John Gilman, author of the newsletter The View from the Cellar , joins us again for a Q&A. But being younger than the gentleman I just mentioned, I do not have the same reserves of old vintages of white Burgundy or white Bordeaux in my cellar, and so premox has really hit my collection hard. Are these wines forcibly better?

began in a French table area and tried some Sancerres (made from Sauvignon Blanc), some white Burgundys (made from Chardonnay) and some white blends. An under appreciated grape here in the Western world is Chenin Blanc. Domaine Francois Pinon from the Loire Valley makes some demi-sec (semi sweet) wines from Chenin blanc.