A family vineyard in southwestern France makes history

March 26, 2013

His memory might be fading slightly, but René Pédebernade, a vigneron in the Saint Mont appellation in southwestern France, still works around the 12-ha (30-acre) family domain. When I visited him recently, the 87-year-old retiree was removing, with his pickaxe, roots from a tree that had died recently in his garden. He stopped long enough [...]

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Lo Domeni’s Pierre Pradel, a contented Cahors winemaker

March 14, 2013

As part of my recent three-day tour of the Cahors wine appellation, I visited a small property–the 7-ha (17-acre) Lo Domeni vineyard, that sits in the shadow of Cahor’s most well-known property, the Château Lagrézette. Lo Domeni’s owner, Pierre Pradel, is a jovial, easy-going man who always seems to be smiling. He took over his [...]

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Black is beautiful at the Cahors Malbec Truffle Festival

February 27, 2013

The Cahors Malbec Lounge in the city of Cahors is a worthy symbol of the resurgence of the southwestern France wine appellation of the same name. Long before the 1855 Classification of Grand Crus de Bordeaux and long before wine speculation pushed Bordelais chateaux into the hands of insurance companies, banks and other corporate giants, [...]

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The Domaine de Gioielli’s real ‘Jewel’

February 20, 2013

For years, I’ve been trying to meet Michel Angeli of Domaine de Gioielli in Corsica. This vineyard is located near Rogliano, a small village at the very top of the Cap Corse, the finger-shaped peninsula that juts out, like some obscene gesture, from the Mediterranean island. More than one person has told me that his [...]

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Altering preconceived notions about Corsican wine

February 5, 2013

We had just sat down at one of the metal tables on a stone patio outside the stone house in the lieu-dit (French, meaning “place name,” for an area that is too small to merit even being called a hamlet) of “U Stiliccionu,” when two elderly gentlemen drove up in an aging sedan with two [...]

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