• Virginia 1, California 0: Richard Leahy analyzes the stunning verdict from Decanter’s Michael Broadbent, the eminent English critic. This is must reading, since it will probably be ignored by most of the U.S. wine media. Broadbent gave "four stars-plus" ratings to two wines from Barboursville Vineyards, panned California, and compared a Barboursville wine to the finest white Rhone.
• Exploring the arts through wine: Wine is a great theme for bringing together all sorts of interesting and beautiful things, reports Bill Daley in the Chicago Tribune. Chicago’s Art Institute is holding what museum officials say is the first time a major art museum has done this. Among the exhibits: A 2,500-year-old Greek wine jug adorned with renderings of the maenads, female followers of the god of wine, to a 2007 work, "Leonardo's Last Supper," made by Chicago-based artist Brigitte Riesebrodt out of recycled wine barrel staves still smelling of the grape.
• Oak-free chardonnay comes of age: Or so says the inestimable Robert Whitley: “What the ‘oak-free’ chardonnay movement needed was a courageous example of unoaked chardonnay made from exceptional grapes sourced from top-notch vineyards. Courage would be necessary, lest the temptation to use the barrel on glorious chardonnay grapes might prove too much for the mere mortal winemaker to overcome.” And, reports,he found some.
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