Wine Spectator December 31, 2021

FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL WINESPECTATOR.COM READERS TOP 100 COUNTDOWN Join Wine Spectator’s senior editors as they discuss this year’s Top 10 in our annual video series. Plus, discover more original content. Find matching recipes and in-depth articles related to this year’s Top 10. And take a look through wine history with our full set of Top 100 lists back to 1988. ENTER OUR TOP 100 SWEEPSTAKES! Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win a bottle of each of the Top 10 Wines of 2021. HOLIDAY PARTY PLANNING We’ve recruited leading chefs to share some of their favorite dishes for seasonal entertaining, while Wine Spectator editors recommend crowd-pleasing, budget-friendly wines. STRAIGHT TALK WITH WINE SPECTATOR is an Instagram Live series featuring conversations with wine-and-food news-makers such as winemakers Andy Erickson and Thomas Rivers Brown and…

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, our editors continued to taste and evaluate wines in both our New York and Napa offices, ultimately reviewing nearly 12,500 wines over the past year. Only wines rated 90 points or higher qualify to be considered for our Top 100, and narrowing that pool of wines, which numbered 5,708 in 2021, is no small task. Of course there are other criteria to be met in order to make the cut for our roundup of the year’s most exciting wines, including value (based on price) and availability (based on cases produced or imported.) Even within these strictures, only one can be crowned Wine of the Year. In 2021, that wine is Dominus Estate Napa Valley 2018, a Cabernet-based blend scoring a classic 97 points on release. What ultimately…

Kerr-Gratulations Thank you for the wonderful article on Cristie Kerr (cover, Oct. 15). During the time when Cristie was often on top of the leaderboard, I was an avid golfer and, as a fan, loved to watch her perform on the LPGA tour. Her focus, tenacity and passion for the game was evident back then, and it’s great to see that she is pouring the same kind of emotion and work ethic into her wine business. I have no doubt that she will have continued success and will continue to produce outstanding wines. I hope that one day soon I will be able to enjoy some of them! Richard PerryGilbert, Ariz. Mission: Wine Info I really enjoyed the article on Tuscan wines (“Style and Substance,” Oct. 31). It was very helpful to me as…

Now In Our IGTV Archives OCT. 20 Frédéric Panaiotis, chef de cave, Ruinart OCT. 13 Donae Burston, founder and CEO, La Fête du Rosé OCT. 6 Remi Cohen, CEO, Domaine Carneros SEPT. 29 Amar’e Stoudemire, former NBA player and owner of Stoudemire Wines SEPT. 22 Alberto Antonini, consulting enologist and producer SEPT. 15 Valentina Abbona, owner and marketing manager, Marchesi di Barolo SEPT. 8 Tiquette Bramlett, president, Vidon Vineyard SEPT. 1 Barbara Banke, chairman and proprietor, Jackson Family Wines AUG. 25 DLynn Proctor, sommelier and director of Fantesca Estate & Winery AUG. 18 Chris Kajani, winemaker, Bouchaine Vineyards WATCH ON INSTAGRAM Scan the QR code to start watching on our IGTV channel, or visit instagram.com/wine_spectator/channel…

Should wine lovers have the right to buy wine from retailers in other states? The U.S. Supreme Court announced in October that it won’t tackle that question—at least not this year—declining to grant cert to Sarasota Wine Market v. Schmitt, meaning it won’t consider the case. The case, which challenged Missouri’s law prohibiting out-of-state wine retailers from shipping orders to Missouri consumers, could potentially have reshaped the U.S. wine sales landscape. But there are at least seven other retailer shipping cases currently working their way through the court system. What would it take for the Court to hear one, especially when it agrees to hear only a small fraction of cases each year? In Sarasota, Missouri consumers and a Florida retailer sought to overturn Missouri’s law, arguing that it violates the Constitution’s…

Brad Pitt and the Perrin family have new partners. Angelina Jolie has sold her 50% stake in Château Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, for an undisclosed sum. That makes the drinks group partners with Jolie’s ex-husband on the Provençal rosé winery. Miraval has been a blockbuster since the Hollywood power couple bought the estate in 2012 and partnered with the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel to release their first wines in 2013. Sales rose 17.4% to just under 150,000 cases in the U.S. market last year, according to Impact Databank, a sister publication of Wine Spectator. The then-couple paid an estimated $60 million for the estate. Analysts estimate it to be worth $162 million today. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. Business has continued as…