The Chronicle
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33 results across all types
- news
The Bare Canvas
The psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott, observed of creative life that, “It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found.” Van Gogh’s work was unappreciated for most of his life, while Kafka’s demand to have all his papers destroyed at his death is arguably, or at least should have been, the last […]
- news
Role Models
At a recent Pinot tasting, a leading South African producer long known for elegant wines firmly denied that they had ever copied Burgundy. Fair enough. We all want to be original; we all firmly believe that we are. And yet this producer had planted Pinot. At Hyde de Villaine in California, they deny copying Burgundy; […]
- news
The Perfect Gift
I remember the first time I saw a four-leaf clover. I was five. It was gifted to me by a kind lady called June, a childhood friend of my mother. She explained to me that they are rare, considered charms by some, lucky for sure, and likely to be kept close by those who find […]
- news
Au Revoir, Michel
Twenty-five years ago, when Michel Rolland was in his pomp, I was lucky enough to have dinner with him at the Cinnamon Club in London. I arrived early and was sitting alone at the table ordering my thoughts. Two Portuguese winemakers saw me and asked if I’d like to join them. “I’m waiting for Michel […]
- news
Sliding Into Grace
The myth goes as follows. A venerable wine (most probably a red Bordeaux, and likely from the Left Bank) is brought up from the cellar, with all due reverence. It has been lying there undisturbed for decades, accruing dust, shedding tannins, mellowing into maturity, dreaming who knows what dreams. The bottle is opened, with infinite […]
- news
Wine’s Third Wave
We may surmise that the Iran war’s impact on the wine trade is unlikely to be uppermost in the minds of Tehran or Dubai residents. Nevertheless, this economic shock will be real. Inflation soared and glass prices skyrocketed when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022; worse will likely happen now that Gulf oil and gas are […]
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The Ghost In The Glass
Anyone following wine discourse remembers what happened in early 2023. That was when ChatGPT appeared, seemingly threatening the jobs of wine writers: an “extinction level event,” some declared. Soon after, reports circulated that it had scored 92% on the introductory Court of Master Sommeliers test, 86% on the Certified exam, and 77% on the Advanced […]
- news
What You Want It To Be
It feels odd today, but there was a time when science was considered an aristocratic pursuit. Tycho Brahe was a nexus of Danish noble lineage, Lavoisier was the intellectual face of the Ancien Régime, while Darwin was the happy beneficiary of decades of haute bourgeois accumulation. Even Newton, often taken as the plebeian of the […]
- news
France’s Next Great White
We think we know where to look for fine white wine in France: Burgundy, obviously; Alsace Riesling, Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, Pessac-Léognan and a few other highly regarded whites from Bordeaux are all in the pantheon. But the picture is changing, for a number of reasons: climate change, and a renewed focus on whites to […]