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Andy James

@andywine2021

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Literature professor and wine writer. Enjoying wine, food and the stories behind the wine. My book on Bandol wine is now in paperback at half price.

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🍷 Proofreading with a purpose… 📖

There are worse ways to spend a summer afternoon than proofreading the third draft of The Piemonte Predicament.

A manuscript covered in corrections. A pen that refuses to stop. Two glasses. Two wines. And a quiet Swedish soldattorp that, for a few hours, becomes somewhere between La Morra and Castiglione Falletto.

People often ask how much research goes into a Claude Wintner novel.

The answer is: almost too much.

Every vineyard. Every vintage. Every road winding through the Langhe. Every reference to Nebbiolo, Barbera, MGA boundaries, old bottles, forgotten documents and the curious way history has a habit of hiding in plain sight has to feel authentic.

Today’s companions couldn’t have been more appropriate.

🍷 Fratelli Ferrero Barolo “Pinin” 2021 — youthful, fragrant and already hinting at the elegance that La Morra does so well. Still a wine with much of its story ahead of it.

🍷 Terre del Barolo Barbera d’Alba — vibrant, generous and wonderfully energetic. Bright cherries, fresh acidity and exactly the sort of wine that keeps both the palate and the mind awake through another chapter.

The funny thing is that, after several hundred pages, Claude almost starts making editorial comments himself. I merely hold the pen.

The manuscript is getting closer.

The mystery is tightening.

And Piemonte continues to prove that it isn’t simply a wine region.

It’s a place where every hill seems to conceal another story.

🍷📖🇮🇹

#claus_wino #ClaudeWintner #ThePiemontePredicament #Barolo #Piemonte

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Kindly reviewed by @andywine2021 - Quando Os Tigres Fumavam 2022, produced by Colinas de Santar, a new Portuguese project in Terras de Senhorim, a Dão subregion. Paired with Wagyu, asparagus and a pumpkin and corn salad.
The winery is new but the vines range from 60 to 100 years of age.

Tasted blind I might have guessed Pinot Noir because of the beguiling and elegant nose, though the mouth texture is different. Apart from Touriga Nacional itself, Mencia or Xinomavro would have been alternate guesses. Ultimately, this unique Touriga Nacional-based wine shows blueberry, raspberry, plum, cinnamon stick and mint notes with whiffs of smoke and minerality emerging later.

Subdued and velvety, waves of pomegranate and mint leaf flavors lead into a soft but correct finish. Very nice.

@andywine2021 #quando_os_tigres_fumavam #daowines #carlosraposovinhos #worldwildwines

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Reposted from @andywine

2021 Tennis anyone? After the recent Olympic tragedy, Canadians are changing their national pastime. But seriously though, won’t you try a serious rosé with this Canadian? Marq Wines Serious Rosé 2023 from Margaret River is a single-varietal Grenache with skin contact, barrel-fermented on indigenous yeast. Unserious rosés (read: all of Cotes de Provence and 90% of world production) avoid skin contact to get as light a color as possible, and are termented in stainless steel with yeast added.

#rosé #grenache #PinkSociety

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Domaine du Cros Marcillac ‘Lo Sang del Pais’ 2022 • I made you a promise and here it is - Fer Servadou in varietal form. This red grape, often simply called Fer, has several aliases across southwest France. In Marcillac, Fer is known as Mansois, Saint-Mont and Madiran call it Pinenc and in Gaillac, Fer is referred to as Braucol. Like many, Fer suffered during the revival efforts after phylloxera but it has survived to this day, adding colour to blends, rarely being seen on its own outside of Marcillac. Wines are rustic in style, red fruited with a blackcurrant note. Tannins can be considerable, wine-making dependent, and it was recently DNA linked as a grand parent to Carmenère. • AOC Marcillac 100% Fer Servadou Hand harvested Fermentation - Stainless Steel Breathed for 30 minutes  • This lighter expression of Fer is a picture in medium ruby red. Aromas lean into this as dried cranberry and raspberry, red cherry and currant tickle the senses. An undercurrent of black cherry and black currant tease some additional ripeness that is countered by mouth-watering acidity. Tart is the vibe here, but not in an unpleasant way as there’s a roundness to the texture. Medium tannins are extremely fine-grained but not quite plush - they have a fidgety energy about them and this is the rusticity. The fruit has a thin dusting of liquorice, as well as a faint whisper of something earthy - perhaps mushroom.  Today’s bottle is quite medium in structure and concentration - on the nose, finish, flavour intensity, alcohol - all medium. Body slipped in just under at a medium (-), though acidity got to high. • Not every bottle I feature is a fancy, “drink on the weekend” kinda bottle and I won’t pretend otherwise. Some are very affordable - this was about £11. Why am I telling you this? To remind you that you can find interesting bottles, featuring rare grapes and they can be your “Tuesday was awful so I need a BIG glass of wine with dinner” wine. • Purchased at The Wine Society - Alternative vintage available from The Sourcing Table. • @DomaineduCros @TheWineSociety1874 @TheSourcingTable • #instawine #wineoftheday #winelover #winestagram #winetasting

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📕📕📕 🍷🍷🍷☠️☠️☠️ I know I have been very quiet 🤫lately…….
BUT I’ve been working on my new book project soon to be released: THE BORDEAUX DECEPTION

What if the world’s most legendary wine district is hiding more than just age and elegance?

In The Bordeaux Deception, wine expert Claude Wintner is pulled into a shadowy trail of rare bottles, buried secrets, and a past that refuses to stay corked. What begins as a question about authenticity turns into a journey through the cellars, histories, and power circles of Bordeaux — where wine is never just wine, and some vintages are worth killing for.

I hope this will be a wine-noir thriller for everyone who loves
🍷 great bottles
🕰 history with teeth
🖤 slow-burn mystery

And if you’ve ever wondered what stories might be hiding behind a dusty label… this one’s for you.

More soon. The cork is almost ready to pop.

And just to keep you in the loop Claude Wintner’s next case after Bordeaux will be set in Piemonte with sinister threads reaching back to the Italian Resorgimento and unification period.

Please like or share👍🏻🙏

#TheBordeauxDeception #WineNoir #WineThriller #Bordeaux #WineLovers

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‘I too can command the wind’ Elizabeth I/Cate Blanchett

St Emilion is known for its limestone plateau wines rich in a serene austerity and elegance (think Ausone, Angelus and Pavie). Yet five famed hills bordering Pomerol produce the world’s best expression of Cabernet Franc grown on Gunzian gravel and iron rich clays. Cheval Blanc (itself built on land once owned by Figeac) and Figeac are both situated here; and in Figeac’s case, three hills are planted in Cabernet Sauvignon on the high tops, Cabernet Franc on the mid slopes, and Merlot on the clay soils. Uniquely Figeac is an equal blend of all three varieties with the wealth of terroir giving an edge to the final cuvee.

Figeac 2016 is a lesson in harmony, balanced sophistication, tight-rope taut tension, and poised drip by drip seductive power. You get the familiarly flamboyant soft wooded blue flowers, cedar and cigar wrap, but the chiffon pleated almost rococo fruit and mineral flavours and scents are seamlessly a testament to the wine’s prowess. Everything works in unison for a long luscious musical note of a wine with a large list of descriptors. Luminous, wide, pure, high peaked, and yet nothing out of order, just one simple symphony of bon ton grace. The opening stunning salvo is death by a thousand ethereal violets and peonies, with a puckered-lip attack of mint and camphor tinkling sensation full of zeal to enamour you right through the velvet finish; and all along cherry, molasses, anise, clove, espresso and chocolate paint a silvery palate depth.

Testament to the winemaker Frederic Faye who thought it was his best vintage, this is an ingenuously perfect blend with a soft evolution into what may turn out to be a legend. The signature star struck feel of 2016 known for its linearity, purity and lush balance are on full display. This is a goldilocks vintage that beatifies all three main grape varieties, making the triumvirate use in Figeac 16 a strong contender for wine of the vintage. If you have any of this, open to see what a great wine should taste like but vault and lock the rest and hide the key.

98pts

#figeac #premiercruclasse #stemilion #vinsdebordeaux #grandcru #chateaufigeac Photo shared by Kris FirstThisIsWine on October 15, 2025 tagging @petros.dipwset, @winebeast, @wine_spectator, @grape.poetry, @wineterminator, @monthelie_, @chateau_figeac, @jeff_leve, @farsonsdirect, @martine.jpg, @attorneysomm, @wonggang666, @kris_bas93, @titavdw, @fine_bouche_du_rhone, @andywine2021, @giuma_planet, @winejimmythefox, and @poecellars. May be an image of wine, goblet, wine bottle, wine glass, silver oak tree and text.

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Château La Nerthe
Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Millésime : 2020
Cépages : Roussanne, Grenache blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc

Renouer avec le classique. Revenir à une forme de tradition. Retrouver les sensations d’un grand vin chargé d’histoire. Ressentir l’empreinte d’un terroir. Repenser aux dégustations qui nous ont appris à marcher ou plutôt à comprendre le vin et ses émotions. Ne plus se mettre en quête de nouveauté mais s’arrêter… pour mieux repartir. C’est un peu comme poser ses valises chez ses grands-parents pour quelques jours. Telles sont les sensations offertes par ce grand Châteauneuf-du-Pape !

👁️ Sa robe dorée s’éclaircit sur les bords de son disque pour mieux concentrer notre regard sur son cœur. ✨

👃 Le nez est un voyage sensoriel. La concentration de l’agrume est saisissante. Puis le fruit exotique nous transporte. Telle une caresse, les parfums de miel, de pâte de fruit et de grillé nous réconfortent.

👄 L’attaque en bouche est généreuse avec une belle amplitude. Les saveurs de fruits blancs enrobent le palais. Elles sont relevées par des touches de miel et plus subtilement de pétrole. Des notes d’amande s’invitent au fil de l’ouverture. L’aromatique est digne des grands vins. La finale minérale offre une allonge salivante et un équilibre remarquable !

Accord : Daurades Royales grillées au barbecue et beurre de sauge

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�Was machen wir ARCHIVINO‘s, wenn wir im August nicht Weinregale produzieren oder schöne Weinkeller einrichten?

Wir geniessen die Ferien in Südfrankreich, lesen grossartige Weinbücher wie
„BANDOL WINES and the MAGIC OF MOURVÈDRE“ von Andrew James
Danke 🙏🍷 @andywine2021

Wir haben die AOC Bandol seit langem auf dem Radar und lieben diese charakterstarken, oft unterschätzen Mourvèdre Weine sehr!

What do we ARCHIVINO’s do when we don’t produce wine racks or set up beautiful wine cellars in August?

We are enjoying the holidays in the south of France, reading great wine books like
“BANDOL WINES and the MAGIC OF MOURVÈDRE” by Andrew James.
Thank you! 🙏🍷 @andywine2021

We have had the AOC Bandol on our radar for a long time and really love these characterful, often underestimated Mourvèdre wines!

#archivino #winerack #winecellar #winecellardesign #minimalism #interiordesign #swissmade #wineroom #winestorage #weinkeller #winebook

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Domaine de la Côte de l’ange and The Venetian Las Vegas! Wine and dine at ‘Bouchon’ a beautiful french bistrot within the hotel! Thank you @venetianvegas

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Ciao a tutti, amanti del vino! 🍷

Vi segnaliamo l'uscita di 3 nuovi libri da non perdere e perfetti come idea regalo:

- Il mondo del vino
- La fermentazione dell'uva
- Il Sangiovese

Scoprite la storia, le tecniche e le curiosità sul magico mondo del vino attraverso queste letture coinvolgenti.

Saranno ottimi compagni per trascorrere momenti di piacevole lettura sul divano, tra una degustazione e l'altra. 📚🍷

Visualizzali su Amazon:
www.amazon.it/dp/B0C1THPGJD

E non dimenticate l'hashtag #wineloverapp per condividere le vostre impressioni.

Buone domenica a tutti! 🥳

@wineloverapp
#
#vino
#wine
#instavino
#vinogram
#winegram
#winelover
#wineenthusiast
#winetasting
#vinoitaliano
#vinitaly🍷

#winelovers
#wineoclock
#wineporn
#winetime
#winepairing
#winestagram
#winenight
#winegeek
#winery
#wineculture

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