On my recent trip to the Loire, I got an excellent chance to explore this issue at the cellars of none other than Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon, one of my favorite producers in the Loire. The 1998 Croix Boisee came from what Matthieu described as “the worst vintage,&# but the resulting wine was still in fine form. MORE >>

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? MORE >>

1998 Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter. 1998 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, Hunter. 1998 Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling, Barossa. 1998 McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon, Hunter. 1998 Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. 1998 Pizzini Nebbiolo, King Valley. MORE >>

One of the more interesting points is that in its entire history, there have only been seven cellar masters, with the "secrets" passed from master to student. American artist Daniel Arsham was commissioned to create a sculpture to showcase the magnums of Belle Epoque 1998 in an exclusive work inspired by Perrior-Jouet's conception of nature. MORE >>

Extraordinary Vintages in Piedmont 1996 2000 2001 2004 Exceptional Vintages in Piedmont 1990 1997 1998 1999 2005 2006In an exceptional vintage set a Barbaresco aside for a minimum of four years before drinking. In an exceptional vintage set a Barolo aside for a minimum of six years before drinking. MORE >>