Month: July 2024

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
0 Comments
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]
0 Comments
The owners of Carlisle, California’s leading producer of quality Zinfandels, will call it quits after the 2024 vintage, Wine Spectator has learned. Co-founders Mike and Kendall Officer informed their wine club members of their decision today. “It was a decision that was a long time in coming,” Mike Officer, 62, said. “Financially, Carlisle is doing
0 Comments
Who’s behind it: Restaurateurs Stefano Secchi and David Switzer co-own Manhattan’s acclaimed Rezdôra, in the Flatiron District, which earned a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in the 2024 Restaurant Awards. After more than a year of planning, they expanded by opening a new Italian restaurant, Massara, on Broadway, around the corner from Rezdôra’s
0 Comments
Reviews of recent releases from the first-growth châteaus of Bordeaux—Lafite Rothschild, Margaux, Haut-Brion, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild—have been conspicuously absent from the pages of Wine Spectator. In a free-ranging discussion between legendary Bordeaux and Napa winemaker Christian Moueix and Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken, the reasons are laid clear. During a recent lengthy
0 Comments