Previous issue: Sept. 30, 2007

 

Cover Story

The Best From Down Under For years, Australia's calling card has been Shiraz, but the country produces an amazingly diverse range of wines, from mass-market quaffers to dessert-style nectars. To home in on the best, we identify 25 wines you should know if you're serious about Australia

• Wine Spectator Online BONUS VIDEO:  Harvey Steiman visits Prue and Stephen Henschke in their Hill of Grace vineyard, where they talk about their 140-year-old vines and the iconic wines they make.

Winery Profiles

Reviews of the Current Releases

Features

Tasting Reports

Australia’s Big Reds From Shiraz to Grenache, Australia’s red wines are gaining balance and refinement

• Wine Spectator Online:  An alphabetical chart of all wines tasted for this report is available.

Discovering France's Southwest   An introduction to the many styles—and surprising values—that this region has to offer

• Wine Spectator Online BONUS VIDEO:  Kim Marcus provides an overview of France's southwestern wine districts with a tasting of three great values: a Malbec from Cahors, a Tannat from Madiran and a sweet white from Jurançon.
• Wine Spectator Online:  An alphabetical chart of all wines tasted for this report is available.

Travel

Basking in Provence   Travelers on the route from Aix to Les Baux will find sun-blessed destinations for wine, food and all the senses

• Wine Spectator Online:  For information on other great wine-country destinations around the world, visit our online Dining & Travel section and use the hotel, winery and restaurant search tools.

People

The Wise Man of Carneros   Larry Hyde is the man behind one of California’s best and most diverse vineyards

Mastering Madiran   Winemaker Alain Brumont succeeds in crafting world-class reds from the obscure Tannat grape

Departments

This Issue Marvin R. Shanken

Upfront

  

Grand Award-winning restaurant boasts cork taint detector; construction on Frank Gehry-designed winery begins; French producers face wine-bottle shortage; Napa winemakers cash out; wine helps kill bad oral bacteria, study finds; U.S. government mulls wine nutrition labels; GrapeVine

• Wine Spectator Online  Keep up with breaking news as well as the people, places and happenings that wine lovers are talking about.

Tastes

  

Browne Trading Co.'s Rod Mitchell; airport wine bars; Starbucks' new African blend; angling for better wine; oil change

• Wine Spectator Online  Read about America's seafood revolution in our past cover story, "Sea Change: Five great chefs take a contemporary approach to fish and wine."

Dining Out   Los Angeles

• Wine Spectator Online  Find more great dining destinations using our revamped online Restaurant Search, which features nearly 4,000 award-winning restaurants—now with photos, more-detailed listings, reader ratings and reviews.

Columns

James Laube   End of an era

• Wine Spectator Online  In his recent blog posts, James Laube has tackled the topic of high alcohol levels in wine, proposed allowing more vintage blending and reflected on the sale of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

Matt Kramer   A wine that’s pure good

Inside Wine   Noble rot

Collecting

  

Wine auction sales showed no sign of slowing in the first half of 2007; new-and-improved Sonoma County Showcase of Wine & Food raises more than $30,000; Barrett rounds up big bids

• Wine Spectator Online  Wine Spectator Online subscribers can search the site's auction database, which tracks performance for more than 15,600 ageable wines. Also available are analyses of recent auction results and a calendar of upcoming sales.

Wine Talk   BMX biker Dave Mirra

The Buying Guide

View a list of all tasting notes from this issue. Or for more than 198,000 tasting notes, use WineSpectator.com's Wine Ratings Search, where you can sort by region, variety, vintage, price, score and tasting date.

NEW WINERY SEARCH Coming Soon:   Traveling to wine country? Get details on thousands of wineries worldwide. Our newly revamped database includes reviews and tasting notes, photos, tasting room hours and fees, maps with driving directions and more. Plus, find nearby hotels and restaurants. THE AUCTION ADVANTAGE  Wine auctions pick up steam in the fall. Find out what your wines are worth in our Auction Price database, which tracks the performance of more than 15,600 collectible wines. Plus, get analysis of the latest auction results, check for upcoming sales and get advice from our auction expert. INSIDER AND ADVANCE RATINGS  Get a jump on exciting new wines with our exclusive newsletters. Insider provides a first look at our editors' latest tastings. Advance gives you a sneak peek at selected ratings from Wine Spectator's upcoming issue.

VIDEOS  We now have more than 150 videos! Watch this issue's stories come to life: Harvey Steiman visits the owners of Henschke, one of Australia's benchmark wineries. Kim Marcus introduces you to the wines of southwest France with three great values. HARVEST REPORTS  Discover great places to experience crush, plus hear about the 2007 crop straight from the winemakers as the grapes come in. FALL ENTERTAINING  Our recommended value wines and grilling recipes are perfect for a dinner party to usher in the fall.