More than 3.7 million people visited America’s premier wine region last year, according to a recent economic study, and those visitors are becoming younger and more diverse. That’s good news for Napa Valley wineries just four years after the pandemic shut down almost all visits and at a time when many worry that visiting Napa
Month: September 2024
Steve Jacobson was not about to throw away his shot to win Wine Spectator’s annual video contest for a third time in a row. While the 2024 competition was incredibly close, “I Just Want a Zinfandel” (a parody of the opening number to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s boundary-breaking Broadway musical Hamilton) won the viewers’ votes and cemented
Bill Foley knows a good deal when he sees it. A few months after the California-based Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) declared bankruptcy, more than 20 wineries and brands from the firm are set to come under new ownership, after an auction in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. While final approval for the bids is
Neil Empson, founder of Empson & Co. and a pioneering importer of Italian fine wine into the United States, died Sept. 14 after a long battle with cancer. He was 85. “My father won many battles but lost his most precious war, as he wanted to live and love as he did during his life,”
Washington’s wine industry can draw some star power, whether it’s actor and vintner Kyle MacLachlan or winemaking rock star Christophe Baron. Both pitched in to raise money for a great cause at last month’s 37th annual Auction of Washington Wines (AWW). The weekend pulled in $4.25 million for Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington State University’s Viticulture
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