2024: In Memoriam

2025 is only moments away, but before we flip the calendar, Wine Spectator‘s editors would like to remember the wine industry pioneers, innovators and history makers we lost this year.

In 2024, we said goodbye to longtime California wine industry leaders Warren Winiarski, Jan Shrem and Eleanor Coppola, as well as architect Howard Backen, who helped define the very look of Napa Valley. Italian wine pioneers Enrico Scavino and Marco Felluga were both lost this year after long and distinguished careers, and we also bid fond farewells to industry leaders Harvey Chaplin, Neil Empson and Terry Robards. We’ll remember them all as we celebrate the new year to come. Click through on each name to read our full coverage of their passing.

Architect Howard Backen helped define Napa Valley’s style, through dozens of buildings that worked with the landscape. (Adrian Gregorutti)

A highly influential Napa Valley–based architect, Backen was internationally recognized for numerous wineries, restaurants, homes and more.

Chaplin turned a modest spirits and wine distributorship into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse with national reach that led the liquor industry into the modern age.

Eleanor Coppola directed Paris Can Wait at age 80, hoping to create a movie that made you want good food and great wine. (Tasia Wells/Getty Images)

A filmmaker, artist, author and vintner, Coppola helped rebuild Inglenook winery and left her mark on both Napa Valley and Hollywood.

A pioneering importer of Italian wines, Empson built an impressive company and legacy.

Marco Felluga was known not only for his excellent wines but for promoting the wines of the Collio region around the world. (Courtesy of Felluga)

The Italian white wine visionary’s winery in Friuli is among the region’s most recognized and respected.

In his later years, Terry Robards used his role as a retailer and writer to continue to educate wine lovers. (Courtesy of Robards Wine and Spirits)

A voice for fine wine in America, the New York Times critic and Wine Spectator columnist taught a generation of Americans about fine wine.

Enrico Scavino was working with his family’s fourth generation of vintners, his daughters Elisa, left, and Enrica. (Matthew Molchen)

One of Piedmont’s winemaking greats, Scavino was unafraid to mix tradition with modernity in the name of outstanding wine.

The founder of Napa Valley’s Clos Pegase winery, Shrem was a philanthropist and art collector whose California wine community contributions ran deep.

Barbara and Warren Winiarski donated 4 million dollars to the Smithsonian Institution to help fund its American food and wine history collection. (Richard Strauss, courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History)

A Napa winemaking icon, Winiarski founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and earned an international reputation for his Cabernets, helping shape the future of Napa Valley.