Sour grapes over clean wine
Hannah Fuellenkemper takes a look at the somewhat murky world of clean wine, and why it’s caused such a stir in natural wine circles
How to survive La Dive
Hannah has the essential tips for you if you’re a wine professional and you want to keep body and soul together at La Dive Bouteille and its spin-off wine fairs in the Loire this winter.
Amazing opportunity, cellar hand wanted
Want a job working for an up-and-coming winery located somewhere in France? Hannah Fuellenkemper has the most amazing opportunity for you…. possibly.
Why French winemakers never reply to emails
Did you ever wonder why French winemakers never reply to your email? Hannah has the answer, explained from the winemaker’s point of view.
Between the frost and a hard place
Hannah reflects on the April frost that has wiped out up to 80% of France’s wine for 2021
Four wines and a wormhole
Hannah thinks she’s opened some kind of portal by calling up memories of 2020’s four most momentous wines. And we’re not going argue!
My harvest starts in X days & I’m getting cold feet
Hannah starts to get cold feet as she starts her sixth year of harvesting – this time with a proper cellar and all!
Rage against the machine
Hannah outlines why vineyard work can be incredibly divorced from the end product, and has some suggestions on how it can be rehumanised
Hand harvesting isn’t the half of it
I hate the hoorah implied by ‘hand-picked’. I hate it more round about the fourth-plus week of repetitive vineyard work. At the worst of times in the vines, ‘bored’ is an understatement. But ‘hand-picked’ is a misrepresentation. Not everything is blockbuster work but everything is done by hand — and once you’ve completed one task, in a couple weeks you’ll be back at the same vine again.
Natural wine is no longer enough
Hannah argues that the new natural wine charter is a missed opportunity to make a radical statement – about how natural wine can push forward to the next frontier