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Changes

Dear Readers, I have launched a new blog called wine-chronicles.com. Connections to Wine will continue to exist for the time being on the Internet, but static. To consult my new wine blogging, please go to http://www.wine-chronicles.com. Thanks, Panos

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ProWein turns 20

23 to 25 March 2014 will see ProWein 2014 open its doors again in Düsseldorf. Some 4,700 exhibitors from 50 countries will be presenting wines and spirits from throughout the world. The comprehensive ranges on display will be complemented by an equally diverse programme of events. It all started 20 years ago, and today ProWein is billed […]

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Considering Bordeaux 2013s? Better to seek 2008s in bottle (for the most part)

By Panos Kakaviatos Greetings wine lovers. You may have noticed that I am posting less on Connections to Wine. I plan to launch a new website, Wine-Chronicles.com, in the near future. Meantime, I have posted reflections on barrel samples from the 2013 en primeur tastings and you can find these notes and thoughts on the […]

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ProWein turns 20

23 to 25 March 2014 will see ProWein 2014 open its doors again in Düsseldorf. Some 4,700 exhibitors from 50 countries will be presenting wines and spirits from throughout the world. The comprehensive ranges on display will be complemented by an equally diverse programme of events. It all started 20 years ago, and today ProWein is billed […]

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Changes

Dear Readers, I have launched a new blog called wine-chronicles.com. Connections to Wine will continue to exist for the time being on the Internet, but static. To consult my new wine blogging, please go to http://www.wine-chronicles.com. Thanks, Panos

Leave a Comment

Calon Segur 1982-2010: first ever promotional tasting in the US

In 2013, in Bordeaux, I convinced the recently named general manager Laurent Dufau of Chateau Calon Segur to come to Washington D.C. to present the wines of this famous estate – apparently the oldest in the Medoc. Long considered a hidden jewel, this 3rd Growth from the famous 1855 Classification of the Medoc and Sauternes […]

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Wine Gallery

At Ruinart

Why Wine Connections?

First of all, welcome to my now revamped website. My name is Panos Kakaviatos and I love to drink wine. Since the past 10 years, I have been seriously writing about it, and since 2004, I have also organised wine dinners around the world in top hotel restaurants, from the Hyatt in Dubai for Château Mouton Rothschild in November 2008 to The Jefferson in Washington D.C. for Château Palmer in January 2010.  If you clicked on the preceding link, you will see that I have started also to create video reports which will become an ever more important part of this website. Later on, I will create winery pages, to feature many Bordeaux châteaux but also estates in Burgundy, the Rhone, Champagne, Alsace and other wine regions. It is all about making connections and my anecdote from February 2008 during a special wine event in London remains relevant. I tasted a 1986 Mouton Rothschild – an $800 bottle of wine – as part of a vertical. Several times. Before the event started, to check each of the 12 bottles to be poured for possible defects and during the tasting, when I eagerly drank, not just sipped and spat. The tasting also featured other fine vintages of this great Bordeaux estate, some as expensive, including the already legendary 2005 and 2000, the popular 2003, a racy 1996 from magnum and a meaty and savory 1989. My connection was Decanter Magazine, which organized the event, and for which I occasionally write articles. But anyone could have attended. As I wine lover, I’ll take any connections that come my way, also for wines far less expensive – wines which I can afford with excellent quality-to-price ratios. Wines I will share with you in these pages. Thanks to my experience traveling and tasting, I have established many a wine connection to get you the wine tips you want: from finding that perfect fine wine dinner with the winemaker at a luxurious hotel restaurant to accessing hundreds of pages of copious wine tasting notes, free on this website.

Partly because of the proven health benefits when enjoyed in moderation, partly because it’s a wonderful way to pass the time with friends over a fine meal, wine increasingly fascinates consumers the world over. Cruise ships hire sommeliers – a job I am considering – and wine bars sprout like so many autumn mushrooms from Austin, Texas to Strasbourg, France. New markets in Russia, China and India to take three prominent examples ratchet up prices for popular brands, much to the dismay of many a consumer including your humble servant. And with so many wines being made worldwide – I recently tasted a Chinese wine that resembled a decent Bordeaux blend – choosing wine at stores and restaurants will become an ever more daunting affair. I hope I can help you.