#33 Capturing the Impossible Wine

Wine lovers have swooned over Romanée-Conti for centuries. French revolutionaries, striving to valorize the vineyard without announcing its now-undesirable noble status, described it as “a balm for the old, the weak, and the disabled,” which would “restore life to the dying.” While Richard Olney, who wrote THE book on Romanée-Conti—the 2022 reprint of which was the reason Noble Rot was invited to a unique tasting of 25 vintages at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti—called it “a timeless perfection outside the realm of normal human experience.” Of course, there are ideological questions attached to anything that can only be funded by princes, the 0.01%, or the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. But, as a winemaker, does that stop you from wondering what it’s like to drink the world’s most legendary vintage? It’s hard work…

Also in this issue:

...travel to the antipodes to introduce a new generation of Australian winemakers, revisit the best and worst wine movies, highlight the hottest grapes for the autumn/winter 2023 season, revisit the winemaking computer game Hundred Days and showcase the mystical Château Grillet from the Rhône.

... lunch with Jake Chapman – aka the artist formerly known as Jake and Dinos Chapman. Synonymous with the late 1990s (like New Labour, Oasis, Damien Hirst, and the rest of the YBAs), the Chapman brothers created some of the most uncompromising art of our time. We hear about his career as a solo artist, from defacing royal autobiographies to making a new documentary about how capitalism and technology are accelerating humanity's demise, Accelerate or Die! (You get the dystopia you deserve).

...hear about former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman's worst meal and John Niven's annual trips to three-star restaurants in Spain and Italy, and find out which restaurants are good for ending romances.

Elsewhere, Marina O'Loughlin travels to Porto to marvel at its gastronomic delights (especially chef Nuno Mendes' turnip and caviar pastel de nata), Keira Knightley writes about holiday heaven and hell, Flavour Thesaurus author Niki Segnit shines a light on the famous ingredient pairings she can't stand, Henry Harris celebrates his cooking apprenticeship in Leiths, and Alice Feiring sees how Georgia's ancient winemaking traditions evolve with the times.