Wine Explain

Three Napa wineries filed a joint lawsuit against Napa County in federal court yesterday, alleging that county officials systematically violated their constitutional rights. The wineries—Summit Lake Vineyards, Smith-Madrone Vineyards & Winery and Hoopes Vineyard—filed the complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. This is the just latest

Who’s behind it: Last month, chef and humanitarian José Andrés opened his fifth Las Vegas restaurant, Bazaar Mar, in the Shops at Crystals, a luxury shopping destination on the Las Vegas Strip. A counterpart to the chef’s Bazaar Meat, which offers a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence–winning wine program just down the road

When it comes to California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, few names command as much respect as Sonoma’s Kistler Vineyards. In the newest episode of Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast, Kistler president and winemaker Jason Kesner tells us about growing up in the Napa wine industry—including a Robert Mondavi donut tradition that he proudly carries on—and

If there’s such a thing as a feel-good winery acquisition, 2024 seems to be the year for them. Earlier this year Wine Spectator reported that Patz & Hall co-founder James Hall bought back the winery years after it was sold to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Now James MacPhail is purchasing back his namesake brand from

What’s happening: Australian-born, Los Angeles–based chef Curtis Stone recently announced that he will close his 10-year-old tasting-menu restaurant Maude in Beverly Hills, Calif. The restaurant has held a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence since 2019, and it is named after one of the chef’s grandmothers, as is Stone’s other L.A. restaurant, Best of

A luxurious Napa Valley hotel is swapping one winemaking proprietor for another. Wine Spectator has learned that Juan Pablo Torres-Padilla, owner of Sullivan Rutherford Estate and CEO of PA Capital Management, has bought Poetry Inn in the Stags Leap District from the Lede family of Cliff Lede Vineyards. The purchase price was not disclosed. “As

Three hundred-acre estates are hard to come by in Napa Valley, so when one comes on the market, you might think that finding a new steward comes down to the highest bid. But when Kelly Fleming decided to sell her property and winery, she opted for the neighbor who would agree to keep it in

Burgundy’s wines are not cheap, and inventories are carefully monitored. Last year, the team at Maison Albert Bichot began to notice bottles were disappearing from their Beaune cellar. Somehow the wine was walking out the cellar door without anyone noticing—a few bottles here, a few bottles there, like a slow, sporadic drip. So the staff

Decades of research has linked light to moderate drinking, especially of wine, to a range of health benefits. There’s also strong scientific evidence that any alcohol consumption raises the risk of certain cancers, and that heavy drinking carries serious health risks. But the reasons why moderate drinking seems to be neutral or beneficial for some

In the latest development in what has proved to be one of the nastiest divorce battles to involve custody of a wine property, the Milan-based Campari Group has been drawn into the battle for Château Miraval. A new lawsuit by Nouvel, the company that Angelina Jolie sold to the Stoli Group, demands records from Campari

Who’s behind it: Celebrated chef John Fraser—best known for veggie-forward, Mediterranean-inspired dishes—has arrived in Boston with beef on his mind at the newly opened Vermilion Club. Fraser’s collection of Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winners spans the country, from Ardor in Los Angeles to North Fork Table and Inn on New York’s Long Island. Vermilion Club

Americans are being more cost-conscious when it comes to their bubbly, according to a report from Wine Spectator sister publication Shanken News Daily (SND). Champagne sales have been declining in the U.S. market, while Prosecco has been growing. Champagne had been enjoying big gains in recent years in the U.S., with exports to America up

California winemaker Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is voluntarily delisting from the Nasdaq, as the company has been unable to engineer a turnaround after months of turmoil. The Sonoma-headquartered company went public with a $600 million IPO in 2021, led by longtime chief executive Pat Roney. Its share price

Straight from the cover of Wine Spectator and the season 3 premiere of The Bear, legendary chef Daniel Boulud invites us into the Daniel dining room for an exclusive interview about what it means to be a chef today, his legacy of mentorship and why his next restaurant will reflect a shift in allegiance since

Anyone who has spent time in Napa has likely been in a Howard Backen-designed building. The prolific co-founder of Backen & Backen Architecture designed upwards of 300 private homes, 40 restaurants and more than 60 wineries, many of which are located in Napa Valley. His signature farmhouse-chic style champions functionality and natural harmony, favors discreet

Who’s behind it: César is the new namesake restaurant from chef César Ramirez, who formerly led the kitchen of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (a past Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winner). Ramirez also previously worked at Grand Award winners the French Laundry and Le Bernardin, as well as at the late David Bouley’s Danube. “[It]

The Ferragamo family, owners of the luxury fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo and the winery and hotel Il Borro, in Tuscany’s Valdarno di Sopra southeast of Florence, are expanding into the Brunello business. The family just closed a deal to buy the Pinino estate in Montalcino. The sale includes 40 acres of vineyards (with almost 19