Wine Spectator June 15-30, 2022

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 follows…

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 income prior…

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, especially as one who learned personally…

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 channel, or visit instagram.com/wine_spectator/channel…

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 partner, James…

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU imposed sanctions on Russian business-man Dmitry Pumpyansky and his family, paving the way for the French government to freeze the oligarch’s assets, including Domaine Prieuré St.-Jean de Bébian in Languedoc and Domaine Ganevat in Jura. But before the sanctions took effect, Pumpyansky handed control of the wineries to an outside party. Now the proprietors of the wineries are buying them, putting the estates in French hands but raising other questions. Pumpyansky made his fortune in steel. He is chairman of the board of PJSC Pipe Metallurgical Company, president of Group Sinara and owner-founder of pipe manufacturer TMK. Son Alexander, based in Geneva, oversees the family wineries in France and works in his father’s steel empire. The Pumpyanskys acquired Prieuré St.-Jean de Bébian in 2008; Ganevat in…