-first century, a period that may come to be considered by future historians as a golden age for Burgundy but which has brought its own challenges in the shape of those ludicrous prices, the scandal of premature oxidation in the white wines, and the increasing challenge of dealing with extreme weather events such as hail and spring frost. The Côte d’Or has been the subject of forensic scrutiny for centuries, generating a library of books, so why another one now? For the simple reason that it is ever changing. Every year sees new names added to the producers’ roster and old ones slipping away, and thanks to this ongoing evolution the infant domaine of today can be the superstar of tomorrow. The core of the book comprises about a hundred producer profiles. Many fine domaines and négociants whose wines I am happy to purchase and drink have not found a place here. It is important to stress that they have not been included, rather than excluded, simply for reasons of space. The aim was to feature a representative collection of producers, not a top-down selection of the most celebrated names in descending order of renown. As a consequence this book is not, nor was it ever intended to be, a comprehensive A to Z of producers. I write as an amateur du vin, an enthusiast whose admiration for the wines of Burgundy stretches back over four decades, and who has been visiting the region and writing about the wines for some thirty years. I do not trade in wine. I try to see beyond the wine to get something of the backstory, the story of people and place that makes the Côte d’Or so fascinating. To examine the wines in isolation is to dislocate them from that, and not knowing something of the backstory precludes a full understanding of them. A broad lens must be brought to bear on the côte. Too narrow, and the wood will never be seen for the trees. I have learned much by coming across things serendipitously rather than dashing hither and thither, seeing a lot but noticing little. Without time for assimilation and reflection, subtlety and shade are missed. Finally, no gustatory experience can match the thrill of a great Côte d’Or red drunk at its peak. The colour, crimsoned by age; the heavenly scent, perfumed with notes of sweet decay; a sauvage edge, the palate lively and tingling, managing to be so many things at once, oscillating between fruit and spice and meat and game, a merry-go-round of flavour, spiralling on the palate, refusing to be pinned down by anything so prosaic as a tasting note. All the primary components melded by age and yielding up new ones, unsignalled when the wine was young. Everything cohesive and in harmony, like a great orchestra playing at its best. Above all, vital and living, endlessly enchanting and intriguing, engaging the palate and the spirit like no other wine. Learn more about Raymond Blake's Côte d'Or (2nd edition) Shop all books from the Académie du Vin Library Visit the Académie du Vin website Upcoming Event FINE+RARE & Académie du Vin Present: The Impossible Tasting FINE+RARE and Académie du Vin are delighted to present a rare and intimate exploration of the finest wines ever made. Wines of historical legend. Wines that are rarely seen, much less opened. Wines that should be impossible to bring together at one time. Lunch (April 29): River Restaurant, The Savoy Hotel Dinner (April 30): St James’s Room, 67 Pall Mall Club Learn more about the event here

Explore Burgundy with the introduction from Raymond Blake's book: Côte d'Or: The wines and winemakers of the heart of Burgundy. Blake tells the whole story of this hugely influential region, painting a complete picture of life there: the history, landscape, climate, culture and people.

Discover Raymond Blake's Côte d'Or (2nd Edition): a deep dive into Burgundy's wines, winemakers, history, culture and the people behind this iconic region.

Raymond Blake on the Côte d'Or

Xiao-Li Meng, professore di Statistica Whipple V. N. Jones a Harvard e fondatore e direttore responsabile di Harvard Data Science Review, si è lasciato ispirare da uno studente per combinare vino e statistica — ottenendo intuizioni ben oltre quanto entrambi si aspettassero.

From wine tastings to data science, Xiao-Li Meng explores how statistics reveals simplicity in complexity – one glass, experiment, and insight at a time.

Wine, statistics & serendipity: A Harvard journey

Semplicità nelle statistiche, complessità nel vino, il resto nei biscotti della fortuna.

Mi sono seduto per la prima volta con l’enologo Chris Phelps quasi due anni fa, immergendomi nel suo straordinario percorso. Avendo lavorato in realtà come Dominus, Caymus e Inglenook, fu il caso – o forse il destino – a portarlo a fondare la sua etichetta, Ad Vivum, nel 2007. 
 Era seduto sopra un tino di frutta appena in fermentazione quando fu colpito da un “coup de foudre” – innamorandosi all’istante di Sleeping Lady Vineyard, un sito coltivato dal suo caro amico Larry Bettinelli. Comprò il mosto a metà fermentazione e da allora lo fa a ogni vendemmia. 
 I blocchi specifici che riempivano quel tino si trovavano contro i Mayacamas, proprio nella parte più alta del vigneto, che è il sito più meridionale di Yountville. Qui le viti sono riparate dall’ardore del sole pomeridiano, preservando acidità e aromi nel frutto, mentre un flusso d’acqua sotterraneo permette al sito di prosperare anche negli anni più siccitosi. Ogni anno, da soli 1,5 acri di Cabernet Sauvignon, Phelps crea un’altra espressione del sito. 
 Le parcelle esatte sono cambiate leggermente nel tempo. Nel 2007, le viti erano tutte Clone 191 – il clone che riteneva migliore per il sito, ma il blocco aveva bisogno di essere reimpiantato, quindi si iniziò a usare frutta da una parcella adiacente, piantata con Clone 7. Dopo un “balletto attentamente ponderato” bilanciando le due parcelle, l’annata 2024 segna il ritorno all’uso esclusivo della frutta dalla parcella originale, ora reimpiantata con Clone 191 (e noto come Clone 34, geneticamente identico al 191). 
 Phelps ha lasciato il suo lavoro quotidiano (lavorando per altre cantine) alla fine del 2023, potendo finalmente concentrarsi esclusivamente su Ad Vivum, oltre a un progetto più recente con il figlio Josh (Coil Wines). Sebbene avessimo già degustato le uscite correnti, all’inizio di questo mese abbiamo potuto assaggiare per la prima volta un trittico di vecchie annate. Hanno confermato quanto sia speciale questo sito, così come il talento di Phelps nel saperlo catturare in bottiglia. 
 Le tre annate che abbiamo assaggiato sono state 2016, 2017 e 2018 – tre anni molto diversi a Napa. Tutte e tre, tuttavia, riescono a combinare grande freschezza con la lucidità di Napa – dando vita a vini sorprendentemente già approcciabili. 
 2016 Ad Vivum 
 Con le parole di Phelps, il 2016 è stata “un’annata classica di Napa”; il clima è stato caldo a fine giugno, permettendo alle viti di concentrarsi sulla maturazione del frutto, mentre l’autunno ha portato temperature più fresche. Phelps ha vendemmiato dal 7 ottobre, fermentando in rovere francese nuovo al 21% (il resto in acciaio inox), con un totale di 19 giorni sulle bucce prima dell’elevage di 18 mesi in rovere francese nuovo al 65%. Ha sempre avuto “un’armoniosità”, ha osservato Phelps, e ciò è certamente vero degustando il vino. 
 Il naso offre frutto scuro dolce, purezza di grafite e accenni di fiori sollevati oltre a una vena erbacea. Il palato è lineare e puro, con acidità salivante e un cuore saporito di frutto maturo, dolce cassis e tannini maturi che forniscono una presa asciugante sul finale. Sebbene sia il più vecchio di questa mini-verticale, sembra quasi il più giovane e beneficerà certamente di ulteriore tempo in bottiglia. Un blend di 56% Clone 7 e 44% Clone 191 di Cabernet Sauvignon. 
 2017 Ad Vivum 
 L’annata 2017 è una di quelle che saranno ricordate per sempre per gli incendi a Napa, sebbene fortunatamente Ad Vivum non ne sia stato colpito. Dopo un germogliamento precoce, la stagione di crescita è stata segnata da tre ondate di calore – a metà giugno, a fine agosto e a metà settembre. Avere un sito più fresco, ombreggiato dal sole pomeridiano e con sufficienti riserve idriche è stato fondamentale per Phelps. Ha vendemmiato dal 5 ottobre, portando in cantina 55% Clone 191 e 45% Clone 7 di Cabernet. È stato fermentato in rovere francese nuovo al 25%, trascorrendo in totale 20 giorni sulle bucce (Phelps ha notato quanto facilmente colore e tannino arrivassero in questa annata calda), prima di essere elevato 17 mesi in rovere nuovo al 70%. 
 Il naso qui è brillante e profumato, combinando frutto scuro dolce – ciliegie nere e ribes nero – con slancio floreale e mina di matita. C’è una splendida purezza del frutto, che prosegue su un palato denso ma fresco, mostrando una succosa eleganza. C’è una masticabilità appagante nei tannini, fermi ma vellutati, che incorniciano le ondate di frutto che scorrono verso il lungo finale salino. Invitante e goloso, è difficile resistergli ora. 
 2018 Ad Vivum 
 Sebbene l’annata 2018 a Napa sia iniziata con un germogliamento relativamente tardivo, temperature più fresche e uniformi hanno dato vita a una stagione di crescita lunga, producendo rese relativamente abbondanti – eppure senza alcuna diluizione, grazie alla stagione prolungata. Phelps ha vendemmiato dal 17 ottobre, con il blend che è tornato verso circa due terzi di Clone 191 di Cabernet dalla parcella originale e un terzo di Clone 7. Fermentato in rovere francese nuovo al 25%, Phelps ha lasciato il 2018 sulle bucce per 23 giorni – leggermente più a lungo rispetto ad altre annate, ritenendo che il frutto strutturato avesse bisogno di più tempo per raggiungere il suo potenziale, cosa rispecchiata da un’elevage di 20 mesi in rovere nuovo al 75%. Phelps osserva quanto generoso sia stato questo vino fin dall’inizio, ma quanto abbia sviluppato ulteriore opulenza e profondità in bottiglia. 
 Questo è un vino splendido: il naso è intenso, esuberante di frutto scuro e con una soddisfacente vena erbacea. Sebbene il ribes nero e la prugna nera siano splendidamente maturi e setosi, c’è un’acidità brillante che porta una freschezza meravigliosa – per un palato agile e vibrante. I tannini sono rotondi e levigati, conferendo struttura senza sforzo, mentre c’è un bordo salino e saporito nel lungo finale. Esplora tutte le offerte attuali di Ad Vivum, inclusa una cassa mista di 2016, 2017 e 2018, o leggi di più sulla California

Dal 2007, Chris Phelps lavora con appena 1,5 acri di Cabernet Sauvignon nel vigneto Sleeping Lady a Yountville. Il vino che ne è nato è Ad Vivum, una splendida espressione di questo luogo speciale. Abbiamo incontrato Phelps per una degustazione in miniatura del progetto.

Exploring Chris Phelps’s Ad Vivum Napa Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Yountville’s Sleeping Lady Vineyard through three vintages, 2016, 2017 and 2018 

Tasting Ad Vivum Napa Cabernet Sauvignon – 2016-2018 

Degustazione Ad Vivum: 2016-2018

Bordeaux è incredibilmente variegata, con stili di vino estremamente diversi nelle sue denominazioni. Qui, vi sveleremo tutto ciò che c'è da sapere su ciascuna delle principali sottoregioni e sulle migliori tenute di ciascuna.

Explore Bordeaux, subregions, their wines and top estates – in Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux, Graves, Pessac-Leognan, Pomerol, Saint-Emilion 

Your guide to Bordeaux’s subregions, wines and top producers

La tua guida alle sottoregioni di Bordeaux

Calon Ségur was my first ever en primeur purchase. There was such hype around the 2005 vintage and I was desperate to get my hands on something, anything. At the time I was a delivery driver for a small wine merchant and it was a luxury, but I could just afford a 12-bottle case of Calon Ségur. That alone is proof of just how cheap this wine was at the time, and how little in demand. The château always had pedigree, however. It was classified as a Third Growth in 1855 – a ranking that may even have been an underestimation, given its reputation today. Evidence of wine-growing on the estate dates all the way back to the 12th century. Since then, the property has passed through the hands of some of the most important winemaking families in Bordeaux. By 1718, the Marquis de Calon owned not just Calon Ségur but Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Mouton Rothschild. With the exception of Ch. Margaux, all the future Médoc First Growths were under his management, but he famously said, “I make wine at Lafite and Latour, but my heart is at Calon.” The quote inspired the heart that adorns every bottle. More recently, the vintages produced under Georges Gasqueton in the 1920s, ’40s and ’50s remain legendary. So, what went wrong? How could an estate, favoured over Lafite and Latour, fall so far from grace? In modern times, the blame seems to have been lain firmly at the feet of Madame Denise Gasqueton who took over the property after her husband died in 1995 and managed it until her death in 2011. But current Technical Director Vincent Millet says this is an unfair assumption. And he should know. If there has been one constant at Calon Ségur through its complete transformation, it is him – having started working at Calon in 2006. “Gasqueton was very traditional in her approach,” says Millet, “but her methods were not uncommon at the time.” Millet explains how the 1970s, ’80s and even ’90s were a lean era in the Médoc. Prices for the wines hit rock bottom and costs had to be cut to survive. Philippe Gasqueton – her husband – had instigated a mass uprooting of Calon Ségur’s vines, hoping to save on labour costs, which were the estate’s biggest outgoing. Although it’s hard to believe now, they pulled up every other row of vines. While Saint-Estèphe had a great reputation for Cabernet Sauvignon, it was harder to grow than the earlier-ripening Merlot, which typically produced more fruit. As Merlot gained in popularity, plantings in the Calon vineyards grew. By the time Millet joined the estate, Merlot represented 50% of the blend at Calon.  Millet is not critical of Gasqueton’s decisions. “It was necessary to survive,” he says. But he knew Merlot was not the best variety for the Médoc and he was keen to make changes. He’d spent five years working with Ch. Margaux, Mouton, Latour, Pétrus, Haut-Brion and Lafite Rothschild, examining the effects of filtration on wine. He then joined Ch. Margaux, heading up their research development department for eight years. By the time he reached Calon, he knew that changes in the vineyard would rekindle its reputation – a disappointment to Madame Gasqueton who had invested in a new winery just a few years earlier. But Gasqueton was open to Millet’s ideas and he convinced her to build a truly state-of-the-art winery at their other estate, Ch. Capbern. “Capbern became a laboratory,” explains Millet. It was their playground, providing much of the research that would inform the work at Calon. Soon before Millet’s arrival, Gasqueton started restructuring the vineyards to make sure they met the appellation’s minimum vine density. Millet then started dividing up the vineyard and identifying the best plots and replacing the Merlot. Importantly he also insisted that rather than harvesting the Cabernet straight after the Merlot, they would wait for the fruit to be fully ripe – something he remembers having to persuade Gasqueton was necessary. “We have to act when the grapes tell us to, not the other way around,” he explains. By 2008, Cabernet Sauvignon once again represented 80% of the vineyard – the same proportion as in the estate’s legendary period in the early 20th century. By the time Gasqueton passed away in 2011, the roadmap for changing Calon’s fortunes was already in place. The estate was purchased by the insurance company Suravenir in 2012. And the new owners, much to Millet’s delight, were happy to invest in the property. As the financial constraints lessened, Millet was able to implement changes rapidly. Under the new management, Millet found he could be more selective with the fruit. He could easily distinguish the best plots, as they were all now vinified separately. Amazingly, production of the Grand Vin dropped by almost half. Between 2000 and 2005 production sat at around 180,000-200,000 bottles a year. Today they make just 100,000 bottles of the Grand Vin.  The second wine Marquis de Calon became the expression of Merlot at Calon Ségur (almost a copy of Calon’s profile under Madame Gasqueton). But today Calon Ségur is distinctly Cabernet-driven and it is what Millet believes is the best interpretation of Calon Ségur and Saint-Estèphe’s terroir. There’s much more to the wine than Cabernet, however. “Calon Ségur is all about finesse,” he says. “It doesn’t have the terroir to make the powerful wines of Ch. Montrose or Cos d’Estournel. The wine would be too rustic if we tried to make it more powerful.” It’s this elegance that makes it unique in the appellation, defying Saint-Estèphe’s reputation for chunky, slightly awkward tannins. Today, the estate is firing on all cylinders and it has become the darling of Saint-Estèphe.  With its change in fortune, financial security and the capable hands of Vincent Millet, the property has rediscovered its terroir – the one thing that hasn’t changed over the centuries. I still have one bottle left of that first case of 2005 I bought – and it turns out, despite being the only thing I could afford, it was a brilliant buy. Having been able to taste through every vintage since has been fascinating, allowing me to follow the estate’s journey. Maybe with the final bottle, I will toast its 20th birthday. It will neatly mark a fascinating transformation of this once ugly duckling estate – that today has become Saint-Estèphe’s most elegant. Explore all current Calon Ségur listings or read more Editorial

Until relatively recently, Saint-Estèphe estate Calon Ségur rarely lived up to its Third Growth status, but today it is one of the region’s most in-demand names. Gavin Smith speaks to winemaker Vincent Millet about this property’s miraculous transformation 

Calon Segur’s winemaker Vincent Millet on this Saint-Estephe ugly duckling estate’s miraculous transformation

Talking to Vincent Millet of Calon Segur

Calon Ségur: the ugly duckling of Saint-Estèphe

The knife is a descendant of the sword, that emblematic and destructive weapon of war. We learn to respect it from an early age. Though powerful and dangerous, this day-to-day working tool is the one item in the culinary arsenal used to cut flesh in the preparation of food. Fingal Ferguson of the renowned Gubbeen cheese family in Ireland, and maker of world-class knives, remembers his mother Giana in the early days of his parents’ farmhouse cheese revival in the 1970s, cutting the curds with her grandfather’s dressage sword on the side of the Aga. It was not, however, this splendid, dramatic rapier that triggered his passion for the craft, but a hobby that grew out of butchering. Ferguson’s handsome handcrafted knives, which he started making 20 years ago, come in all shapes and sizes from small paring knives to cleavers, and have acquired cult status at home and abroad. They are coveted by those who love cooking – from domestic cooks to celebrity chefs – and those who value craftsmanship and beauty, not to speak of functionality, in the tools they use. His collection, full of character, ranges from high quality satin hand-finished steel to the higher end Damascus patterned blades with handles carved from maple, beech, chestnut, bog oak, spalted poplar, alder, Micarta (a composite), carbon fibre, buffalo horn and, more unconventionally, compressed rock-hard Donegal tweed, and gemstone turquoise.  These knives are much in demand – at one point in 2017 he had 980 people on the waiting list. Francis Mallmann – the world-renowned Argentinian, Michelin-trained, Patagonia-loving chef famous for open fire cooking – declared Ferguson’s knives the best, and ordered a set of 22, one for each of the tasks in his kitchen. “He is one of my heroes as I love cooking with fire,” Ferguson reveals when we meet in his workshop on the family farm not far from the fishing village of Schull in west Cork, one sunny September morning. Located far out on the most south-westerly tip of Ireland, nestled beneath Mount Gabriel with breathtaking views across the Atlantic to Fastnet Lighthouse, Coney Island and Cape Clear, Gubbeen (which means little bite) is a 250-acre coastal farm with a 140-strong cheesemaking herd of Friesian, Holstein, Jersey and Kerry cows that graze peacefully in the surrounding fields. It is here Ferguson grew up and became in turn a farmer, cheesemaker, butcher, charcuterie-maker, knifemaker, husband and father.  “I was two and a half when mum and dad started making cheese, so I grew up with it. The farm is the backbone of everything we do, and you are either mucking about in the yard or putting on whites to clean the cheese,” he says with a smile. Tousle-haired, dressed in a bleu de travail workman’s jacket, followed by his border terrier, Mouche, he shows me around the farm where the cheesemaking is in progress, and to a barn piled high with straw bales at the entrance to his workshop. Flocks of geese and Barbary ducks patrol the yard, undisturbed. A nifty Jack Russell called Sunny makes an occasional appearance, checking out newcomers.   Grounded, thoughtful, practical and creative, Ferguson comes from pedigree stock on both sides of the family. His father Tom was in his twenties when he inherited the farm, run by four generations of resourceful Fergusons, including his great-grandfather who introduced an innovative and successful milking system in the 1880s that benefitted the whole area. Tom’s mother Mary was a founding member of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association and ran one of Ireland’s first farm guesthouses.  Tom met Giana Luke – then in her twenties, of Austro-Hungarian ancestry, and daughter of the playwright Peter Luke – when she was visiting an uncle, a writer living in Inish Beg beyond Baltimore. “I was drifting around with a dog and a tent,” she later recalled. The pair fell in love, married in 1975 and started their life together. “She was a dreamer with a fascinating culinary background, and he was a west Cork farmer and a doer. Opposites attract,” Fingal smiles, adding that his own marriage to Dubliner Ciara Rogerson, a high-powered, Oxford-educated consultant statistician, carries on the family tradition.   Giana’s grandfather, hugely influential in her love and appreciation of food, was the Eton-educated Sir Harry Luke who spent 40 years in the British Colonial Service and dined for England in far flung places like Aleppo, Tonga, Tbilisi, Sierra Leone, Transcaucasia (present day Georgia), Armenia and Azerbaijan. His 1954 book, The Tenth Muse: A Gourmet’s Compendium, is a tour de force of descriptions of the culinary cultures he encountered on his extensive travels. Fingal’s own name he attributes to his parents’ love of Oscar Wilde whose middle name was Fingal – indeed one of his own five children is called Oscar. Memories of growing up between west Cork and occasional trips to his grandfather’s house in Jimena de la Frontera, in Andalusía, Spain, were huge influences: “being immersed in Spanish food and those long tables and robust flavours and if there was no garlic, there was no menu. That Spanish influence led us to preserve food with nothing left to waste. Food preservation was logical – we either share, swap or preserve,” explains Fingal whose self-built smokehouse was a pioneering step in establishing the farm’s charcuterie business. A strong work ethic is part of the Ferguson dynamic. “I was never pushed or forced into farming,” he says. At the Quaker school in Newtown in Waterford where he was educated, “if you were crap at something you were allowed to fail, but you had to compensate somewhere else and I was drawn to hands-on learning like woodwork because I love making things and hate having nothing to do. I can take most machines apart and put them back together again.” Having become the farm’s butcher, he got into knives, and with a family connected to food, needed to learn how to sharpen the tool of his trade properly. After school, when he spent some time in New Zealand “milking 800 cows on the North Island”, he made his first knife, then did a knifemaking and bladesmith workshop with Owen Bush & Bushfire Forge in the UK. “But my real inspiration,” Ferguson reveals, “was the knifemaker Rory Conner up the road here in Ballylickey who had trained with Bob Loveless in the US, one of the world’s top knifemakers. We used to contact Rory for knives for special occasions, for wedding presents – he is a real craftsman. All this led to knifemaking becoming my hobby.” In the workshop furnished with machinery, grinders, belts and assorted tools, Ferguson gives me a lesson in knifemaking, explaining that it has two essential parts – the metallurgy “taking the steel to make a blade and how different steels make different things. And the second part is the handle which can be classic or crazy – we live our personalities in our things, so you can have a carbon steel knife with a jet-black bog oak handle sitting right next to a shiny Damascus steel knife with a vibrant multicoloured handle.” Strangely, most of the parts of the knife are named after parts of the body – the belly, the throat, the cheek, the heel and the spine. Sheets of steel of different types are stacked in a corner of the workshop. The painstaking method of making a knife begins, Ferguson carefully explains, when suitable steel is cut and drilled into the shape of the blade, and he shows me the design of the blade marked out on the steel. “It then goes into a kiln for a short specific period at temperatures as high as 1,080ºC depending on the type or process. It is at these temperatures where the magic of metallurgy takes place and we can transform it from soft into hard steel. It is then quenched or cooled rapidly as a key part of the process. After some little adventures with the tempering cycles which balance the hardness and makes the knife more useable, it is ready to become a blade, ready for more grinding and thinning out, defining the edge and then polishing ready for the handle.” Demanding skill and precision, “you could be hours making a knife – and the level of obsession will determine the outcome,” he adds. The level of workmanship in a knife can, in turn, inspire a reverence that affects how its owner wields it. Some of Ferguson’s knives are made from Damascus pattern welded steel which adds an eye-catching beauty when polished and etched – these steels can be outsourced or, as he explains, makers can go through the lengthy, highly skilled and more advanced process that involves more than 60 layers of lamination and that can take years to master. Japanese knifemakers, in particular, have embraced these skills, drawing on Japan’s great historical swordsmithing tradition; when the Samurai were forbidden to carry weapons, their swordmakers turned their craftsmanship to making cutlery instead. “One of the interesting psychological things about a Japanese-influenced knife, with its hidden tang design, is that you might treat the knife differently, use it differently,” says Ferguson. “Images will be conjured up of the precise, thoughtful and accurate knife skills of the Japanese.” In some of his work, he draws on such influences to make knives based around thinner edge geometry and around more precise use. “Western knives tend to be sturdier for more general use.”  Ferguson believes that “a knife is either practical or emotional. You can have a Damascus steel knife, beautiful to look at, but another with a broken handle may be your go-to knife. Knifemaking has to do with weight, balance, edge geometry and geometry. A knife goes through the ultimate form of abuse – every day it is wet and dry. It might be left on top of the cooker. There is a knife for every job in the world and that’s what makes our life so interesting. With all these different knives there is an element of creativity that allows for specialisation and so many elements that one can get obsessed about. One of the easiest knives for a cook to use, with an edge like a razor blade and a light handle, can be the first knife to break if used to cut up bones, so the boundaries and capabilities are endless.” His views on popular TV shows about knifemaking are interesting. “Forged in Fire is not aimed at knifemakers, just as MasterChef is not for chefs. These are shows for lay people that give you a little insight wrapped in drama, and help them learn about your world. The most important process is the attention to detail.”  He stores materials for the handles in a disused kiln and describes how they are attached to the blade with Loveless bolts. “These countersink nuts into the hole in the handle so as you tighten them, they become like a clamp. The bolster area is the most vulnerable area of the knife, so you are strengthening the bolt hole at its weakest point.” Back at his house – a beautiful building dressed in stone from Mount Gabriel, with mesmerising views of the sea – Ferguson keeps the finished knives in wooden boxes in an upstairs room away from the chaos of children’s toys and a busy kitchen downstairs. This is where orders are dispatched, packaged in heavy-duty canvas rolls, tied in a similar fashion to his charcuterie netting, and stamped with his logo: crossed knives that form the shape of a capital F. The appeal of Ferguson’s knives is stunningly obvious. But despite huge demand, his output isn’t set to increase any time soon. “After one of my knives became a viral sensation on social media, I had more than a thousand people wanting it, so I could spend the rest of my life making them. But the knifemaking side of the business has become a way in which I can channel my creativity.”  Ferguson invests a range of emotional energies into the knives he makes, each of which is a unique creation. “You can be gung-ho and vent if you are tired or emotional – or, if in a calm mood, you can be precise and careful. There is also a point where you can cut yourself or break the knife, so there is room and a role for every state of mind.” It is a delicate balance, and he feels blessed in that people want these knives, but they are not something that can be mass produced.  His profile has led to some odd demands. He has been asked for knives with handles made from the wood of a sentimental apple tree, or to be bejewelled with precious gems. He’s even been asked to work gold into the process of making a blade. “You can go to extreme lengths, and part of me wants the knives I make to go up on a wall and be displayed. You can have your haute couture of knives, and indeed the ones I’ve done now are very different; there is an evolution because I’m part of a community of knifemakers. Another part of me wants to see my knives on family tables being used every day.” While he is happy to work to specific requests from his clients, Ferguson is a man in tune with the fluidity of process, and the never-ending learning curve. “You can spend your life becoming a cheesemaker, gardener, farmer, making really good silage for the cows, but these are adaptable moving targets and as soon as you feel you know everything, you realise how much you don’t know – it is a process of continual learning and that’s how food led to the knives. The handmade knife is a tool that makes sense to a cook like a Mont Blanc pen to a writer. Carpenters respect their chisels. You don’t need to buy a handmade knife unless it is something that brings you pleasure. But you want people to enjoy the knife for what it is. Rory (Conner) always said that a good knife should be recognisable in the pitch dark – that you should know which way is up.” This article was originally published in FONDATA, Issue Two.

Fashion editor and author Deirdre McQuillan meets Fingal Ferguson to find out how butchery inspired him to become a knifemaker.


FONDATA: A Descendant of the Sword

A Descendant of the Sword 

The Macallan has become the most collectable Scotch whisky in the world. It consistently surpasses its own records at auctions and is known the world over as a luxury brand – even by those who know have little-to-no interest in whisky. The Macallan has come an awfully long way in its 200-year history. From its humble beginnings as two stills in a wooden outbuilding, the Speyside distillery has continually grown in size and prestige. Today, the Scottish whisky-maker calls a stunning £140 million state-of-the-art distillery home and continues to release remarkable long-aged whiskies from its vast stocks. This steady supply of exceptional single malts and rare bottlings, including its fabled #263 cask filled in 1926, has secured its reputation as a collectors’ must-have. But just how has The Macallan become such a tour de force and what should you know if you’re looking to add a bottle to your whisky collection? The history of The Macallan Based in Craigellachie in the Highlands, The Macallan distillery was founded in 1824 by farmer Alexander Reid and became one of the few licensed distilleries following the Excise Act of 1923. In 1868, James Stuart took over the distillery and rebuilt it. Stuart ran the site until 1892, when Roderick Kemp, a distilling giant who previously owned the Talisker distillery, took over and led the distillery to success. Kemp’s ancestors managed The Macallan for over a century, greatly expanding the distillery – increasing the number of stills from six to 21 between 1965 and 1975. In 1986, Suntory bought out a quarter of the stocks, with Highland Distillers buying out the rest in 1994. The distillery changed hands again in 1999, when Edrington took control. The Macallan has been largely responsible for the company’s unprecedented growth. Macallan’s reputation was built on the use of Sherry casks. Indeed, until 2004 it used exclusively Sherry casks, but then introduced the Fine Oak series, which was aged in ex-Bourbon and Sherry casks. The Macallan cask programme Today, The Macallan invests more per cask than any other distillery in sourcing, crafting, seasoning and caring for its casks – all under the watchful eye of Master of Wood, Stuart MacPherson. The entire process of creating a Macallan Sherry-seasoned oak cask takes approximately six years. Today, European and American oak are both used. Once felled at the optimum age (100 years for European and 70 years for American oak), the trees are left to air-dry for at least one year before they are cut into staves and transported to Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where they are air-dried for a further 12 months, then coopered, toasted and Sherry-seasoned. All The Macallan whiskies are natural in colour – with nothing added and the only colour imparted by the long maturation in barrel. The curiously small stills  The Macallan boasts some of the smallest stills in Speyside. At just shy of 13 feet in height, the small and squat shape of the stills enables maximum copper contact and little-to-no reflux, resulting in the characteristically rich, fruity and oily new-make Macallan spirit. The 24 stills are also run incredibly slowly – at a trickle – and Macallan only takes 16% of the final spirit from the stills to fill its casks. When the new £140 million distillery was built in 2018, The Macallan commissioned the famous coppersmith company Forsyths to faithfully replicate the existing stills, down to the last dent. The 24 stills are designed to be exact replicas and the distillery maintains the new spirit will be unchanged. Kirsteen Campbell became the first female Master Whisky Maker in The Macallan’s near 200-year history in 2019. Campbell is squarely responsible for maintaining The Macallan’s distillery character and deciding which whiskies to pull from the archives. She was instrumental in the record-breaking Red Collection – a six-whisky set of superlative single malts, including two of the oldest released by the distillery. Campbell and her team are always looking at future-proofing the distillery, and run various barley trials. Currently, The Macallan uses Concerto barley and its own exclusive strain called Momentum that is grown on the estate and in other parts of Scotland and the north of England. The new £140 million distillery  Inspired by the great wineries across the globe, the Edrington team set out to build a distillery unlike any other in 2011. The project, led by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners – the architects responsible for Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Leadenhall Tower, or Cheesegrater, as it has become known – took seven years from idea to launch. It involved up to 400 people specialising in more than 20 different trades and cost £140 million. The result is an architectural marvel and has increased The Macallan’s distilling capacity from 11 million to 15 million litres a year. Easter Elchies House, located on the 485-acre Speyside estate, is still the spiritual home of the brand. At present, the old Macallan distillery, complete with its original 21 stills, has been mothballed but rumours swirl that it might resume production in the not-too-distant future. The Macallan and 007  The Speyside single malt has featured in two James Bond films. It first appeared – very heavily – in the 2012 Skyfall when M and Bond are both seen drinking Macallan. There is also the memorable scene between Javier Bardem’s Silva and Daniel Craig’s Bond when The Macallan 50 Year Old (the 1962 Fine & Rare) gets an extended amount of airtime, balanced in a shot glass on Sévérine’s head. A bottle signed by Bardem and Craig was later sold at auction, raising £9,635 for charity. The Macallan 18 Year Old makes a more understated appearance in the 2015 Spectre, on a table in James Bond’s apartment. The Macallan range The Macallan produces an extensive permanent range of whiskies, which include Sherry Oak (ranging from 12 to 40 years old), Triple Cask Matured (a trinity of whiskies aged 12, 15 and 18 years in European and American Sherry-seasoned casks), Rare Cask (single malts from the distillery’s library of Sherry-seasoned casks), the Masters Decanter Series (including M, M Black, Reflexion and No 6) and the Fine & Rare Collection. Limited releases (Edition, Anecdotes of Ages, Tales of The Macallan) The Macallan is arguably best known for its limited releases. These are one-off bottlings, often collaborations with artists and experts in their fields, and whiskies that are inspired by various stages in the distillery’s 200-year-history. Some of the most interesting limited releases include the 13-bottle Anecdotes of Ages collection. Each bottle of 1967 single malt features imagery of The Macallan Estate, created by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake and photographed by Mary McCartney. Only 322 bottles are available worldwide. The Archival Series is also worth highlighting. First released in 2015, with Folio 1, the series includes 24 individual bottlings that commemorate the distillery’s iconic advertising campaigns from the 1970s to 1990s. Today, a single Folio bottle can fetch upwards of £1,500. The Macallan has unveiled two highly anticipated limited releases over the past two years: the sixth and final Edition, and the first Tales of The Macallan. Prices for the complete Edition series (1-6), and individual Edition bottlings, have been steadily rising. The forecasted price for one of the 350 Lalique-designed Macallan Volume I decanters is £60,000. The Macallan also releases more experimental limited releases, like the Harmony Collection and A Night on Earth. The first Harmony Collection, unveiled in 2021, was the Rich Cacao expression, combining two of life’s pleasures: Sherry-matured whisky and chocolate. The same year, the distillery released its first A Night on Earth whisky, honouring Scotland and its legendary Hogmanay festivities. The seasonal release features illustrations from Japanese-French artist Erica Dorn. Cask #263 Without doubt, the most coveted bottles from The Macallan come from one hallowed cask: #263. The Sherry-seasoned cask, filled in 1926, slumbered for six decades until the precious liquid was filled into a mere 40 bottles in 1986. Of these, 12 were filled into bottles designed by pop artist Peter Blake and 12 were bottled in labels designed by Italian artist Valerio Adami; two were auctioned in blank bottles – one of which was later hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillion; and 14 were sold as part of The Macallan’s Fine & Rare Collection. Sporadically, and to great furore, these bottles have appeared at auction. One of the Blake bottles sold for £6,375 in 1991, an Adami fetched almost double that five years later, and another went under the hammer for $75,000 in the late 2000s. After this, things went quiet and speculation about the whereabouts of the bottles was rife – until a bottle of Blake and Adami sold for $1.2m in 2018. Unsurprisingly, this set in motion a veritable maelstrom of activity, and nine bottles have since changed hands. The Fine & Rare Collection The Macallan first launched the Fine & Rare Collection back in 2002, with a modest 37 different expressions. In the years that have followed, this collection has swelled to 57 different vintage bottlings from eight decades in the distillery’s history – making it the largest vintage-dated single malt collection in the world. The oldest bottling in the impressively vast Fine & Rare Collection is from the legendary 1926 vintage. The Macallan Red Collection The Macallan Red Collection is widely seen as the pinnacle of the distillery’s portfolio. Three of the six single malts are the oldest whiskies ever released by The Macallan – or any Scotch whisky distillery, for that matter. The entire collection – named after a colour that has a long association with The Macallan – is aged in Sherry-seasoned casks. The three oldest ongoing expressions (40 Year Old, 50 Year Old and 60 Year Old) join the three guest releases, which are the oldest in the distillery’s history (71 Year Old, 74 Year Old and 78 Year Old). Occasionally a lone bottle or an incomplete set of The Macallan Red Collection becomes available, but to find all six bottles is truly rare and exciting. Collaboration with Lalique on the Six Pillars Collection Over the course of one decade, The Macallan partnered with acclaimed French crystal maker Lalique on some truly memorable and collectable whiskies. In 2016, the Six Pillars set drew to a magnificent close with The Macallan in Lalique 65 Years Old . Only 450 individually numbered bottles were released worldwide. The first release in the collection, which began in 2005, was the 50 Year Old, followed by the 55 Year Old (in 2007), 57 Year Old (in 2009), 60 Year Old (in 2011) and 62 Year Old (in 2014). In 2019, four bottles from The Macallan Six Pillars Collection sold for £296,500. Browse The Macallan whiskies or read more Editorial 

The Macallan’s reputation is unparalleled. It is the most coveted and collectable Scotch whisky and a luxury brand in its own right. We explore the distillery’s rise and the bottlings that continue to secure its place at the pinnacle of collectability

The Macallan’s reputation is unparalleled - the most coveted Scotch whisky. We explore the distillery’s rise & the bottlings at the pinnacle of collectability

Everything you need to know about The Macallan

Driving through Napa and Sonoma, the land still bears the scars of 2020. The wildfires that raged through the region have left a long-lasting mark, whether it’s lengthy reconstruction efforts or the stark, charred tree trunks that cover the mountains. But it’s more than that. To an outsider, the fires feel intangible, terrifying yet somehow conceptual. Talking to those that lived through them, however, makes you instantly realise quite how petrifying that season was. The trauma of those flames is still smouldering away.  In 2017, fires hit Northern California on 8th October, however most producers had already harvested. Indeed, the fire even crossed the Kistler property, but their vines helped act as a firebreak. Two years later the Kincade fire swept through Sonoma County at the end of October. But in 2020, the first fires arrived earlier. The LNU Lightning Complex started with what is known as the Hennessey fire on 17th August. Sparked by lightning after thunderstorms, the complex was a weave of 250 different fires that collectively raged through almost 150,000 hectares of the region. The damage was enormous: 1,491 buildings were destroyed and six people lost their lives. While the fire did diminish in size, it wasn’t entirely extinguished until 2nd October, almost a month and a half after it started.  Before the Lightning Complex had fully subsided, the Glass Fire attacked. The blaze started on 27th September, east of St Helena near the Silverado Trail, spreading north to Calistoga and then south and west, towards Santa Rosa. It burned until 20th October, encompassing over 27,000 hectares and taking over 1,500 buildings with it, including numerous wineries. It cut through Eisele Vineyard, across 90 acres of hillside and forcing them to rip up 1,000 vines. Fortunately they’d already picked all their fruit (finishing their harvest three days before the fire broke out, on 24th September). And this was all in the midst of Covid-19.  Wildfires aren’t new in Northern California, but they’re certainly more prevalent than ever before. Indeed, as Cory Empting – Director of Winegrowing at Promontory, Harlan and Bond – tells me, the region’s indigenous people, the Wappo, used to describe autumn as “smoky mountains”.  Paul Hobbs – who has been making wine in “the Valley” (as the locals would say) since the late 1970s – remembers a fire in the 1980s that burned its way along the Silverado Trail. “All it took was a gust of wind,” he says – and one flame turned into something uncontrollable in the blink of an eye. He remembers climbing up on a roof to see the sobering effects of the fire.  Perhaps partly due to this early exposure, fires have always been at the forefront of his mind when picking a site – avoiding rugged, dry areas like Diamond Mountain or Calistoga. And he is exacting with forest management of the sites he works – even on our wander around his Goldrock Estate vineyard, he notices some saplings that are troubling him, and calls over his vineyard manager to take a look, conscious to reduce the risk as much as possible. And he’s deservedly cautious. The 2017 vintage was his first working with Cleary Estate out in Freestone-Occidental, and he paid almost $2 million for fruit that he couldn’t use. The fire itself is one challenge, however vines are natural firebreaks so don’t tend to suffer much direct damage (although the heat from a blaze can sometimes scorch vines). The real threat, however, is in the air – smoke. But the science of smoke taint is complex, and poorly understood. Producers can send samples to laboratories to be tested for the compounds responsible for the taint (guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol) but the exact level of perception isn’t known. These compounds also naturally occur in some varieties, eg Syrah, and come from oak barrels (in particular the toasting process).  Of course the impact of smoke is dependent on proximity to the fire, the intensity of the smoke, elevation and the wind. Hobbs explained how in 2020 much of the smoke from the Glass Fire stayed north for several days, but then the wind shifted and sent it south to the Bay Area. As smoke travels, and ages, the volatile compounds also degrade, so there is also a significant difference between the impact of “fresh” smoke, versus what Hobbs describes as “atmospheric” smoke. The latter may look bad, but it’s unlikely to hold significant taint, whereas if you’ve got fresh smoke, it’s “game over”.   Lots of producers do micro-ferments to look for smoke taint, testing to see if it’s worth the expense of picking the fruit and making the wine – however that’s also not a sure-fire way to know if you have smoke taint. The nature of these compounds means that they can lurk, undetectable in a wine, and emerge in bottle as hydrolysis occurs. “That’s why it’s so insidious,” Hobbs says.  If you’ve got smoke-tainted fruit, the options are limited. The compounds are concentrated in the skins, so the aim is generally to minimise skin contact. Indeed, some producers made rosé in 2020, having picked earlier, with higher acidity than normal. Otherwise you can use reverse osmosis or spinning cone (both expensive processes that are used for de-alcoholisation), or carbon fining – or a combination of all of the above – to try and strip out the smoky flavour. The result, as Mark De Vere MW at Robert Mondavi said of trials they’d done, it generally didn’t work, but if it did, “It took so much else out.” (Robert Mondavi ended up making almost no 2020 wine.)  *  Read anything about 2020 and there is a cacophony of opinion. “Everyone handled the vintage differently,” Cate Kistler of Occidental told me. They picked on 18th August, not in response to the fire, but because that was when the first fruit was ripe. They didn’t do any micro-ferments or send samples to labs (“We’re not data-crunching people,” Kistler says). The cost of picking was, for them, “a drop in the bucket” in comparison to farming the vineyards the rest of the year, so they tried to do what they could.  “It was going to be either Occidental, or nothing,” she said with a shrug. They took their time, committing to making every decision as if it was a normal year, finishing on 6th September just as the Labor Day heatwave hit. They didn’t use everything they picked, but they made all five of their single-vineyard wines – and the 2020s we tasted are glorious.   Some, like Colgin, didn’t make any wine at all, while many producers made around 40% less (such as Williams Selyem and Peter Michael). Many of the 2020s that will be released were picked before the fires struck. Cathy Corison had all her fruit safely in the winery more than two weeks before the Glass Fire hit, but the challenge was to keep the smoke out of the winery. She bought industrial grade air filters to shield her ferments. “They’re beautiful,” she says with a quietly proud smile.  At Dalla Valle, Maya Dalla Valle doesn’t pretend that it was an easy year, but she’s pleased with the wines they made (all with fruit picked before the Glass Fire). As ever, these are wines that speak of their year – which wasn’t just the fires, but a hot, dry year that (along with a block that was being re-grafted) cut their crop to a mere 2,700 cases in total. At Dominus, they did micro-ferments after the Lightning complex, and had picked their last row of fruit on the morning the Glass Fire broke out.  Steve Matthiasson – the leading viticulturalist who also has his eponymous label with his wife Jill – told me how it was set to be “an epic season” before the fires hit. He highlighted how the smoke meant there was less UV light reaching the grapes, and that meant the fruit wasn’t as phenolically ripe. They pick early, so had started harvest 10 days before the Glass Fire broke out. The Cabernet Sauvignon in their Phoenix vineyard was still out, but they managed to pick it the morning after the fire broke out, before the smoke was able to take effect.  Most who picked early are in agreement that the hot, dry conditions were in their favour. Promontory saw only eight inches of rain, versus the 30 of a normal year. But that hydric stress helped them – it meant the crop was small and the vines shifted to ripening the fruit earlier, so even though they picked on 22nd August they had no pyrazines. As Will Harlan says, in some ways, “The stars aligned”.  The 2017 vintage might have prompted people to start thinking about climate change, but 2020 was a real wake-up call for the region. It prompted Martin Reyes MW to try and create a community around climate action. Eventually, working alongside Anna Brittain, he founded Napa RISE (standing for Resilience Innovation Sustainability Empowerment), a climate and wine symposium that first took place in 2022 (with the 2023 symposium currently underway). It’s early days, but they’re “trying to build into the DNA [of Napa RISE] this notion of action”. He’s keen to avoid a conference focused on discussing concepts, but an industry convention that drives change.  One part of that conversation is inevitably fire – and a session last week focused on forestry management. “The relationship with fire we have is complicated – but it can be a healthy relationship,” Reyes tells me.   Controlled burning has long been a part of life for indigenous peoples – both in North America and Australia, where wildfires have now become a threat. In the US, controlled burning was officially banned in 1911 when the Weeks Act was introduced, but California is gradually realising the need for its reintroduction.  “Agroforestry was happening before conservation took it off the table,” Empting (of Domain W. Harlan) tells me. He talks about how when the previously evicted Miwok people were allowed to return to Yosemite, they were horrified by what they saw – where “conservation” had destroyed the ecosystems. For native peoples, seasonal work like controlled burns was a way of life – seen as their responsibility to the land. But it was a responsibility that colonialism robbed from them, and didn’t take on.  At the Pepperwood Preserve, native peoples do controlled burns. Empting visited to explore the practice and see if it’s something they could take up as part of their stewardship of the land. The challenge today is the paperwork – and politics. Permits are difficult to obtain, the fire department is reluctant and has to be involved, and then there are the neighbours to contend with.  Hobbs highlights that it’s not just that there aren’t enough controlled burns, but that manmade structures have taken over swathes of land – and they burn hotter, leading fires to rage in less predictable ways.  Of course, as with 2017, the 2020s are already being marred by rumour and reputation of a smoke-tainted year. The reality is so much more complex – and, although I haven’t tasted enough to make pronouncements on the vintage, there are some brilliant wines. Of course you’ll need to choose carefully, but for top producers there is nothing to be gained by releasing wine that is anything less than flawless.  While the fires have left scars, the land’s capacity for renewal is remarkable – with vibrant vegetation flourishing in amongst the scorched trees. The 2020 vintage wasn’t the first to see such challenges and it won’t be the last. The soils can recover, and so can the people, but a sustainable way to manage these threats is essential to long-term survival. Read more about California or browse all California listings

Wildfires have become a yearly occurrence for Napa and Sonoma – but what is their impact, and how can producers handle the effects? Sophie Thorpe spoke to some of Northern California’s leading producers to investigate the issue

Talking to Napa and Sonoma’s top producers about wildfires and the 2020 vintage – Paul Hobbs, Harlan, Kistler, Occidental, Promontory, Mondavi and more

Wildfires and the 2020 vintage in California

The way the wind blows

Arling Blaze

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Si prega di notare: potrebbero essere applicati costi di consegna, dazi e IVA

Il nostro sito è temporaneamente in manutenzione.

Modalità manutenzione

La pre-autorizzazione di un metodo di pagamento consente al tuo Account Manager di effettuare pagamenti per tuo conto, senza verifica del pagamento.

Pre-autorizza

Questa transazione è stata bloccata per un errore di autenticazione.

Errore di autenticazione

La tua carta di pagamento è scaduta. Controlla i dati e riprova.

Carta scaduta

Fondi insufficienti per saldare l'importo. Controlla i dati e riprova.

Fondi insufficienti

Questa transazione è stata bloccata dal fornitore di pagamenti per possibile attività fraudolenta.

Transazione bloccata

Scegli un metodo di pagamento diverso e riprova.

Errore sconosciuto

mostra tutti gli articoli che attualmente conservi con noi. Questi articoli possono essere venduti, consegnati o trasferiti.

Presso {shortName}

La tua allocazione verrà annullata. Sei sicuro di voler continuare?

Il tuo articolo pre-ordinato verrà eliminato. Sei sicuro di voler continuare?

La tua richiesta di consegna verrà annullata. Sei sicuro di voler procedere?

rappresenta tutti i vini che sono in tuo possesso e che sono stati consumati.

Questo è il prezzo che hai pagato per questo articolo.

Prezzo di costo

Dopo aver aggiunto il nuovo indirizzo, verrai reindirizzato a questa pagina.

Crea un nuovo indirizzo

La tua notifica verrà eliminata. Sei sicuro di voler continuare?

Il prezzo minimo al quale sei disposto a vendere. Se il prezzo di listino scende al di sotto di questo valore, la tua inserzione verrà rimossa.

mostra tutti gli articoli che hai pre-ordinato, inclusi i vini en primeur, e tutti gli articoli nella tua watchlist.

Futures

È possibile impostare un prezzo minimo per gli articoli in vendita basato su una percentuale del valore netto unitario attuale.

Puoi impostare un prezzo di mercato per gli articoli che stai vendendo basato su una percentuale del valore netto unitario corrente.

mostra tutte le azioni che hai effettuato sugli articoli nel tuo Portafoglio.

raggruppa ogni azione per tipo - Acquisto, Vendita, Consegna e Trasferimento in entrata - così è chiaro a colpo d'occhio cosa è successo a ciascun articolo.

Storico

mostra tutti gli articoli attualmente in transito da o verso {shortName}.

In transito

La consegna locale è gratuita per ordini superiori a 1.800 HK$ (in un'unica destinazione). Per ordini inferiori a questo importo, la consegna costa 150 HK$ fino a quattro casse e 50 HK$ per ogni cassa aggiuntiva.

Le spedizioni partono da €15 in Italia e da €45 verso la Svizzera e il resto d’Europa per un massimo di 48 bottiglie (75 cl). I costi variano in base alla destinazione. Per spedizioni più grandi è possibile richiedere un preventivo.

La data indicata di seguito è quella in cui il tuo ordine verrà spedito dal nostro magazzino locale. La data di consegna finale, insieme ai dettagli completi di tracciamento, ti verrà fornita una volta che il nostro team avrà elaborato la tua richiesta.

Puoi organizzare il ritiro presso il nostro negozio al 22° piano, 8 Wyndham Street, Central Hong Kong.
Gli orari di ritiro sono dalle 9:30 alle 18:00, da lunedì a venerdì.

Puoi organizzare il ritiro presso il nostro magazzino STI INTERNAZIONALE SPA, in Viale del Lavoro 57, 37051 Bovolone, Verona.
Gli orari di ritiro sono dalle 8:30 alle 12:30 e dalle 13:30 alle 17:30, dal lunedì al venerdì. Siamo chiusi nei giorni festivi.

Questo è il valore di mercato stimato attuale per questo articolo.

I prezzi impostati manualmente verranno sovrascritti. I vini già inseriti non sono interessati.

Aggiorna tutti i vini non inseriti al prezzo di mercato corrente.

Imposta tutto al prezzo di mercato

rappresenta tutti i vini attualmente presenti nel tuo Portafoglio che non sono conservati con noi. Premi l'icona

La mia cantina

Nome

Prezzo netto

Nuovo portafoglio disponibile

Nuovo portafoglio

Non hai alcuna fattura in questo momento.

mostra tutti gli articoli del tuo Portafoglio che sono attualmente sul mercato.

In vendita

mostra tutti gli articoli attualmente presenti nel tuo Portafoglio. Da questa pagina puoi eseguire azioni individuali su di essi.

Panoramica

mostra tutti gli articoli attualmente in attesa di un'azione da parte dell'utente.

In sospeso

Questo è il prezzo di mercato dinamico dell'articolo al netto del margine di negoziazione.

Questo è l'importo del profitto che riceverai se la tua inserzione verrà venduta.

I pagamenti pre-autorizzati consentono transazioni automatiche per tuo conto, garantendo pagamenti fluidi e senza complicazioni. Questo permette di elaborare addebiti ricorrenti, abbonamenti o pagamenti programmati senza approvazione manuale ogni volta.

Il numero di casse che desideri mettere in vendita

Il tuo articolo del catalogo verrà archiviato. Sei sicuro di voler continuare?

I tuoi articoli del catalogo verranno archiviati. Sei sicuro di voler continuare?

Prima di richiedere la consegna, puoi modificare la quantità per ciascun articolo nella tua selezione qui sotto.

*Il prezzo di mercato è dinamico e può variare. Al momento della vendita, dal prezzo finale sarà detratta una commissione di negoziazione del 10%.

Prezzo di mercato totale*

Il prezzo fisso personalizzato al quale desideri vendere ciascun articolo.

Dividi in {caseSize} singole bottiglie da {bottleSize}cl.

Titolo

mostra tutti gli articoli che attualmente conservi con noi. Questi articoli possono essere venduti.

Disponibili per la vendita — gli articoli conservati con {name} sono idonei per essere inseriti nel marketplace.

Profilo

Questo articolo si trova presso FINE+RARE.

Questo articolo si trova presso FINE+RARE HOME Hong Kong, ed è disponibile per la consegna o il ritiro in sede. La maggior parte delle consegne a Hong Kong può essere effettuata entro 3 giorni lavorativi; la data esatta sarà comunicata al momento dell'organizzazione della consegna. Le consegne internazionali richiedono tempi più lunghi, ti preghiamo di contattarci per maggiori dettagli.

I vini venduti en primeur saranno rilasciati dal produttore dopo limbottigliamento, tipicamente 18 mesi dopo la fine della cosiddetta campagna. Il tuo vino sarà poi conservato da FINE+RARE in un deposito doganale fino a quando deciderai di richiederne la consegna.

Ci riforniremo di questo articolo al prezzo garantito dalla nostra rete di fornitori e organizzeremo una spedizione rapida a FINE+RARE.
 I tempi di consegna dipendono da molte variabili, ma in genere per un approvvigionamento rapido sono 2-4 settimane.
 Una volta confermato l'ordine, ti terremo aggiornato sulla data di arrivo prevista.
 Ogni articolo viene controllato all'arrivo dal nostro team di esperti e le fotografie sono disponibili su richiesta (si prega di notare che potrebbero essere applicati dei costi).

Reperiremo questo articolo attraverso la nostra rete di fornitori e ne organizzeremo la spedizione a FINE+RARE.
 I tempi di consegna dipendono da molte variabili, ma una stima media è di 6-12 settimane.
 Una volta confermato lordine, ti terremo aggiornato sulla data di arrivo prevista.
 Ogni articolo viene controllato al momento della ricezione dal nostro team di esperti, con fotografie disponibili su richiesta (si prega di notare che potrebbero essere applicati dei costi).

Arling Blaze

Filtro

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