Innehållsförteckning för June 30, 2019 från Wine Spectator

Visit WineSpectator.com/063019 to find links to all of the following resources. FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL OUR WINESPECTATOR.COM READERS WINE SPECTATOR’S 13TH ANNUAL VIDEO CONTEST Share your wine story to compete for great prizes! Submit your shorts to Wine Spectator’s annual video contest and you could win tickets to our spectacular Wine Experience weekend or a Grand Tasting. Entry deadline is Monday, Aug. 19. Check out the rules and previous years’ finalists online. OUTDOOR ENTERTAINING It’s time to take the party to the backyard, beach or park, and some of the country’s best chefs are here to help. We share their cooking tips and delicious make-at-home summer recipes along with great value wine matches chosen by our editors. VALUE WINE PICKS Wine Spectator’s free Xvalues app for iOS and Android devices features…

Dick and Ann Grace have sold Grace Family Vineyards, one of Napa’s original cult Cabernet Sauvignon producers, as they step back from the wine business. Kathryn Green, a business consultant and Napa vineyard owner, purchased the Victorian house, small winery and a 3-acre vineyard in addition to the inventory and brand. Production averages 650 cases a year. The sale price was not disclosed. Green first bought land in Napa in 2009. “It had 400 olive trees and no vines, and I never had any thought of getting into the wine business,” she told Wine Spectator. But over time, the wine bug took hold. In 2015, she bought the Van Asperen property in St. Helena, which included a vineyard. Helen Keplinger, consulting winemaker at Grace, conferred with Green on replanting the…

“In diversity is our strength.” So affirmed Francesco Ripaccioli of Canalicchio di Sopra, a third-generation family estate in Tuscany, in a video interview presented at “OperaWine: Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers.” The gala tasting kicked off the 53rd edition of Vinitaly, the annual wine trade fair, which took place April 7–10 in Verona. Italy’s wine diversity was on full display at OperaWine. Held in the historic Palazzo della Gran Guardia and limited to 1,600 invited guests, the tasting showcased 103 of the country’s top wine producers, picked by Wine Spectator. All 20 Italian wine regions were represented, from the Alps to Sicily. “Quality and diversity are two of our overarching goals when we compile the list,” said Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator senior editor. “But other factors come into play,…

One of Morgan Twain-Peterson’s earliest memories is of riding his bike to the Sonoma winery his dad, Joel Peterson, leased for his Ravenswood brand in the mid-1980s. Morgan, in grade school then, grew up in that winery, climbing on stacks of barrels like a jungle gym. • Peterson’s landlord was grape-grower Angelo Sangiacomo, whose office was just across a vineyard from the winery. Morgan hung out with Angelo and his boys. One day when he was 5 years old, Morgan made Angelo a business proposition. The lad had 10,000 lira given to him by his parents, left over from a trip to Italy. “I thought it was a fortune at the time but it was worth, like, $10,” Twain-Peterson says now, laughing. He offered the lira to Angelo in exchange…

Housed in an industrial park near downtown Paso Robles, Tin City has become both a winemaking hub and a tasting destination. It houses nearly 20 fully functional urban wineries with adjacent tasting rooms, each with its own personality, including Desperada, Onx, Brian Benson, Sans Liege and Field Recordings. There’s also a brewery, a cider house, a sheep’s milk ice cream shop and a pasta shop. Wine Shine Distillery features spirits made from distilled grape juice sourced from local vineyards. You could easily spend a day or two here sampling everything. Tin City Canteen is a welcome addition to the Tin City neighborhood, with wood-oven pizzas, pastas and seasonal salads making up the core of the menu. A Waygu meatball starter comes with tomato sauce, Parmigiano and garlic fries, while a…

A gustin Francisco Huneeus stepped down from his position as CEO of California’s Huneeus Vintners in March, two days after he was arrested in “Operation Varsity Blues,” the federal investigation into 33 parents allegedly involved in bribery schemes to gain admission for their children to some of the nation’s top universities. On April 8, prosecutors announced that Huneeus, 53, was one of 14 accused parents who had agreed to plead guilty to charges of fraud. Huneeus stands accused of paying $50,000 to college counselor and scheme organizer William Rick Singer to have a proctor improve his daughter’s SAT score by correcting some of her answers. A criminal complaint filed by the FBI also alleges that Huneeus agreed to pay both Singer’s foundation and a coach at the University of Southern…

Jenny Lewis has always been big on collaboration. Starting out as a child actor, she later made a name for herself in the music world as front woman for the beloved 2000s indie rock band Rilo Kiley. As a solo act and bona fide indie doyenne, she consistently works with other artists to make music: Her latest album, On the Line, released this March, features rock greats Ringo Starr, Beck, Jim Keltner and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It’s fitting that someone who plays so well with others would also find ways to cocreate in another of her passions—wine. Starting in 2014, Lewis and her “wine mentor,” Los Angeles wineshop owner Jill Bernheimer, began working with different winemakers to put out limited-edition wines to celebrate her album…

Long famed for its fortified Port wines, Portugal has been making huge strides in the quality of its table wines as well. The Douro Valley, where Port originates, is also the source of the country’s best reds and whites, and producers there are exploring the potential of their old vineyards and indigenous grapes. Recently, I’ve seen an increase in both the quality and quantity of bottlings produced from single-vineyard field blends, yielding wines that offer a unique expression of place. Field blends come from old-vine vineyards co-planted with indigenous grape varieties. These unique vineyards are invaluable to the character of the Douro. Since my previous report on the country (“A Lighter Side of Portugal,” Aug. 31, 2018), I have reviewed more than 250 Portuguese table wines in blind tastings at…

With the release of the 2016 vintage, California Zinfandel celebrates five successful harvests in a row. This series of terrific wines makes two things clear: Nearly all of the top wines come from vineyards planted 75 to 100 years ago, and most of those vineyards are in Sonoma County. Just as Napa dominates Cabernet Sauvignon in the Golden State, Sonoma has largely cornered the market on the state’s best Zin. My conclusions are the result of blind-tasting more than 300 Zinfandels at our Napa office since my previous report (“Zest for Zin,” June 30, 2018). Nearly 60% of them received outstanding scores of 90 points or higher on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale, including more than 100 wines from the 2016 vintage, which makes up the majority of the bottlings I…

Champagne is traditionally the bottle of choice for ceremonial ship christenings, but when the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy launched the HMS Tamar in March, it opted for a made-in-Britain sparkling wine to smash against the hull. Cornwall’s Camel Valley Vineyard—one of the wineries rumored to have supplied pours at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding—provided the alt-sparkling wine of honor.…

Louis M. Martini’s New Temple to Wine A soaring atrium flanked by 30-foot-high glass walls lies at the heart of one of the most impressive tasting experiences to arrive in Napa Valley. Following a four-year top-to-bottom renovation, Louis M. Martini’s winery (louismartini.com) just south of St. Helena reopened its doors in March. Famed wine country architect Howard Backen brought the property into the 21st century while paying homage to the original 1933 design. He incorporated planking from the winery’s old redwood tanks as well as original terra cotta construction blocks, adding new steel-and-oak paneling and massive windows. “Our intent was to open up the walls not only to provide entry but to bring the landscape in,” Backen said. The Gallo family has owned Martini since 2002. “I think, of all the…

Paso Robles is no longer in the middle of wine’s nowhere. The region has become a bustling destination, regularly attracting more than a million visitors a year for its world-class wines, modern tasting rooms, luxury accommodations and wine-friendly restaurants. Paso, as it’s known among locals, has a quaint downtown, a ruggedly beautiful countryside and an infusion of new talent that makes it one of today’s most exciting places for wine in California. Located along Highway 101 midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles (about a four-hour drive from either) and about 25 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, the heart of the city of Paso Robles is its town square—an inviting green patch surrounded by restaurants, shops and more than 20 wine bars. On one end of the square, winemakers…

What does it take to provide exceptional restaurant wine service? A diverse and high-caliber wine selection that complements the cuisine and is smartly organized, properly stored and attentively served, sure. But literally, what does that take to pull off? Over the past few months, we followed four wine directors at Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning eateries through their days. They serve wine with a smile, work the floor, manage a staff, study for wine exams, teach classes, shop for decor and accessories, appear on TV, hang out with somm friends, visit their favorite spots and talk business, family, hobbies, challenges—and, of course, about what they like to drink. And they taste, taste and taste some more. From an owner of two hip boutique Brooklyn wine bars to the wine director for…