FRANCE ITALY USA

CHÂTEAU PALMER CHÂTEAU PALMER, 2018 MARGAUX

Château Palmer has ranked among the rare family-run grand crus, co-owned by the Mähler-Besses and Sichels, since 1938. In 2004, the families stunned the traditionalist Bordeaux wine world by naming 34-year-old winemaker Thomas Duroux their CEO before hiring the 30-year-old Sabrina Pernet as technical director in 2007. The team would prove remarkably innovative, prioritising research and development, scorning pesticides and developing a bespoke, holistic vision of viticulture which has allowed them to fully express the character of their parcels – and create some of the most critically acclaimed bordeaux in recent years. “Unquestionably Château Palmer’s greatest asset is that it’s owned by people who are capable of working together and looking far ahead,” says Duroux. “Everything that we have done over the last fifteen years at Château Palmer is revelatory of their uncommon open-mindedness and capacity to be visionary.” Their 2018 Château Palmer, born of a vintage plagued by mildew but saved by steadfast vignerons and a hot summer, earned 100 points from critics like Antonio Galloni, stunned by the depth and voluptuousness of a “truly magical wine”.

PASQUA VIGNETI E CANTINE MAI DIRE MAI, 2012 AMARONE

Founded in 1925 in Verona, Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine is a historic winery which is undergoing a renaissance under its third-generation CEO, Riccardo Pasqua. Today styled as the “House of the Unconventional”, its wines are rhyming innovation with historic expertise and terroir. Particularly emblematic of this rebirth is Pasqua’s Amarone, Mai dire Mai, from its Montevegro vineyard, which turned on its head the prevailing Amarone style of opulence and high residual sugar. “This Amarone embodies everything we are,” says Riccardo. “Mai Dire Mai was unconventional from its first vintage. It was the first Amarone of a new style – dry to the bone, aristocratic, vertical ... The project was to bring Amarone back to its terroir, to make a wine that expresses not just the appassimento grape-drying technique but the personality of this soil. It’s a lean, elegant, agile wine, which most importantly boasts ageing potential on a par with the world’s greatest wines.” In 2022, the 2012 Mai Dire Mai, a highly concentrated vintage with structure, elegance and strength, was named among Decanter’s Wines of the Year, awarded 96 points.

Wente Vineyards Nth Degree

CHARDONNAY, 2019 LIVERMORE VALLEY

Founded in 1883, Wente Vineyards is the oldest continuously operated, family-owned winery in the United States. To say it has shaped the history of American wine is no hyperbole. In 1912, the family imported chardonnay cuttings from France, then selected and grafted the best-performing vines to create what became known as the “Wente clone”. Today, more than 75 per cent of all California chardonnay – the country’s most emblematic wine – stems back to the Wente clone. Wente’s fifth-generation winemaker Karl D Wente currently produces acclaimed chardonnays at every price point, culminating with the nth Degree, a limited production cuvée from the Livermore Valley vineyards where the descendants of the original Wente chardonnay still grow. The vines were literally farmed to the nth degree, with meticulous pruning and harvesting at optimal ripeness in the early morning. Barrel fermented for 11 months with 100 per cent malolactic fermentation and aged sur lie with weekly battonage, the result is a full-bodied chardonnay with a complex nose of ripe apple, apricot and nutmeg, and a palate of tropical fruit, graham and clove.