(Flickr: noviceromano)

Is Barolo Italy’s answer to Burgundy and Brunello di Montalcino its Bordeaux? Margaret Rand investigates in Wine-Searcher. “Both wines have been helped by the enormous changes that have happened in the last 10 to 15 years.”

“When Riccardo Campinoti’s family bought some of the highest vineyards around Montalcino in 2002, few had high hopes for the place…The problem with Le Ragnaie, a small estate that climbs to 621 meters (2,037 feet) above the village of Montalcino, was that it sat at an altitude considered too high to produce good, classic Brunello.” But now, as Robert Camuto reports in Wine Spectator, climate change has shown the merits of high-altitude Brunello and other producers are moving up.

Since Alder Yarrow first wrote about the wines of Zorah in 2013, few people had ever heard of wine from Armenia. But that has changed, he says, and “Armenian wine has undergone something of a rebirth, thanks in no small part to Gharibian’s pioneering work as the founder and proprietor of Zorah Wines, an estate that continues to demonstrate the promise and potential of Armenian wine.”

Jamie Goode explores the Crouch Valley in Essex, “a leading region for English still wines.”

In TRINK, Nils Kevin Puls explores the winemakers giving old field blends a new voice.

Elevation affects aging spirits, too. Kara Newman explores the idea in Wine Enthusiast.

Robb Report highlights nearly a dozen sparkling wines for New Year’s Eve.