Wine Explain

It’s a story straight out of a Hollywood film. A young prince leaves home to find himself, studies in the U.S., meets a girl, falls in love and becomes a screenwriter for the movies. But his family needs him back in Europe. So he returns to find fulfillment in the vineyards. It sounds cinematic, but

Giovanni Manetti didn’t think he was going to make it to the 2024 New York Wine Experience. The growing season was long in Tuscany this year, and grapes for Manetti’s legendary Fontodi winery were still hanging on the vine in mid-October. So he dispatched his son with several cases of their super Tuscan Flaccianello 2008

Leading chef and humanitarian José Andrés is always working. But if he chooses to rest, at least he’ll have a new place to do so once he opens his first hotel, the Bazaar House, in the heart of the Georgetown historic district in Washington, D.C. Announced in late September, the boutique hotel will open in

This winter, Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) and the New York Marriott Marquis hotel are putting a new spin on the View Restaurant & Lounge, New York City’s only revolving restaurant. The original View opened in 1985 atop the Times Square hotel—a popular spot for tourists and large events, including Wine Spectator’s annual New York

The 2024 harvest at Israel’s Daltôn Winery was punctuated by nonstop rocket and drone attacks launched from just across the border in Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon. As tractors rolled through the vineyards at night, collecting the last of the Cabernet grapes, the sky was lit up by the glow of exploding rockets and the resulting wildfires

Five years after going public, Duckhorn will be leaving the stock exchange. Executives at the Duckhorn Portfolio announced this morning that Los Angeles-based private equity firm Butterfly has agreed to buy the Napa-based wine powerhouse for $1.95 billion. According to Impact Databank, a sibling publication of Wine Spectator, Duckhorn is the 20th-largest wine marketer in the

A Los Angeles return: After a four-year hiatus, acclaimed restaurant Somni is reopening in West Hollywood, Calif. Somni (meaning “dream” in Catalan) was founded by chef Aitor Zabala and culinary leader and humanitarian José Andrés in 2018; despite being limited to just 10 guests each service, the restaurant rapidly grew in popularity. It also earned

When the final paddle was raised at the newly christened Sonoma County Wine Celebration and live auction last month, the Sonoma County Vintners Foundation (SCVF) had raised nearly $1.6 million for local charities. That’s up from last year’s $1.3 million total. The three-day event, which included a welcome reception and country-themed party, culminated with the

Harvest 2024 is in full swing in California wine country. It’s the busiest time of year, and Napa Cabernet superstar Thomas Rivers Brown took a break to tell Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast host James Molesworth about the realities—and rigors—of harvest season. Brown also shares his “Ziploc baggy mini-maceration method” for determining when a vineyard

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

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

When it comes to California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, few names command as much respect as Sonoma’s Kistler Vineyards. In the newest episode of Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast, Kistler president and winemaker Jason Kesner tells us about growing up in the Napa wine industry—including a Robert Mondavi donut tradition that he proudly carries on—and

If there’s such a thing as a feel-good winery acquisition, 2024 seems to be the year for them. Earlier this year Wine Spectator reported that Patz & Hall co-founder James Hall bought back the winery years after it was sold to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Now James MacPhail is purchasing back his namesake brand from

What’s happening: Australian-born, Los Angeles–based chef Curtis Stone recently announced that he will close his 10-year-old tasting-menu restaurant Maude in Beverly Hills, Calif. The restaurant has held a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence since 2019, and it is named after one of the chef’s grandmothers, as is Stone’s other L.A. restaurant, Best of