TMG Blog

Young grafted vine cuttings bundled beside secateurs and a shallow crate of small green grapes, a pagoda roofline blurred behind — Where the young vine fruit goes
Bordeaux

Cos d'Estournel, young vines and where that fruit goes

"Young vines" is one of the few phrases in wine that people treat as an...
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A modest stone marker standing alone in gravel soil, a larger shadowed estate wall out of focus beyond it — This is not a famous leftover
Bordeaux

Clerc Milon is not the offcut of a famous neighbour

There is a shop in every outlet mall that sells the same brand as the...
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Dozens of identical unlabelled Champagne bottles racked together in a cooperative cellar, a grower ledger open on a crate — Two letters on the label matter
Champagne

Chassenay d'Arce and the two letters on a Champagne label

Somewhere on the label of every bottle of Champagne, usually in type small enough that...
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A magnifying glass resting over a blank cream label propped against an unlabelled Champagne bottle — Village rating hides on the label
Champagne

Charles Mignon and the village rating on the label

For most of the twentieth century, the price of a kilo of Champagne grapes was...
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A pile of coins beside an empty riddling rack and a coil of wire muselet cages, dust motes in a shaft of cellar light — Where the Champagne money goes
Champagne

Charles de Cazanove and where the Champagne money goes

Here is a question worth sitting with. Two bottles of Champagne on the same shelf,...
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A chilled unlabelled white wine bottle sweating on limestone beside a shallow dish of oyster shells and folded linen — The case for dry white Bordeaux
Bordeaux

Carbonnieux and the case for dry white Bordeaux

Ask a table of reasonably serious drinkers in Hong Kong to name a white Bordeaux...
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A row of unlabelled bottles from different years along a stone ledge, one lit by low autumn light, the rest in shadow — A vintage is not a grade
Bordeaux

Cantenac Brown and why a vintage is not a grade

Two bottles of the same wine from years three apart can differ more than two...
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An antique brass scale balancing a cluster of grapes against a stack of ledgers, a quill and inkwell on a worn counter — 1855 measured trade, not taste
Bordeaux

Cantemerle and what the 1855 brokers were measuring

In 1855 Napoleon III wanted a display of French agricultural achievement for the Exposition Universelle...
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A wicker basket of hand picked grapes beside a rusted hoe and a handful of dark soil, sunlight across terraced rows — Organic Chianti costs the grower
Italy

Buccia Nera and what organic farming costs in Chianti

Organic farming sounds like a single decision. You stop using synthetic chemicals, you get a...
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A single vine stake centred between two weathered fence posts, gravel and river stones scattered beneath in soft grey light — Being the middle has its virtue
Bordeaux

Branaire-Ducru and the virtue of the middle of Saint-Julien

The 1855 classification is read, almost universally, as a quality ranking. It was a price...
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An unlabelled Burgundy bottle leaning against a ledger open to handwritten vineyard names, a brass compass and folded map on oak — The Burgundy label tells the tale
Burgundy

Bouchard Pere et Fils and how a Burgundy label works

A Bordeaux label tells you which estate made the wine. The chateau owns the land,...
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A dosage syringe beside a shallow copper dish of syrup and a coupe glass catching low light, pale bubbles rising — Dosage is what finishes the wine
Champagne

Billecart-Salmon and the dosage that finishes the wine

Dessert arrives and someone pours out the last of the dry Champagne to go with...
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Recent Post

Macallan TIME : SPACE Sherry Cask and Mastery
Glass Notes
Glass Notes: Macallan's yellow case is out. Why is the red one selling for half? 黃盒上市，紅盒點解跌咗一半？
Neat rows of dark oak whisky casks stacked beneath a wooden warehouse roof, a single dram glass resting on a barrel head — One distillery, its own casks
Producer Guide
Yamazaki and why Japanese distilleries do not swap casks
Fossil flecked grey limestone fragments with tiny oyster shell imprints scattered on dark soil beside a pale tinted glass of white wine — Kimmeridgian rock shapes Chablis
Burgundy
William Fevre, Chablis and what Kimmeridgian rock does