The Year in Review: 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, and 2025 beckons (a year in which Winedoctor will celebrate its 25th birthday – few other wine-focused websites have demonstrated such longevity), in traditional fashion I take a look back at the vinous (and other) milestone moments of the past twelve months.
I have to confess I began my trawl through the magic and misdemeanours of 2024 in a modest mood; I never feel as though I have enough time to do all the things I want to do, and thus I felt it was inevitable I would find myself leafing through an empty diary filled with good intentions never made real.
How wrong I was.
This past year has been nothing short of hectic. I have been out to visit and taste in Bordeaux four times, and made four equally busy visits to the Loire Valley. I have tasted more deeply in both regions than ever before, and alongside the thousands of young wines I have reported on I have been lucky enough to taste some of the oldest vintages I have ever encountered.
And this work ethic has been translated into an intense programme of updates on Winedoctor. This year has seen 125 new articles added to the site, including 72 tasting updates, 37 weekend wine reports and 13 new profiles in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. And aware of how many subscribers value the hundreds of Winedoctor profiles which reside here, this year I also began a more concerted effort to update them, overhaul and occasionally completely rewrite them, with 75 pre-existing profiles reworked this year.
Even more importantly, during 2024 more people than ever before felt the draw of Winedoctor, with this year seeing subscriber numbers hit an all-time high.
So, take a seat and pour a glass, as I trawl through my twelve months of wine and other adventures.
What is January for? Recuperation? Resolutions? For some people January is about going dry, but not for me it seems. We are not halfway through the month when I step aboard an Airbus A330 bound for Bordeaux.
While Ryanair is far from perfect, I enjoy the door-to-door convenience of their direct flights between Edinburgh and Bordeaux. Unfortunately they only fly this route during the summer, so this time I land in Bordeaux having connected through London Gatwick, including some flights with British Airways, giving me a long overdue opportunity to use some of the Covid travel vouchers issued a few years ago. It’s a long stopover at Gatwick though, and I realise I need a better way to travel than this. I put these thoughts to the back of my head once I land, as I immerse myself in the recently bottled 2021 Bordeaux vintage. Which, when it comes to the dry whites and the Sauternes, was a pleasure. I also call in on Claire Lurton at Château Haut-Bages-Libéral and Pierre Cazeneuve at Château Paloumey, both leading the way in agroforestry in Bordeaux.
A fine sunset at the end of a day of tasting in Pauillac provided some of my favourite photographs of the year.
