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...Dal was brought up on a farm in northern France and originally wanted to work in forestry....
...But France and Italy established themselves as estimable wine producers decades ago. Arguably a more significant development is the Spanish wine revolution....
...Jura and Savoie in the subalpine east of France are also great hunting grounds but have become too fashionable to be bargains....
...This instalment of my guide to starting a cellar on a budget is devoted to European wine-producing countries east of either France or Italy....
...Enter Lee Robinson....
...France’s coopers owe him a great deal. Ever curious and in search of authenticity, in 1989 he visited Georgia, the cradle of viticulture and, for Veronelli, the cradle of humanity....
...“France is just over those mountains,” was Browett’s wistful comment. Before dinner we popped into Monforte’s Barolo Bar....
On a visit to Jancis Robinson in France, Marco Simonit demonstrates his ‘gentle’ approach on the surrounding vineyards
.... £9.50 Tesco Plaimont, Grande Cuvée Tradition 2020 St-Mont (12.5%)A blend of grapes special to south-west France made by Gascony’s progressive co-op in the region responsible for Armagnac....
...As we zoom past the waterlogged fields of northern France, passengers’ smartphones flash up one by one with an automated government alert: “Exceptional floods are under way . . . take refuge on high ground...
...However, sales in France fell by 6 per cent in constant currency terms, with the market weakening as the year progressed. Retail profits fell by 30 per cent in France and by 47 per cent in Poland....
...A far cry from the glory days (2004, to be precise) when the UK’s imports of wine from Australia overtook those from France....
...Luc Flache, who turns out to be both director and winemaker, was extremely responsive, and I decided to pay him a visit in late July, encouraged by the fact that France’s annual wine bible, Le Guide Hachette...
...Earlier this summer, I issued a call to readers: What would you like to ask the Jancis Robinson?...
...The FT’s own Jancis Robinson is one. She gave very high scores — 19.5 out of 20 — to the 2008 vintage, more than for those champagnes in the next best to follow in 2012....
...Beyond the immediate performance concerns of the All Blacks in France, Robinson and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) face myriad long-term challenges on home soil....
...“It’s an absolutely critical juncture for the sport every four years because there are just so many eyeballs engaged,” said Mark Robinson, chief executive of New Zealand Rugby....
...In its first year, thanks to Belgian chef Christophe Hardiquest, it acquired that most precious of assets for any budding restaurateur in France, a Michelin star....
...It’s particularly associated with the fuller-bodied, age-worthy wines in the Nemea appellation in the north-east of the Peloponnese, where vineyards grow at over 900m, higher than most red-wine vines in France...
...Last summer was scorching in France, especially the south-west, with temperatures way above average throughout the growing season. Wildfires broke out in the Bordeaux region....
...Stockings have complex associations, from the sexual to the sinister, worn by Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and also by movie bank robbers....
...Today’s big read Mato Grosso, a state in Brazil larger than France and Germany combined, was historically seen as a backwater....
...What is clear is that he sells less than 10 per cent of his production in France itself, which may be why so few French people seem to have heard of Ormiale....
...So, in order to maintain quality and volume for The Society’s White Burgundy 2021 (£12.95), it had made for it Le Stopgap Chardonnay 2021 Vin de France, a blend of wine from the Mâconnais in southern Burgundy...
...The Wine Glass by Richard Brendon was designed in collaboration with FT wine columnist Jancis Robinson....
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