Wine

Giving a big boost to the eco-friendly and socially conscious farming approach known as regenerative agriculture, Mendocino County-based Bonterra Organic Estates is releasing a new tier of wines, its first bearing the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) logo. The company, which changed its name from Fetzer last year, is the largest vineyard holder to date to

In December, the team at Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner Little Saint announced that co-owners Laurie and Jeff Ubben would take full control of the plant-based, farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Healdsburg, Calif. Philanthropists and owners of DuMol Winery, the Ubbens opened Little Saint in 2022, in a partnership with Kyle and Katina Connaughton, co-owners

Michael Martini, who was born into a Napa Valley wine dynasty and followed in the winemaking footsteps of his father and grandfather, died Tuesday after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 73. Martini retired from Louis M. Martini winery in 2015, after 40 years of making wine for his family. Late last year,

After years of drought, much of California has been hammered with snow and rain since New Year’s Eve, including heavy precipitation from back-to-back strong “atmospheric rivers”, and reports of floods, fallen trees, high winds, power outages, evacuations, sink holes and mudslides. So far, 17 deaths have been attributed to the weather in the Golden State. While several

New York City’s popular Restaurant Week is returning from Jan. 17 until Feb. 12 for its fourth annual “Winter Outing,” a way to lure visitors and locals out and about in the chilly weather even after the holiday season has ended. The event spotlights more than 460 restaurants from all over Gotham, including 57 Wine Spectator

The past 12 months have largely been a time of evolution for the wine and hospitality industries, as they push towards a post-pandemic recovery while trying to gain a better understanding of new consumers and wine’s place in everyday life. Some of the most famous and reliable family-owned wine brands have changed hands, driven by

Luciano Sandrone, a vintner who was part of a movement to elevate quality in Barolo for more than four decades, died yesterday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76. Sandrone built his wine business from a tiny 2.5-acre parcel in the appellation of Cannubi to 67 acres stretching from Barolo to Serralunga d’Alba

On a sunny afternoon last December, a middle-aged woman angrily walked out of 88-year-old Sherry-Lehmann, once the royalty of Manhattan wine and spirits stores. “I was shopping for a gift bottle of tequila for my boss,” the woman said, as she waited to cross Park Avenue. “But the salesperson tells me there’s only one bottle

While our most-popular videos of 2021 highlighted the itch to get together after being cooped up during the pandemic, 2022’s videos were a return to the basics of wine enjoyment. Refreshing summer cocktails for poolside imbibing, tours of the grand estates of Bordeaux and classic wine-and-cheese pairings all appealed to our viewers, as did a

As we prepare to ring in 2023, Wine Spectator‘s editors are taking a moment to toast the wine industry pioneers, innovators, leaders and chroniclers we lost this year, among them one of our dearest friends. This year we said goodbye to California Pinot Noir pioneer and Calera founder Josh Jensen, charismatic Château Léoville Barton owner

Economists are uncertain if 2023 will deliver a full recession to the U.S. economy or simply a slowdown, thanks to stubborn inflation, rising interest rates and the continued impact of the war in Ukraine and the pandemic. A lot of household net worth has been wiped out in the past 12 months, between the stock

Expanding its global portfolio, Tao Group Hospitality opened a new restaurant on Dec. 6 at the Moxy Lower East Side hotel in New York City: Sake No Hana, a lively spot for contemporary Japanese cuisine. A reinvention of the original Sake No Hana in London (which closed in 2021), it joins more than 70 Tao

Earlier this month, a thousand angry vignerons and their allies marched through the streets of downtown Bordeaux, calling for help to save their livelihood. When they reached the doors of the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB), the local trade organization, they hung a dummy from a tree outside, representing financially troubled grapegrowers at risk of suicide,

It’s our year-end roundup of the most exciting wines of the year! Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth is joined by senior editor Bruce Sanderson in our Top 100 edition episode 4 of Straight Talk, counting down our Top 10 Wines of the Year and much more! The winemaker behind our Wine of the Year joins us

New research adds to abundant evidence that antioxidants found in wine, tea and many fruits and vegetables can powerfully shape brain health as people age. In a study published in November in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, scientists at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center found that higher intake of flavonols,

Major Food Group (MFG)—the booming hospitality giant behind Wine Spectator Grand Award winner the Grill, Carbone, Dirty French and more—has opened a location of Contessa in Miami’s glitzy Design District. A swanky 2021 addition to Boston’s Back Bay, Contessa draws diners with traditional takes on Northern Italian cuisine; as MFG corporate wine director John Slover

Next year, New York City is getting a new restaurant from famed chef, restaurateur and Iron Chef competitor David Burke: Park Ave Kitchen, a brasserie opening in Midtown Manhattan’s 277 Park Avenue office building in May 2023. A collaboration between David Burke Hospitality Management Group and the Stahl Organization real estate company, the restaurant joins

Napa Valley’s Seven Stones winery has sold for $34 million following the death of its founder, Ronald Wornick, last year. The price includes a 45-acre plot of land on the outskirts of St. Helena near the Meadowood resort, including 3 acres of planted vineyards, a 6,600-square-foot residence and a winery. Real estate firm Compass announced

Tony Parker isn’t content to merely collect and enjoy wine, he also wants to make it. The French-American NBA star has been busily investing in projects throughout France since retiring from the San Antonio Spurs in 2019 at the age of 37. On the heels of his 2022 partnership with Château La Mascaronne in Provence

With Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning locations around the U.S., City Winery is an innovative and leading force for both urban wineries and U.S. hospitality. Now, it’s coming to a New York landmark, Grand Central Terminal. On Nov. 21, the City Winery team opened a new space, its 14th, in the transit hub’s Vanderbilt Hall West,

Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth is poppin’ off in episode 3 of Straight Talk—with a Champagne spectacular! He’s joined by Wine Spectator‘s lead taster for Champagne, Alison Napjus, and a wide-ranging lineup of sparkling wine stars: Roederer’s Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon talks Cristal and climate change, Alexandre Chartogne takes us inside the “grower Champagne” movement, and we talk

The 162nd Hospices de Beaune auction raised a total of $32 million last week, a record for any wine auction conducted by Sotheby’s and the highest total in the charity event’s long history. “It was a fantastic sale with lots of enthusiastic bidding,” Jamie Ritchie, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s Wine & Spirits, told Wine Spectator.

Antinori, one of the top names in Italian wine, has added a key vineyard asset to its Prunotto winery in Piedmont, purchasing 8.4 acres in the Cerretta MGA (Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva—Piedmont’s system of classified vinegrowing places) of Serralunga d’Alba for $9 million. The deal, signed on November 7, increases Prunotto’s estate-owned vineyards and parcels under

While numerous studies have linked moderate wine consumption to improved health outcomes, medical professionals agree that high alcohol intake, especially binge drinking, has negative consequences, including accidents, violence and longterm health problems. New research attempts to quantify just how serious those consequences can be, especially for young adults, who are at the highest risk of alcohol-related

The trial in Bordeaux’s Tribunal lasted just six hours, but the figures discussed were mind-boggling for the wine trade. Finishing late at night on Oct. 27, prosecutor Nathalie Mathieu deconstructed an intricate, profitable web of consumer and customs fraud. Over a period of two years, from 2016 to 2019, 131 tanker trucks hauled the equivalent

In October, New York–based Italian restaurant Scarpetta arrived in Tokyo, marking owner LDV Hospitality’s second location outside the U.S., and its first in Asia. The new venue is situated within a new skyscraper complex in the Toranomon district of the city’s Minato ward. “As one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the world, Tokyo

Several of Argentina’s leading wine regions were devastated by consecutive days of widespread freezing conditions recently, impacting tens of thousands of acres of vines throughout the country. At a time when nearly all vineyards were budding and many were beginning to flower, it was a particularly unfavorable time for a cold snap. In some areas,

Allen Shoup, a Washington icon who as CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle guided the state’s wine industry through its formative years, died Nov. 7. He was 79. “He was to Washington wines what his friend and mentor Robert Mondavi was to Napa Valley,” said his friend and Napa Valley vintner Agustin Huneeus, Sr., in a

Hosted by Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth, episode 2 of the new Straight Talk podcast features a deep dive into the Robert Mondavi Winery legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken, Continuum Estate co-founder and Robert’s son Tim Mondavi, international winemaking star and Mondavi winery alum Paul Hobbs, and with

E. & J. Gallo has purchased Denner Vineyards, Wine Spectator has learned, in a deal that includes the brand, tasting room and gravity-flow winery, plus 130 acres of vineyards in two of the most hailed subregions of Paso Robles: Willow Creek and Adelaida. The winery has been a leader in the region for its complex