Richard tastes two big wines from the world's biggest producer, among others.
One of the more noteworthy wine-trade stories in recent weeks was the sale of Rombauer Vineyards of northern California to the world's biggest winemaking group, Gallo. By coincidence I tasted the latest vintage of Rombauer Chardonnay and Zinfandel shortly before this announcement, and it is a useful reminder of which styles suit certain palates. (By another coincidence, I visited the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma shortly afterwards – Long Meadow Ranch is in the background in the photo above.)
Gallo are clearly feeling acquisitive. Again. They purchased Hahn in...