One day in November

Nov 20, 2020

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Year 10, No. 9

Greetings ,

A "lockdown" it seems is a subjective concept.

In Europe, we've found ourselves in a variety of different states. To the north of me, France and England have gone all in. Italy too has but the brakes on, albeit region by region.

Spain on the other hand has gone "all meh". This has made it difficult to complete the Tasting Reports I have pending for this year, but it's understandable given our infection rates. In Priorat for instance, we had a period over several weeks of being the worst-hit county in all of Catalunya.

On a happier note, since March, Spain has (finally) seen a massive uptake of wine clubs by wineries and Direct to Consumer ordering allowing people to reach out and touch regions that they haven't previously... or just picking up the 2020 "vi novell".

The amount of wine bars that I've seen pivoting into quasi wine clubs has been rather astronomical and in some cases, comical as one was selling their sushi to-go when it's just bought in from a provider. Of course while it may be interesting to get a curated selection of wines from your local watering hole, I can't think that our fine wine shops are terribly thrilled about this having come to pass.

Monday will see a partial reopening of bars and restaurants which could very well prove to be the last gasp of business for those in hospitality to survive before we hit the doldrums of January & February.

-Miquel

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Transparency, in wine *

While the world keeps turning, the wine trade has recently confirmed that much of it, is stuck in the past. Here, we take a look at how there are problems across wine certifications due to lack of transparency, and what can be done.

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