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Burgundy Grands Crus: prices keep on soaring | Auction report

The sale of the Clos de Tart had not yet been confirmed. However, during the online auctions of 11th and 25th October on iDealwine, many Grands Crus that we thought were already at the top in terms of price, continued to increase. The most prestigious ones indeed reached new thresholds. Is it a simple focus on attractive Burgundy or a sustainable phenomenon? The answer will come in a few months. For now, let's take a look at the exceptional auctions recorded on iDealwine last month. More than €4,000 for a bottle of Montrachet…

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Clos de Tart | New owner: good or bad news?

It is now official, the Artémis Group, investment company owned by the Pinault family, bought the 7.53 hectare Clos de Tart, monopoly classified grand cru in Morey-Saint-Denis, Côtes de Nuits. The Mommessin family has been taking good care of this domain since 1932. Therefore, a chapter is closing in Clos de Tart’s history. Thunderclap in the calm world of wine: the Clos de Tart changes hands. This domain has only known three families of owners over nearly a millennium, underlining how endearing it is. Since its founding in 1141 by the Cistercian nuns,…

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iDealwine in Asia

In November, Arthur de Lencquesaing and Alix Rodarie, from iDealwine’s international department are travelling around Asia to meet customers, take part in wine fairs, masterclasses and present iDealwine to new wine lovers. Asia is the fastest growing market for iDealwine, with 64% growth since January 2017. It represents 13.5% of our turnover. Asian connoisseurs mainly buy Bordeaux or Burgundy grands crus, but have an increasing interest for some niche wines and appellations featured on iDealwine, usually harder to find in traditional Asian distribution networks. In their quest for quality, Asian customers spend, on…

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Natural wine, Isabelle Legeron MW

Today "natural" wines are moving things and divide connoisseurs. Yet, these wines have their share of mystery. What is basically a natural wine? Isabelle Legeron’s approach is, in this respect, very interesting. This Master of Wine went in the domains, in the fields to lead the investigation: in the light of her tastings and meetings in the French vineyard and around the world, she reports in this book her journey and provides an independent and convinced perspective. Master of Wine Isabelle Legeron is above all a natural wine lover. That's why she wanted…

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Alcohol easing foreign language conversations

Who hasn’t already felt a little more comfortable speaking a foreign language over a drink? It seems that with moderate consumption, science validates this hypothesis.  Alcohol helping  you to speak a foreign language? This is what Dutch researchers have tried to prove. First of all, don’t worry; we are talking about small quantities of alcohol, of course: this study was conducted with people who had consumed a pint of beer or two glasses of wine. The idea was clearly not to make them drunk, which has rather the opposite effect on your fluency…

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Lafite: selling a Chinese wine in 2018?

A few days ago, Decanter revealed unpublished information on the upcoming commercialization of the first Chinese vintage of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite). This announcement encouraged us to push the investigation a little further... After Chile and Argentina, Domaines Baron de Rothschild (Lafite) conquers China! A country that the group knows well, and for a long time: Christophe Salin, its CEO does not spare his energy to travel the world - especially China – allowing people to discover and taste the wines from Château Lafite, the most prestigious name for Chinese connoisseurs. But…

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2017: a historically low harvest 

After the superb 2015 and 2016, will the 2017 fall under the curse of the vintages finishing by "7"? If the quality is generally there, the quantities are lacking in certain regions or appellations, with a historically low harvest. Complicated weather conditions On 1st October 2017, the French Department of Agriculture reckoned the harvest was going to be down 18% compared to the five-year average[i]. Wine production is estimated at 36.9 million hectolitres, 19% lower than 2016. The harvest is thus historically low, and even lower than 1991, which also experienced a historic…

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2015 wine: great scores for Northern French regions

The long-awaited 2015 wine announced as exceptional, is now bottled, and can be bought. To guide you through your purchases, iDealwine reviews the situation region by region. And we start with the vineyards from the north of the hexagon, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne, Alsace, Jura and Savoie. Red Burgundies at the top Like almost everywhere in France, in 2015, Burgundy benefited from good weather conditions.  The tone was set in spring: the vintage will be precocious. Flowering took place early June, announcing grape harvest late August and early September. A year also marked by…

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Pomerol star of Bordeaux | Auction report

The appellation Pomerol has attracted the appetite of amateurs during the online auction which ended on 29th August. Let’s discuss this world-famous appellation, and more particularly a cru which is starting to draw attention to it, Château La Fleur Petrus. On the scale of Bordeaux, Pomerol is simply microscopic: it covers 813 hectares which represents barely 0.7% of the vines planted in the region. The fabulous terroir of the appellation, identified in Roman times, was later exploited by the order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight's Hospitaller. Pomerol was a popular stopover for…

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