Tuscany comprises 22,990 square kilometers or 8,880 square miles, just a bit bigger than the Snake River AVA in Idaho and Oregon. Yet it offers such a great variety of terroir that it’s silly to try and sum it all up in a single column.
Travelling is about the need to experience a region for what it offers, in terms of unique food and wine opportunities and to step out of the box when choosing what to indulge in.
Margaux never produces “powerhouse” wines. For this reason it may suffer in comparison with tannic and intense wines produced by the Pauillac First Growths – especially Latour. It does have wonderful purity, class, balance & sophistication.
While not up to ’98, ’00, ’01 or ’03, 1999 is certainly part of that group. At 10 years of age, these wines are drinking beautifully. Another strong plus for the ‘99s is, they’re still affordable. Even the special cuvees are under 100 dollars.
Natalie MacLeans top ten, unique, wine themed gift suggestion for all the special wine lovers in your life that are usually hard to shop for. For some reason, she forget to mention Bordeaux wine loving, web site publishers…
Bolgheri in Italy is a prime example of how Bordeaux wine varietals can flourish outside their native Bordeaux. Just think Sassicaia, Ornellaia or Masseto
16 of us sat down at 9.30 am last Friday to blind taste our way through the 100 top 2003 wines of the Medoc and Graves. Tasters included Jancis Robinson, James Suckling, Neal Martin, Barry Phillips and Derek Smedley.
