Wine

For the past 25 years, Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute has provided an educational foundation to its students while helping bolster the industry with its new trailblazers. The institute kicked off its 25th academic year with a virtual conversation with Wine Spectator Napa bureau chief and senior editor Kim Marcus, moderated by Wine Business

Domaine Clarence Dillon (DCD), the family firm that owns Château Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion, has acquired St.-Emilion Grand Cru Classé Château Grand-Pontet from the Pourquet-Bécot family for an undisclosed sum. Prince Robert de Luxembourg, DCD chairman, tells Wine Spectator that the property will be combined with Château Quintus, giving DCD one of St.-Emilion’s largest

New Orleans restaurateurs felt a mix of relief and despair after Hurricane Ida passed through the city, devastating southern Louisiana and causing widespread damage from the Gulf of Mexico to New England. The city’s protective levee system held during what was the biggest storm to come so close since Hurricane Katrina made landfall 16 years

Marchesi di Frescobaldi has added another estate to its Tuscany portfolio, buying Corte alla Flora in Montepulciano. The purchase price was not disclosed. The owner, Sergio Cragnotti, a businessman from Rome and former owner of the Società Sportiva Lazio, the most famous soccer team in Lazio, decided to retire and contacted Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi president

When it comes to his wine brand, NBA star and vintner CJ McCollum and his wife, Elise, came to play. The couple have purchased a 318-acre property, located in Oregon’s Yamhill-Carlton appellation, for the Portland Trail Blazer’s McCollum Heritage 91 wine label. The purchase price and identity of the seller were not disclosed. The deal

The Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation is donating $10 million to expand and update the teaching facilities of Napa Valley College (NVC) and its Viticulture, Wine and Technology (VWT) program. Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator, announced the donation this morning, as part of the Scholarship Foundation’s efforts to help educate the next

After a devasting wildfire swept through the Var region in Provence, vintners have returned to their estates to survey the damage and proceed with the 2021 harvest where possible. While the majority of the burned landscape—18,000 acres in total—was forest in the Plaine des Maures nature reserve, local wine officials estimate that over 3,000 vineyard

French-Swiss real-estate investor Jacky Lorenzetti has purchased Bordeaux’s Château Lafon-Rochet from the Tesseron family for an undisclosed sum. The St.-Estèphe fourth-growth is Lorenzetti’s fourth classified growth in Bordeaux’s Médoc region. “When you have already invested in St.-Estèphe and Pauillac, and a bank offers you an opportunity to buy an estate like Lafon-Rochet, you don’t say

Following his February departure from Wine Spectator Grand Award winner Canlis, Seattle chef Brady Williams will open his own restaurant in the city’s White Center neighborhood Sept. 9. Called Tomo, it will feature à-la-carte weekend lunches and prix-fixe dinner menus of five courses for $68, including a vegetarian option. The cuisine carries a similar ethos

From local grocery stores in Maine to giant wine retailers in Los Angeles, Kendall-Jackson wines can be found on shelves across the country. That makes Jackson Family Wines’ proprietor and chairman Barbara Banke an influential figure in a rapidly changing industry. Banke took over Jackson Family’s enormous range of wines after her husband, founder Jess

Paso Robles-based Justin Vineyards and Winery is acquiring Napa’s Lewis Cellars, Wine Spectator has learned. The price was not disclosed. The deal includes the brand, winery and inventory. Justin, owned by the Resnick family’s Wonderful Company, a large farming firm that owns brands like Fiji Water and Pom Wonderful, will provide a marketing and sales

What does your gut say about your heart? According to new research, nutritional scientists found that the trillions of microbes that live in our digestive tract, collectively known as the gut microbiome, are partly responsible for the association between moderate wine consumption and lower blood pressure. Although previous studies have shown the benefits of a

When it comes to wine, very few can match DLynn Proctor‘s experience and style. The veteran sommelier and director of Napa’s Fantesca Estate & Winery is perhaps best recognized for his appearance in the Somm films and his work as associate producer on Netflix’s feature film Uncorked. But his 20-year career includes leadership roles with

A cozy new wine bar is now open in Los Angeles’ Beverly Grove neighborhood. Melanie Wine Bar debuted Aug. 17 from Andy Paxson and Dave Gibbs, the restaurateurs behind Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner Sushi Note in Sherman Oaks, Calif. The owners previously had a different restaurant in the space called Simple Things, but

A little over a week after a United Nations panel issued a stark report on the rapid pace of climate change, one of the world’s most influential wine companies, California-based Jackson Family Wines, announced a 10-year plan to help fight climate change and pursue other broad environmental and social responsibility goals. It’s one of the

A devastating wildfire has swept through parts of the Var region in Provence, leaving winegrowers reeling from the loss of buildings, equipment and grapes just days before the 2021 harvest. “It’s been annus horribilis for French winegrowers. We’ve had frost, we’ve had hail and now wildfires,” Eric Pastorino, president of the regional trade group Conseil

Becky Wasserman, founder of Le Serbet and Becky Wasserman & Co., died Aug. 20 of a respiratory illness. She had suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for several years, according to her family. She was 84. An innovator and entrepreneur, Wasserman championed small growers from around France, but particularly Burgundy, where she lived beginning in

Big bids were at the center of the V Foundation Wine Celebration this past weekend. The 23rd annual event grabbed a spot as one of the top charity wine auctions in the country, raising $12 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The V Foundation, started in 1993 by late North Carolina State University

Medical research has repeatedly found links between moderate alcohol consumption and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke and heart valve issues. But doctors have also long advised patients that are suffering from cardiovascular disease to refrain from drinking. Now recent research suggests that moderate consumption of alcohol, including wine, could prove

Backed with experience in some of the world’s top restaurants including Wine Spectator Grand Award winners Eleven Madison Park, the Little Nell and Canlis, chef Austin Johnson and sommelier Dustin Wilson debuted their highly anticipated One White Street this month. Set in a longstanding three-story townhouse in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood, the dual concept consists