Innehållsförteckning för June 15-30, 2022 från Wine Spectator

Not every wine drinker knows the name Dave Phinney, but most know his wines. His creation of The Prisoner was groundbreaking in both bottling and marketing—a high quality California red blend, sourced without estate vineyards, whose eye-catching label quickly established it on retail shelves. Soaring from 385 cases to 80,000 in just a few years, it might be possible to dismiss The Prisoner wines as a wild stroke of good fortune were it not for their consistent scores of 90 points or higher from Wine Spectator and follow-up successes such as Orin Swift. With his proven track record, solid reputation across the industry and bold approach to wine, Phinney’s story called out to us to investigate more fully. For our cover story, senior editor and Napa bureau chief MaryAnn Worobiec…

Join a series of Instagram conversations between Wine Spectator editors and respected leaders in the worlds of wine and hospitality, spanning current events, business news and personal thoughts. Now In Our IGTV Archives APRIL 13 Rebekah Wineburg, winemaker, Quintessa APRIL 6 Morgan Twain-Peterson, owner and winemaker, Bedrock Wine Co. MARCH 30 Ludovic du Plessis, president, Champagne Telmont MARCH 23 Alessandra Casini Bindi Sergardi, CEO, Bindi-Sergardi MARCH 16 Tony Soter, founder, Soter Vineyards FEB. 23 Rocco Lombardo, president, Wilson Daniels  FEB. 16 Danny Haas, wine buyer, Vineyard Brands FEB. 9 Shannon Staglin, president, Staglin Family Vineyard FEB. 2 Elizabeth Bourcier, resident vigneronne, Cayuse Vineyards JAN. 26 Philana Bouvier, president, Demeine Estates JAN. 19 Pete Seghesio, founder, Journeyman Wines WATCH ON INSTAGRAM Scan the QR code to start watching on our IGTV…

Child was on the cover of Wine Spectator’s June 15, 1991, issue. Harvey Steiman, then-editor at large, flew to Boston to share a meal prepared by the chef and discuss wine’s place in her life. Below are excerpts. On matching wines to her menu: “The uninitiated worry that they might serve a wine that would not be proper. But you don’t solve anything by telling them that any wine they like would be fine. Some wines are definitely better than others. They tell me you can’t have wine with artichokes or asparagus. I am amazed. I really didn’t like these wines until I took some of the asparagus. Now they taste lovely, especially the Chablis. I learned something tonight.” On simplicity: “I love to cook, but you don’t need to…

North by Northwest This quintet from Oregon and Washington delivers plenty of flavors at reasonable prices. Argyle is a top producer of sparkling wines, while Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon have long been staples of the Evergreen State. ARGYLE Brut Rosé Willamette Valley 2018 (93, $30) Delicate, refreshing; strawberry, blood orange, spicy yeast LUKE Merlot Wahluke Slope 2019 (91, $25) Red currant, toasty spice, dusty herb; vibrant, elegant NOVELTY HILL Merlot Columbia Valley 2018 (90, $23) Open-knit, sleek; red currant, cinnamon PENDULUM Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2020 (90, $21) Black cherry, toasty spice, bay leaf; structured, expressive WATERBROOK Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Reserve 2019 (89, $15) Well-built, refined; black cherry, cedar, spice On the Continent France, Portugal, Spain and Italy are featured in this group of solid values. The whites are ideal…

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti traveled to New York in March to preview its 2019 vintage. Presenting the wines was Aubert de Villaine, DRC’s co-director since 1974. He announced he’s taken an advisory role and introduced new co-directors: Perrine Fenal, who replaced the late Henry-Frédéric Roch in 2018, and Aubert’s nephew Bertrand de Villaine, who joined DRC in 2009. “I’m extremely confident in the future of the domaine,” said Aubert. “Both are very familiar with the domaine and carry the philosophy of the domaine in their hearts. Most importantly, they like each other.” There is also a new white Burgundy in the lineup: Corton-Charlemagne from parcels leased from Domaine Bonneau du Martray. Along with the premier cru Vosne-Romanée Cuvée Duvault-Blochet, there were 10 wines in the lineup from the 2019 harvest.…

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START AS A SPARKLING WINEMAKER? I started in the wine industry as a laboratory technician in the late 1970s, having recently graduated with a degree in chemistry and food microbiology, and it was the latter that led into sparkling winemaking via yeast technology for the secondary fermentation. My interest in sparkling winemaking evolved from that point through assistant winemaker, winemaker and finally group sparkling winemaker for the then–Penfolds Wine Group (now Treasury Wine Estates). I left that company in December 1993 to start with BRL Hardy (now Accolade Wines) in March 1994 and commenced the Arras project with Tasmanian fruit from 1995. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE DEFINING ELEMENT THAT SEPARATES SPARKLING WINES FROM YOUR REGION FROM THOSE OF OTHER AREAS? All premium regional…

This Buying Guide contains ratings of new releases from around the world. Complete tasting notes are provided for new releases scoring 85 or more points (on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale, explained below). Hundreds of additional reviews appear each month on our website, www.winespectator.com. Each review carries the initials of the Wine Spectator editor who blind-tasted and scored the wine and wrote the review, based on the regional specializations indicated below. Bruce Sanderson Burgundy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Germany, Austria James Molesworth California Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, Bordeaux, Rhône Valley, Port MaryAnn Worobiec California Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, Australia, New Zealand Alison Napjus Spain, Italy, Champagne, Alsace, South Africa Tim Fish California Zinfandel and Merlot, Oregon, Washington, U.S. sparkling wines Aaron Romano Argentina, Chile How We Do the Tastings Wine Spectator…

Don’t Dumb It Down In his column “It’s Time for Wine to Wake Up” (April 30), Mitch Frank sounds the alarm on the continuing inability for producers to attract younger consumers. While this is undoubtedly a serious challenge, I do not think that pandering to emerging consumer values or offering more affordable price points, as Frank seems to suggest, will prove a viable solution for the wine industry in the long term. As the report Frank cites rightly notes, an increasing number of younger Millennials and the eldest members of Generation Z are eschewing alcohol altogether. This is likely a secular trend that can’t be addressed by merely adjusting pricing, promotion or distribution strategies. At the same time, elder Millennials are beginning to catch up to the levels of discretionary…

The two Englishmen began showing up at investor conferences in 2015, armed with an enticing proposition. Investors could, via a London-based brokerage, Bordeaux Cellars, lend money to wealthy borrowers who needed fast loans, no questions asked. The loans would carry a 16% interest rate. The lenders would receive 12%, paid quarterly. Normally, such a high rate of interest meant that the loan would be dicey. Not so, the two men claimed—these loans would be secured with prestigious wines from the borrowers’ cellars, transferred to climate-controlled, secure warehouses overseen by Bordeaux Cellars. “What happens in case of a default?” asked Stephen Burton, the 57-year-old head of the firm, at a 2015 conference in Cancun. “We sell the wine.” “Lots of customers are property developers who are short of cash,” said Burton’s…

Alain Graillot Alain Graillot, whose namesake domaine became a standard-bearer for the Crozes-Hermitage appellation in France’s Northern Rhône Valley, died due to a stroke on March 3, according to his longtime exporter. He was 77. In 1985, Graillot was living in Paris and pursuing a career in chemistry when he suddenly changed course. He bought a vineyard in the Chênes Verts area, outside the town of Pont-del’Isère, and made his first wine with the help of Burgundy vintners and friends Jean-Pierre de Smet of Domaine de l’Arlot and Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac. At the time, Crozes-Hermitage was largely unknown. By the end of the 1990s, Graillot was making a name for himself with his two Syrah bottlings: a regular Crozes and a barrel selection called La Guiraude that was…

San Francisco has an outsize reputation for fine chocolate. Scharffen Berger, the Bay Area company that really started the artisanal chocolate movement in this country, was founded here in the late 1990s, but the city’s chocolate history goes back much further, to the Gold Rush and beyond. Junípero Serra was an 18th century Spanish Franciscan missionary to what were then known as Baja and Alta California. As part of a massive endeavor to convert Indigenous people and pacify them during the land-grab he was required to keep meticulous records. (Notably he also directed the planting of the first vineyard there, to grapes now known as Mission.) Although chocolate was present to some extent before, his correspondence shows shipments of cacao to California by the hundreds of pounds. This chocolate was…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 95 RAMEY Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2019 $75 CALIFORNIA Powerful and sleek up front, showing Honeycrisp apple, lemon blossom, Asian pear and Sumo orange flavors that are bright, fresh and heightened by crisp acidity, with sea salt, white tea and nutmeg details on the finish. COLLECTIBLE 98 CIACCI PICCOLOMINI D’ARAGONA Brunello di Montalcino Vigna di Pianrosso Santa Caterina d’Oro Riserva 2016 $150 ITALY Fluid yet concentrated, exuding cherry, black currant, violet and mineral flavors. Saturated with ripe fruit, this has beautifully integrated acidity and tannins, with a racy profile that drives the finish. SMART BUY 92 L’ECOLE NO. 41 Syrah Columbia Valley 2019 $25 WASHINGTON Spry and zesty, with medium-bodied raspberry, smoky herb and pepper flavors that build richness toward refined tannins. BEST VALUE 89 BODEGAS…

People started sending me the headlines a few weeks ago. “Two glasses of wine could exceed a whole day’s sugar intake.” “Two glasses of wine have more calories than a burger.” One compared wine to dough-nuts. Local TV stations were reporting on a new study out of the U.K. that had found wine was packed with sugar. I was intrigued. Was my Cabernet sweeter than candy? Are there actual cupcakes in Cupcake? Seriously though, my first thought was, “Wait, which wines?” The study in question was a report from the Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), which describes itself as “an alliance of more than 60 non-governmental organizations which work together to promote evidence-based policies to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.” For this project, they commissioned a laboratory to analyze…

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START AS A SPARKLING WINEMAKER? I was born into a Bordeaux wine-making family, so wine and vineyards have always been part of my culture. I first began to explore the Champagne region after I obtained my degree as an enologist and agricultural engineer in 1998. I was really taken by this new terroir and joined Moët & Chandon in 1999. There, I was able to deepen my knowledge of the vineyards and local winemaking techniques and forge a personal aesthetic of Champagne. In 2005, I joined Dom Pérignon and met Richard Geoffroy, my predecessor. Over the course of 13 harvests, in close collaboration, we engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one another and with nature. I’ve been at Dom Pérignon for 17 years now, and…

FRANCE Chablis 94 Patrick Piuze Chablis Les Roncières 2020 $62 This silky, vibrant white is all about texture and harmony, showcasing peach, melon, apple and lemon fruit underscored by a subtle minerality. Seamless from start to finish, ending in a long citrusy and stony aftertaste. Drink now through 2028. 120 cases made, 48 cases imported.—B.S. 93 Patrick Piuze Chablis Vaulorent “QC” 2020 $84 Though reserved aromatically, this shows intensity on the palate. Offers apple, lemon, bread dough and mineral flavors driven by a bracing acidity, which extends the finish with a long, tangy stone-infused aftertaste. Drink now through 2028. 69 cases made, 5 cases imported.—B.S. 92 Patrick Piuze Chablis La Butte “O” 2020 $37 A ripe version, this hints at white flowers, apricot and sweet spices, with a core of…

More than two decades ago, Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken was granted the first and only video interview with Ernest Gallo, co-founder and chairman of E. & J. Gallo, one of the world’s largest wine companies. Full footage of the interview, a rare look into the thinking and strategy of this famously private and even more famously influential wine personality, was recently made available to the public on WineSpectator.com. A sampling of viewer responses on social media are published below. Anyone interested in CA wine should watch this interview. It’s an incredibly rare window into one of the people who created the modern wine industry in America.  Alder Yarrow Thanks for sharing some California wine history! Dan Petroski This brings back a lot of memories for me,…

Celebrity chefs come and go, but Julia Child remains. A home cook who wrote the cornerstone cookbook of French cuisine in the U.S. and was the first food TV star, she commanded the respect of professionals and earned the abiding love of her audience. It seems we can’t get enough of her: The many shows she made during her life still clock impressive streaming numbers today; in 2009 Meryl Streep played her in Julie & Julia; and last year a documentary film was released. This year brings a competitive cooking show and the first season of a drama about her rise. The Julia Child Challenge (debuted March 14 on Food Network, streaming on Discovery+) Child’s home kitchen is as familiar and as comforting to food-loving American audiences as the bar…

Col d’Orcia, the Montalcino estate owned by Francesco Marone Cinzano, lies just across the bridge straddling the Ombrone River, at the southern border of the appellation, northeast of the village of Sant’Angelo Scalo. It’s a large estate by Montalcino standards. When I visited there in the spring of 2012, then-managing director Edoardo Virano, Cinzano and I tasted a number of samples from cask that were destined to be 2011 Brunellos di Montalcino. Ranging from elegant and charming to dense and tannic, these samples would allow the estate to create a final blend that represented the various elevations of its vineyard parcels. This blending process was top of mind when reviewing the newly released 2017 vintage. Because of the heat and drought of the summer in 2017—one of the hottest and…

Sparkling wines are a must for festive moments such as ringing in the New Year, but when added to cocktails, their vibrancy and effervescence can make any mixed drink a cause for celebration. “Champagne elevates and enhances other ingredients in a cocktail; it highlights fruit and citrus notes while adding sparkle for toasting special occasions,” says Hadi Ktiri, beverage manager at the new Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans, where sparkling cocktails star on bar menus throughout the property. Because sparkling wines, including Champagne, Prosecco, Cava and others, are so incredibly versatile, they can create cocktails that are equally suited for “black-tie galas and poolside sipping,” Ktiri explains. Sparkling wine-based cocktails can also provide less potent alternatives to heavier-hitting mixed drinks. “At gatherings, I want to be able to enjoy…

Highly Recommended The issue’s most impressive wines. Includes top-scorers and wines that represent optimal purchases based on their combination of score, price and availability. 97 Bollinger Brut Champagne La Grande Année 2014 $190 FRANCE Racy acidity drives this mouthwatering Champagne, enlivening the rich panoply of flavors. Features a fine and creamy mousse that’s still a lively springboard for aromas and flavors of crème de cassis, glazed tangerine, roasted hazelnut, ground coffee, pickled ginger and white blossoms. Long and satiny, with minerally salt and chalk notes gaining momentum on the lasting finish. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Disgorged July 2021. Drink now through 2037. 1,500 cases imported.—A.N. 97 Caprili Brunello di Montalcino AdAlberto Riserva 2016 $90 ITALY A taut, linear red, hallmarked by cherry, strawberry, green olive, rose, sanguine and iron aromas and…

CALIFORNIA Cabernet Sauvignon & Blends 97 Abreu Las Posadas Howell Mountain 2017 $650 See Collectibles, page 94. 97 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain El Camino 2018 $300 Dense, dripping with pastissoaked plum, blackberry and black currant fruit flavors that are fresh overall, showing tantalizing mulled and steeped facets as well. Offers melted licorice and tar details that drive underneath the fruit, carrying the flavors through a lengthy finish, where violet, roasted apple wood and savory hints fill in the background and provide superior range. Remarkably vivid and detailed from start to finish despite the heft. Best from 2024 through 2042. 292 cases made.—J.M. 96 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2018 $140 Ripe and very juicy, with a youthfully compact set of plum, boysenberry and blackberry compote flavors wrapped in licorice and violet.…