Author Archives | Paul Howard
Paul Howard is a wine journalist and educator who runs the site Wine Alchemy. He is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers, the Association of Wine Educators and the FIJEV (international federation of wines and spirits journalists and vintners). He lives in the United Kingdom.
Ca’ La Bionda Valpolicella Classico DOC, Valgatara di Marano, Veneto, Italy 2008
I have recently returned from an inspirational trip to Valpolicella, where the Amarone wines – those dry and complex, alcoholic yet sumptuous Vini di Meditazione made from dried grapes – are revelling in their newly upgraded and long overdue DOCG status. That amarone has gone a long way to re-establishing the reputation of the Valpolicella [...]
Continue reading...Domaine Le Soula, Soula Rouge, Vin de Pays de Côtes Catalans 2005
May 29, 2010
Le Soula was created in 2001 as a partnership between UK wine importers Richards Walford and local biodynamic superstar Gérard Gauby, who had found a number of old and abandoned vineyards with great potential. It now has 27 hectares of vines situated in the deep south of France in the Agly valley in and around [...]
Continue reading...Tenuta di Valgiano, “Palistorti Rosso”, DOC Colline Lucchesi, Toscana, Italy 2006
May 3, 2010
Laura di Collabiano welcomed me into the azienda kitchen of Tenuta di Valgiano, a sixteenth century estate some 250 metres above the river Sérchio, 10 km north of the lustrous town of Lucca. On a cold February night, a fire burned brightly within the huge open hearth, illuminating the room with a cheery glow. On [...]
Continue reading...Musarathon 2010
March 16, 2010
Four years have passed since my last lengthy Chateau Musar encounter in 2006: Musarathon – a 10 year vertical 1988-1998. Another seemed long overdue. Chateau Musar remains Lebanon’s most well known and venerated winery; the wines are unique, every vintage is different and each matures on its own path. Many are long lived – owner [...]
Continue reading...An Interview With James Milton
January 4, 2010
Some moons ago I was looking forward to meeting James and Annie Millton at their winery in Gisborne but was thwarted by storms and then a huge landslide that blocked all access. On returning to the UK I exchanged emails with James about organics and biodynamics. With apologies in advance for any misrepresentation, here is [...]
Continue reading...Pinot Noir, James Millton, Clos de Ste. Anne, Naboth’s Vineyard, Manutuke, Gisborne, New Zealand. 2006. 13%, Biodynamic
January 3, 2010
James and Annie Millton’s established their vineyards in 1984 and make a delicious range of hand-crafted fine wines. Pioneers, they’ve been biodynamic from the outset, long before many more famous estates around the world converted to the creed. Their estate is at Manutuke, just outside Gisborne in New Zealand, in North Island’s Poverty Bay, the [...]
Continue reading...Chateau Musar White 2001, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
November 30, 2009
Up in the Lebanese Bekaa valley at around 1,000 metres is an extraordinary property whose wines have become virtually synonymous with Lebanon. Serge Hochar has continued to make French-influenced wines here in spite of the various conflicts that have raged and blighted this beautiful but unstable region. He seeks to make only what nature will [...]
Continue reading...Domaine Belluard, AC Vin de Savoie, “le Feu, terroir de Montblanc”, Ayze, Savoie, France. 2006
October 13, 2009
Dominique and Patrick Belluard own this biodynamic estate of just 13 ha at Ayze, in the heart of the Haut Savoie valley of l’Arve. They are the third generation of the family to run it since it was created in 1947. They took charge in 1988 and converted to biodynamics in 2001. The domaine is [...]
Continue reading...Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion (6th Edition, 2009)
August 28, 2009
The first edition of this book ignited this writer’s fledgling interest in all things vinous some twenty-five years ago. It was the first wine book I ever bought, almost by accident. I was initially attracted to it because of the superb illustrations by Paul Hogarth rather than by the words; they added to my treasured [...]
Continue reading...Vina Simčič, Teodor Belo Reserve white, Kakovostno Vino ZGP, Goriška Brda, Slovenia. 2004. 13.5%
August 28, 2009
Slovenia is a middle-European country that was once part of the former Yugoslavia, whose western Goriška province borders the Friuli region of NE Italy. The border between them runs through a small wine area with a violent history, known to Italians as the Collio and Brda to the Slovenes. Once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, [...]
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July 6, 2010
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