Wine

From his teetotaling childhood home to Opus One’s debut vintage to putting Argentine Malbec on the map, winemaker Paul Hobbs talks about his career-defining moments with candid humor and insightful analysis on the season 2 premiere of Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast. “I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off our second season

America’s top charity wine event, the Naples Winter Wine Festival (NWWF), has pushed the bar even higher, raising $33 million—its highest total yet—for children’s charities at its annual gathering on the last weekend of January. The event brought together approximately 650 wine lovers in a tent outside the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón, to compete for lots

The first thing guests would notice at the restaurant Bouley in Manhattan’s Tribeca was a wall of fragrant apples in the entryway. Whereas other restaurants might display dry aging sides of beef or mounds of exotic fish on ice, chef and owner David Bouley, who died Monday at the age of 70 from a heart

Wine Spectator’s annual Grand Tour is known for bringing some of the best wines from around the globe to three top food and wine destinations every year, and 2024 is no different. With two new cities added to the itinerary, over 200 of the world’s best wines will land in New Orleans, Las Vegas and

Who’s behind it: Bellpine is within the newly opened The Ritz-Carlton, Portland, in Portland, Ore. Helming the kitchen is executive chef Pedro Almeida, the chef behind Midori inside the Ritz-Carlton Penha Longa Resort in Sintra, Portugal. There he blends Portuguese cuisine with the traditions of Japanese cooking. Almeida will oversee the Portland hotel’s entire culinary

As the Oregon state legislature is locked in a contentious debate over raising excise taxes on wine and beer to curb excessive alcohol consumption, an Oregon health agency may have withheld a 2021 study that found higher taxes have little impact on getting abusive drinkers to cut back on consumption. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA)

The owners of La Tour d’Argent, the legendary Parisian restaurant and Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, filed a complaint with police last week following an inventory taken of their extensive wine collection. More than 80 bottles, worth $1.63 million (€1.5 million), are missing from the cellar, including bottles from Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. There

Who’s behind it: For years, chef and restaurateur Rick Tramonto impressed Chicagoans and visitors at Tru, which earned a Wine Spectator Grand Award in 2004. Tramonto left in 2010, and the restaurant’s owner, the Lettuce Entertain You hospitality group, closed Tru in 2017. Since 2022, Tramonto, the author of several books and cookbooks, including 2011’s

For the first time in nearly four years, Australian winemakers see signs of hope in their relationship with one of their biggest export markets. The Chinese government is reviewing painful tariffs of well over 100 percent on Australian wine that it implemented in 2020 after a political spat with Australia’s government. If it follows through

What better education could a wine lover ask for than the chance to work and study in Burgundy? The Roots Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping minorities enter the wine industry, is now accepting applications for its “Rooted in France” scholarship, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for ambitious BIPOC graduating college seniors who wish to dive

It’s probably not what Rudolf Steiner imagined. At Oregon State University, researchers are pairing cutting-edge technology with organic, sustainable and biodynamic agriculture to create their most recent invention: the “Pied Piper.” The prototype is a robot designed to naturally disrupt the mating of vineyard pests such as treehoppers and stink bugs through the use of

Last year, the return to post-pandemic normalcy meant tantalizing new dining options sprouted seemingly everywhere, while existing restaurants reinvigorated themselves, and their wine lists benefitted from a push for diversity in styles and price points. Wine Spectator’s top dining articles of 2023 reflect our readers’ desire for the accessible and the exciting, from a list

Perhaps no European wine nation has been hit as hard by climate change this decade as Spain. Last year raised the stakes: January through April of 2023 brought the driest start to a year on the Iberian peninsula since the 1960s, and winemakers across the nation battled to save the vintage. Catalonia and Andalusia were

Who’s behind it: On the heels of Pastis Miami’s opening, restaurateurs Stephen Starr and Keith McNally are bringing French bistro concept Pastis to the nation’s capital. It joins the acclaimed Starr Restaurants portfolio, which includes Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner Pastis in Manhattan, as well as Restaurant Award winners Le Zoo in Bar Harbor,

On Jan. 12, Gracious Hospitality Management (GHM), the group behind Cote Korean Steakhouse, is opening its latest restaurant, Coqodaq, which will offer a fine-dining take on wildly popular Korean fried chicken. Ambitiously, the restaurant’s team also plans to build the largest Champagne program in the United States. A project four years in the making, Coqodaq

The past 12 months have shown the wine industry’s ability to bounce back, with 2023 bringing disasters and scandals, but also fresh faces, promising vintages and comeback stories. The year wasn’t without its fair share of drama—with the collapse of the iconic New York wine shop Sherry-Lehmann and California internet merchant Underground Cellar, and the

While scientists have been researching the links between wine and health for decades, 2023 brought a flurry of new discoveries. Even as one study claimed that alcohol’s potential health benefits may have been overstated by past research, others linked moderate wine consumption to a range of health improvements, gave us a more nuanced understanding of how

Our most-popular videos of 2023 are odes to the joy wine brings us all, whether it be from winemaking, wine tasting, or just enjoying with friends. The best cheese pairings for different white varietals were a big hit, as were refreshing summer sangria recipes. An exclusive interview with wine legend Chuck Wagner of Caymus dove

Two small wineries and some prominent lawyers have launched a new front in the wine direct shipping wars, and this one is targeting a law in America’s biggest wine state. They’re asking, should alcohol producers outside of California be able to sell directly to Golden State businesses? Under current law, California is one of many

“When it comes to winery sales, the economy is kind of like a thermometer,” says Rob McMillan, founder and SVP of Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division. “When times are good, average companies can sell. When times aren’t good, nobody wants to buy those. So the things that are moving now are really good companies, and

2024 awaits, but before we turn the calendar, Wine Spectator‘s editors would like to remember the wine industry trailblazers, innovators and history makers we lost this year. In 2023, we said goodbye to longtime California wine industry leaders Paul Dolan, Mike Grgich, Donald Hess and Michael Martini, as well as Oregon Pinot Noir legend Dick

Why you should know about it: Nemacolin is a major luxury travel destination in western Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, in the Allegheny Mountains. Encompassing more than 2,200 acres in the scenic Laurel Highlands region, Nemacolin offers a wide range of lodgings, food and beverage options, and activities, including a spa, skiing, horseback riding, fly fishing,

Artificial intelligence may not be able to appreciate the taste of a glass of red wine, but apparently it can tell you where it came from. And by doing so, modern technology might confirm the classic concept of terroir. A team of scientists used machine learning and gas chromatography to successfully analyze 80 wines and

Who’s behind it: Brasero comes from John Manion, the chef-restaurateur behind Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner El Che Steakhouse & Bar in Chicago. Why you should know about it: Manion has been a guiding force in Chicago’s Latin American cuisine landscape, bringing Argentine and Chilean flavors to Windy City locals and visitors, along with

Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, a longtime Napa Valley winemaker who was best known for crafting the famed 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won the Paris Tasting of 1976, died on Dec. 13. He was 100. Over his decades in wine, Grgich worked at several trailblazing California wineries. He also helped perfect several winemaking techniques in California,

Sunshine and fine wine were on the menu as top names from the world of food and wine gathered for the 16th annual Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival (PBFWF). Founded in 2007 by David Sabin and Lindsay Autry, the Festival has grown steadily and marks another big leap forward with its first year in

One of Italy’s top wine families is dividing their company in two, as a new generation plays a larger role. Wine Spectator has learned that the Allegrini family, one of the leading names in Amarone wine, is restructuring its estates and companies in Veneto’s Valpolicella region and Tuscany’s Bolgheri and Montalcino areas. Once the arrangement

In May 2021, New York City lost one of its finest dining institutions when chef Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud shut its doors. But we know now that the closure was only temporary: On Friday, Dec. 15, Boulud’s Dinex Group will be reviving Café Boulud in a new location at 100 East 63rd Street on the Upper

Few things are as captivating to Burgundy lovers as a packed auction selling more than 750 barrels of the Côte d’Or’s greatest wines from the latest vintage. Last month, the historic Hospices de Beaune wine auction, conducted by Sotheby’s, raised a grand total of $27.4 million at its 163rd sale. The amount marks the second-highest

Masked Intruder Destroys Thousands of Gallons of Wine at Sparkman Cellars Video surveillance caught a person entering at night and opening the spigots on two full vats of wine; it’s not the first wine vandalism Sparkman Cellars winemaker Linn Scott and co-owners Kelly and Chris Sparkman, left to right, saw 1,800 cases of their 2023 white