Recently, someone asked me for some advice about taking some courses for WSET and I found myself disarmed. To be honest, I never paid attention to it before migrating to Amsterdam. With My formal education in biology, history, history, art, and finally enology, I didn’t feel the need to have a specific curriculum for wine. I’m France, where I come from, you can have a primary or professional education in wine at all levels, from vocational schools to universities.

I have written a few blog posts about the adverse effects of climate change on wine Production. From Champagne to Bordeaux, not to forget Bourgogne. Several adverse effects can impair conventional and natural wine production, drought, late frost, and limited availability of indigenous yeast. Some research papers suggest that the wine will change, with lower acidity and higher alcohol level. Some of these papers suggest that in some wine regions of the world, making wine could be economically challenging.

Bordeaux, the renowned French wine region, finds itself at a crossroads. Last year, 10 percent of the 110000 hectares of vineyard were doomed to uprooting. Many winemakers struggle to survive, and the prices of ordinary Bordeaux wines have plummeted. Shockingly, some supermarket shelves now display bottles priced at less than four euros—a disheartening reality when you consider that the bottle alone costs more than one euro. These economic woes have even sparked farmer protests in the region.

Have you ever detected the delicate scent of violets in a glass of red wine, the fragrant rose notes in a Gewürztraminer, or the hibiscus whispers from a Lambrusco? Perhaps you’ve even encountered the sweet orange blossom aroma in a Muscat. Those fragrances are a fascinating aspect of wine. Let’s explore the science behind these enchanting scents and learn how to interpret them. At the heart of floral aromas lies the grape variety itself.

If you’re passionate about natural wine, you’ve likely encountered various logos on wine bottles; “Agriculture Biologique" in France, “Bio Agri Cert” in Italy, and “Agro Bio” in Portugal, you may also notice the “Demeter” or “Biodyvin” logo on a bottle. These labels are the certification for organic and Biodynamic farming. Let’s delve into the differences between organic and biodynamic and the relations they have with natural wine. Organic farming is mainly a reaction to industrial farming that emerged between the two World Wars and expanded just after the Second War.

Four bottles of wine among five are bought in a supermarket. People choose their wine during their grocery shopping. They put one or two bottles between tomatoes and eggs. Only one bottle among five is bought in a wine shop, all kinds of wine shops, from “Gal en Gal” in the Netherlands or “Nicolas” in France, the UK, Belgium, and Germany to your local natural wine dealer. The place of Natural wine is very small in this market, so is it possible to find Natural Wine in your local supermarket?

When I started thinking about Muscadet for this blog post I found something amusing, There is truly fascinating is the unexpected connection between Amsterdam and the sun-kissed vineyards of Nantes, where Muscadet is made. During the 17th century, Dutch vessels from Amsterdam and elsewhere in Holland, traveled to the bustling port city of Nantes to bring back casts of the local wine. But here’s the twist: They do not really drink the wine, they had a different purpose in mind making brandy.

It is easy to think that it’s soil that gives the aroma to the wine. After all, if you look at the Bourgogne and Alsace regions, the different tastes of Pinot Noir lust come from something and this something must be the difference in the soil. If this idea is interesting, it is also mostly wrong. If you look at the Bourgogne crues, many of them have different soil types, limestone and clay on one side, granite and Silex on the other.

Strange question, no? However, with climate change, average temperatures will rise from 2°C to 4°C. I already made a post about climate change and the consequences for wine production see here. But recently, I read a paper about climate change in some major wine regions including Champagne, Diversity buffers winegrowing regions from climate change losses and I wanted to share a summary of this paper and my opinion about it.

Should we trust medals and other competition rankings wine present on labels? The shortest answer is no! but you deserve some explanations. If you buy your bottle of wine in a supermarket or traditional wine shop, you have seen this medal, “Medaille d’Or au Concours X” or “Gold Medal wine awards”. This type of medal is everywhere around the world, not only a French thing. How a wine can get this kind of medal?