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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 Jacobson’s “Hall of Famer” status in the publication’s reader-submitted video contest.
Spoofing “Hamilton” was Jacobson’s first inclination for his final submission to the publication’s annual video contest. (At one point, he also toyed with the opening number to The Greatest Showman: “It was going to be ‘The Greatest Wine,’” he confesses.) But, cheekily, Jacobson took a cue from Wine Spectator executive editor Jeffery Lindenmuth, when he introduced a screening of his first winning video. “At the 2022 event, Jeffery mentioned from the podium: ‘Maybe someone should introduce Steve to Lin-Manuel Miranda,’” says Jacobson. “I am a big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work, so I did choose a song that—albeit difficult to write to—was something that I personally enjoyed working with.”
For his previous winning videos, Jacobson tapped his nephews for the vocals: Aaron, a classically trained singer, belted out the Broadway showtime spoof and 2022 winner “Cabernet Tonight,” and Adam, a “rock-and-roller,” captured the style of a Stephen Stills song in 2023 winner “Love the Wine You’re With.” This time? It’s all Jacobson on the track. “[My son and I] went into a recording studio and took five hours to record the two-minute song,” explains Jacobson. “He directed me all along the way and did a brilliant job. It’s funny because when he was like seven, he ended up doing a voiceover for something that I directed him on. And here we are, 20-odd years later, and he’s directing me in the studio.”
For his winning entry, Jacobson has again earned two full weekend passes to Wine Spectator’s New York Wine Experience. He is still buzzing with excitement from his time at the 2022 Wine Experience. “I’ve worked with a lot of great celebrities throughout my career, but I never really was starstruck,” says Jacobson. “I’m starstruck when it comes to winemakers … [I love] just being able to be in the room with 1,200 of my favorite, closest wine friends and listen to the professionals—watching, learning, participating, tasting and engaging with the community. I love the artistry. I love the craftsmanship, and I have so much respect for people who can do it as well as they do.”
Other contest finalists kept the tunes going, including the second-place winner, “The Fresh Prince of Rosé,” which tells the story of how Long Island–based winemaker Roman Roth’s “life got flipped-turned upside down” when he moved from Germany to the Hamptons in 1988 and helped Christian Wölffer create Wölffer Estate. While this was Roth’s first submission to the video contest, this wasn’t his first time penning lyrics; every year, the Wölffer partner creates a parody song for staff to perform at the company holiday party. (In 2023, it was “Wine on the Brain,” a reference to a tasting visit they had from singer and businesswoman Rihanna.) “My father always said, if my wine turns to vinegar, I can always go to Broadway,” Roth jokes.
The parody of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s theme was a team effort, with help from Roth’s assistant winemakers, cellar crew, the local airport and even his bishop (that’s where the throne in the intro came from). “It was all organic and local,” says Roth. “We wanted to show that New York wines can stand up to the best wines in the world, but we can have fun as well. There is freedom. We don’t have concrete roots of tradition.”
In contrast, heritage was the driving force behind third-place contest winner “Family Legacy in Sonoma County,” which traces the history of the pioneering Martinelli family, known for their Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Chardonnay. Narrated by patriarch Lee Martinelli Sr., his son Lee Martinelli Jr. and winemaker Courtney Robinett Wagoner, the video features stunning drone shots of the family’s different properties across Sonoma—from the steep slopes of Jackass Hill in the Russian River Valley to the rolling rows of Wild Thyme Vineyard in the coastal Fort Ross–Seaview AVA.
“Family-owned and multi-generational companies in general, but specifically wineries, are becoming fewer and fewer,” says estate director Tessa Gorsuch, a member of the family’s fifth generation. “We also wanted to highlight that we’re farmers. That’s really where my family got started—being grapegrowers. We only keep about 10 to 12 percent of our grapes for our own production.”
Interspersed with shots of lush vineyards are scenes of four generations of Martinellis sitting together at a table, sharing a bottle of wine. “My grandfather [Lee Sr.] is 85 years old, and he still farms six days a week,” says Gorsuch. “The thing that makes him most happy is the future generations getting involved, and us having a sentimentality and a special connection to the land, because that’s how he grew up.” (You can read more about the family in our Sept. 30, 2023, cover story, “Martinelli: Family, Farming, Tradition.”)
The second- and third-place winners have both earned a pair of tickets to either an upcoming New York Wine Experience Grand Tasting evening or a Grand Tour tasting event, as did the other six 2024 video contest finalists. Catch them all, plus an additional five judges’ picks for honorable mentions, and find your own favorite.