Source: Chateau-Lagrange.comChâteau Lagrange, Grand cru classé de Saint-Julien, innovates with optical sorting out of the grapes and opens its new vats room refurbished with 32 small vats for a better plots selection. The next harvest at Château Lagrange reveal themselves in the era of ...

Travel Reviews: Bon Appétit Selects French Wine Explorers For Travel Board (Press Release from French Wine Explorers) Luxury wine tour company French Wine Explorers is the newest addition to Bon Appétit magazine’s Travel Board, an elite group that represents all major luxury culinary travel ...

Our Wine Editor, Bill Shepard, has lived extensively in France and speaks French fluently. A college French major, Bill then had a Fulbright grant and taught at the Lycée Jean Giraudoux, Châteauroux (Indre). During his leisure hours, Bill served as translator at châteaux tours throughout the ...

Source: Decanter.com Saint-Emilion classification ditched March 17, 2009 Rebecca Gibb The 2006 Saint Emilion classification will be scrapped, the French Court of Appeal has ruled. A judgement claimed the system was unlawful in July 2008 and an appeal by the eight promoted properties, the Saint ...

Food and Wine Pairing Like a Pro Which wine tastes best with pork chops in a maple glaze? Does rosemary-marinated grilled halibut invite red or white wine? Are there also great food pairings for beer, spirits, cocktails, coffee and tea? To answer these questions and thousands more, the web site ...

La Maison Bord’eaux under new ownership Pierre Lurton probably has one of the most envied jobs in in the wine world–he is President of two of Bordeaux’s top properties: Cheval Blanc, First growth of Saint Emilion and Château d’Yquem, first growth Superior of Sauternes, ...

  From June 13th to Septembre 23rd Exhibition Exhibition “The Jurade of Saint-Emilion, 1948-2008” Collegiate Cloister From May 1st-3rd Open doors in the Saint-Emilion wine estates Open door days in the Saint-Emilion, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Lussac Saint-Emilion, and Puisseguin ...

A Visit to Two Great Bordeaux Chateaux Subject: Bordeaux Prestige Tour day 3 Pessac-Leognan and Sauterne. It is a pristine spring day in Bordeaux. There’s not a cloud in the sky. The grape vines are happy as they gather sunshine and nutrients to flower in early June, and so am I! Our ...

Champagne France Region: How to Discover This Sparkling Area We made a last minute decision to go to Champagne France Region for the holidays-secretly, for selfish reasons, as Pierre’s family was gathering in Soissons, close to Reims.  I couldn’t resist the urge to go, so we packed up our ...

I am not one for air travel (or any travel) during the holidays.  But I was inspired this year to bite the bullet, and go with the family to the Champagne region for the Christmas holidays. This may be one of the best times to travel to Europe.  The Euro is at a respectable level […]

Giving the Gift of Wine Here’s a great list of suggested wines as gifts for the holidays, with different price points to match your budget.  This very informative gift list is written by Sheri Sauter Morano, Spokesperson for Wines of France. While out running the other day, my friend Jill ...

There is another side to the Champagne region which offers a different experience and deserves equal attention from visitors who are truly passionate about champagne. This is the world of artisanally-produced grower champagne. While the large champagne houses buy the majority of the grapes they ...

Natalie MacLean gives a fresh perspective on breaking the rules when pairing wine and food. You really can drink wine with just about anything, according to a new web site devoted to food and wine pairings. Zinfandel with your Tex-Mex? Not a problem. A little Chardonnay with your fried chicken ...

Fake Wines: How Bordeaux Producers are Beating Imposters In recent years winemakers have been paying increased attention to wine bottles. Why? to better protect against fake wines. As the value of Bordeaux’s top wines continue to rise so does the danger of counterfeiting. This leads the ...

Chateau du Trignon: Gigondas Wines I only had a half day to spend with Olivier visiting estates, so I knew that we had to maximize our time together. I wanted to get two distinct impressions of terroir in the Southern Rhone Valley, and Olivier set up visits and tastings at Chateau de Trignon ...

Hotels in Avignon France During my short stay in Avignon France for the wine and culinary tourism conference, I managed to see and/or experience six hotels in the region, most in Avignon, with a couple outside of Avignon. Here’s a brief recap of some hotels to help you get a feel for ...