Alder on America

There was a time when the conversations between the cognoscenti of the wine world happened behind closed doors. Until recently, most of us could have only imagined the whispered commentary of top sommeliers as they passed in the wine cellars of the world's best restaurants, or fantasised about the. More...

These days it seems as though the tool of choice for the upper echelon of the American fine-wine scene is neither a Laguiole nor a personal cellar consultant, but a lawyer. The buzz of conversation among sommeliers and wine geeks this past month has not been over the latest lower-alcohol wine from. More...

To much of the civilised world, it seems most natural. You walk into your local grocery store or supermarket and walk out with the ingredients for your dinner and a wine to drink with it. This is, after all, the entire point of something called a supermarket - namely that a single, self-service. More...

You can never revisit the past, but sometimes all you have to do is travel a little bit to be reminded of where you've been. I've just spent the past three weeks in New Zealand attending three of the country's major wine conferences, the Hawke's Bay Symposium, the New Zealand Pinot Noir. More...

'I've never fired a winemaker, they've always fired themselves. Every one of them has had their own issues', said Don Bryant, proprietor of Bryant Family Wines, when I called him up to talk about the recent departure of his winemaker Helen Keplinger, after just a single vintage on the job.. More...

One of my embarrassing personal secrets has always been that I have a lousy memory for what I drink. People often ask me, have you had this or that wine, and quite often my answer involves fumbling for my mobile phone in an attempt to search my own website to answer the question. Half the. More...

See also Alder's tasting notes . Do the wines of Napa share the characteristic of so many of the world's greatest wines, namely the ability to improve over the decades? And if they do, is this equally true for contemporary releases as it is for historical bottlings? Over the. More...

Most California winemakers are far too busy tending their bubbling tanks and barrels to hold press conferences at this time of year, but trust me when I say those press conferences are going to come at some point, replete with the kinds of superlatives that only the most triumphant of vintages can. More...

Workdays start before dawn this week across Northern California, as this year's harvest gets underway with a massive sigh of relief shared by most vintners on America's west coast. After two years in which the adjectives used by many to describe the harvest ranged from 'nail-biting' to. More...

Silicon Valley lies a mere 90 miles from the heart of California wine country, but sits worlds apart. The frenzy of venture-backed start-ups doesn’t seem to overlap the world of wine, except to provide a steady stream of wealthy individuals whose dreams include a nice house, a few acres of. More...