The ancient vines of Carlisle Vineyard

“Sylvie Cazes, president of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux and co-owner of Chateau Lynch Bages, will be stepping down from her role as director of Chateau Pichon Comtesse de Lalande,” reports Decanter.

Is it too early to start thinking about wines for Thanksgiving? (Yes.) In Forbes, Katie Bell bucks the trend of recommending American wine with your turkey; instead, she suggests uncorking something “playful, intelligent, and good at loosening up a crowd” — Italian wine!

Speaking of Turkey, Alder Yarrow heads to the European Wine Bloggers Conference, “keen to get an inside look into Turkey’s burgeoning wine scene, which, despite leaning on thousands of years of history, has really only gotten going in the last 10 years.” 

Stephen Tanzer seeks out the best new values in New Zealand Pinot Noir, for those who are “starved for fresher, cheaper alternatives to Burgundy.”

Did you know that today is International Tempranillo Day? Neither did I. Chris Macias of the Sacramento Bee brings word of the effort to raise awareness of the noble Rioja grape, and mentions a couple of good California examples of the varietal.

In Wine Spectator, Tim Fish sits down for a long lunch with two Terroirist faves, Adam Lee of Siduri and Mike Officer of Carlisle, to discuss the 2012 vintage. Officer calls it “the most difficult easy vintage I ever had.”

In addition to the end of harvest, Officer has much more to celebrate: Carlisle has been named Winery of the Year by Snooth’s Gregory Dal Piaz!

Weygandt Wines profiles Yannick Amirault, one of the top vignerons of Bourgueil and St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil.

In sad news, Alsace’s Domaine Lucien Albrecht has filed for bankruptcy. I am a big fan of Albrecht’s Cremant d’Alsace Brut Rosé as an affordable sparkler. Indeed, there’s a glass of it in my profile picture.

Yesterday we brought you news of Charlie Trotter’s million-dollar wine auction. Well, the auction just got a bit smaller, as Eater reports that 60 cases of wine have gone missing on their way to the auction house!