A Stroll Through History On The Roman Road To St.-Emilion
Chapter Sixteen. Part Six.
The wines of Bordeaux were my first oenological love, a passion I’ve shared with my wife Caroline for over thirty years. To rekindle our premier amour we visited Bordeaux and like the forgotten vignerons, monks and armies before us, we hiked an ancient Roman Road through historic vineyards to get to the higher place known as St.-Emilion.
The Roman Road, built to service a triumphant empire 2000 years ago, is now protected from development and allows travelers to walk through Bordeaux vineyards first planted in the 2nd century. As it passes through the vineyards of Chateau Franc-Mayne it is little more than a path strewn with broken cobblestones, sloping gently upward as if propelling you to a higher purpose. This seems somehow fitting as the road leads to the medieval village named for the Friar Emilion, a reclusive 8th century monk who achieved sainthood
Read MoreWill New Jersey Wineries Finally Get Respect?
The ‘Judgment At Don’s House’ Stuns The International Wine Geek Community!
New Jersey’s Alba Vineyard tasting room is full of awards and medals but what it needs is a little respect.
Wines from New Jersey are the Rodney Dangerfield of the wine world – they don’t get no respect. Winemakers here sometimes feel like the rest of the world hates their wines. How could that be? The rest of the world hasn’t tasted them yet.
New Jersey’s wine industry has made impressive strides in quality over the past decade, even though the Garden State still sucks when it comes to bridge traffic studies. And while Millville isn’t exactly Oakville, winemakers from around the world are still genuinely surprised when they taste certain New Jersey wines. Their response is typically, “Am I being punked? Where did this wine really come from?”
Read More
