Table of contents for October 15, 2024 in Wine Spectator

Reviews of recent releases from the firstgrowth châteaus of Bordeaux—Lafite Rothschild, Margaux, Haut-Brion, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild—have been conspicuously absent from the pages of Wine Spectator. In a free-ranging discussion between legendary Bordeaux and Napa winemaker Christian Moueix and Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken, the reasons are laid clear. During a recent interview by Shanken for the Nov. 15 issue, Moueix brings up Bordeaux and makes an appeal for continued support for the region from Wine Spectator. But Moueix is also well aware that since 2020 the first-growth châteaus, traditionally regarded as among the best of Bordeaux, have declined to submit their wines for blind tasting, a standard the magazine holds all wines to in order to avoid bias. Shanken sums up the impasse: “They used to send…

It’s the first commandment of wine—it all starts in the vineyard. But what makes a great vineyard? And what elevates a select few from great to iconic? There is an interplay between soils, location, climate and history that makes certain spots ideal for growing breathtaking wines. But the proof is in the bottle. Certain terroirs produce outstanding wine not just year after year, but decade after decade. What’s more, those wines set a benchmark. It’s easier for beginning wine drinkers to follow their favorite grapes or brands. But terroir is much more immutable. As you’ll read, it withstands the test of time. And it’s the way in which the best wines on earth speak of a specific site that keeps us coming back for more. To identify the best vineyards…

What Romanée-Conti is for red Burgundy, Montrachet is for white. It is considered the highest expression of Chardonnay, a spot that somehow brings out all the grape’s different aspects—richness, minerality, vibrance, power, refinement and ageability. It has the power and body of Bâtard-Montrachet but the delicacy of a Chevalier-Montrachet. Alexandre Dumas wrote that Montrachet should be drunk kneeling, with head bared. There are 31 grands crus on the Côte d’Or, but only six are planted with Chardonnay. Five of those are Montrachet and the four vineyards surrounding it. Montrachet itself is just under 20 acres, but it is encircled by vines that bow to its glory. First, it straddles two communes, Puligny and Chassagne, which both append its name to their wines—the grand cru is known as Le Montrachet in…

Antinori’s Tignanello vineyard in Chianti Classico is a cradle for the rebirth of this historic wine region and a key player in the modern-day renaissance of Italian wine. In 1970, the region had been on a downturn for decades and had become known for low-priced, rustic wines hardly worthy of Tuscany’s noble past. After helping his uncle Mario Incisa della Rocchetta develop Sassicaia, the first super Tuscan, in Bolgheri, Piero Antinori and his head winemaker, Giacomo Tachis, started thinking about how they could improve Chianti. They looked to their best source for Sangiovese, Tenuta Tignanello, a gorgeous hilly estate in the northeastern portion of Chianti Classico, near the town of Greve. They decided to create a special cuvée from one vineyard. First they reduced and then eliminated the white grapes…

André Tchelistcheff looked at the soil and knew this was a special site; the famed winemaker was consulting with Lodovico Antinori on his Tenuta dell’Ornellaia project near Bolgheri, creating an estate modeled on his cousin Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta’s Tenuta San Guido winery. Much of Bolgheri is a mix of sand and clay with stones mixed in. It’s a loose soil deposited by the sea that once covered this area and the erosion of the centuries since. But one section of 16 acres on Lodovico’s land was filled with a clay, dating to the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago. It had been pushed to the surface during the tectonic activity that created Tuscany’s rolling landscape. The soil was blueish gray and hard-packed. It was reminiscent of the…

Different times of day demand different types of wines. What pairs nicely with a salad at lunch isn’t the same as what your family opens together for a hearty Sunday dinner. When it comes to affordably priced offerings, we’ve got you covered for whatever the situation requires, whether you’re meeting coworkers for happy hour, inviting another couple over for a special dinner or gathering a large group for a simple yet satisfying meal. All of the wines in this diverse roundup are rated 89 points or higher, priced at $30 or less and made in large enough quantities to be widely available. They hail from every corner of the wine world, representing the best of what vintners are able to deliver in terms of excellent quality for the price. From…

Before there was a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), there was a place. More than 135 million years ago, Burgundy’s future Côte d’Or lay at the bottom of a shallow sea. Sediments and dead prehistoric creatures settled to the seabed and slowly formed layers of limestone over millions of years. The sea dried up, and continents collided, pushing up the Alps and triggering faults across the Côte. Ice ages mixed the various layers of rock further. Weather and time broke down the rock over the centuries to create today’s mix of clay and limestone, known as marl. It’s this soil, with its drainage, minerality and complexity, that produces some of the world’s greatest Pinot Noir. In 1232, the abbey of St.-Vivant bought a vineyard and called it Cru de Clos,…

The Douro river valley often seems like the most foolhardy terroir in the world, with vines planted on narrow terraces of crumbling schist on steep canyon walls hundreds of feet above the river below. And Quinta do Noval’s Nacional vineyard seems the most unlikely of all. Roughly 6,000 vines sit on a 5-acre parcel in the midst of the winery’s 353 acres of vines. When Christian Seely, who manages AXA’s wine properties, including Noval, arrived in 1993, he assessed the estate and began an aggressive replanting program. But he didn’t touch Nacional. Those 6,000 vines date to 1924 and are planted on their own roots. Somehow they have avoided the phylloxera that devastated the rest of the valley a century ago. When one vine dies, the team replants with a…

Standing in the Wehlener Sonnenur vineyards, hundreds of feet above the Mosel river below, one understands how hard vintners will work to produce special Riesling. Sonnenuhr is basically broken blue slate rock littering a slope that plunges toward the waters below at a 70% incline. The Mosel is at the northern extreme for great Riesling, and so its good vineyards are all planted on south-facing slopes sitting above the river, which reflects the sunshine during the growing season. The little differences between sites, though, can make big differences in the Rieslings, nuanced, complex wines that can be very expressive when grown in the right spot. Wehlener Sonnenur sits just across the river from the town of Wehlen in the Middle Mosel. Sonnenuhr means sundial, and a large one is painted…

The 2022 vintage for white Burgundy is among the best of the past decade, delivering excellent quality across the region. Although the summer was hot, there was ample rainfall in the spring and early summer, promoting good ripening. In the end, the quantity of yields was significant, adding to the year’s good fortune. According to some vintners, the ripening of the Chardonnay vines was slowed during the heat of the summer and this helped to preserve the acidity in the developing grapes. At the same time, rain at the end of June, as well as in mid-July and mid-August, kept the vines from drought stress. As has become the new normal in this era of warmer growing seasons, picking times were crucial to ensure that proper balance was achieved. “The…

California winemaker Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is voluntarily delisting from the Nasdaq, as the company has been unable to engineer a turnaround after months of turmoil. Nearly 400 employees could be laid off as early as September 27. The Sonoma-headquartered company’s rise and fall was dramatic. It went public with a $600 million IPO in 2021, led by longtime chief executive Pat Roney. Its share price reached a high of $12.63 shortly after the IPO but fell from there and was sitting at $0.11 when it filed for bankruptcy. As of March 31, the company had about $475 million in assets and $400 million in liabilities, according to a court filing by current CEO Seth Kaufman. A Company Built on Aggressive Expansion Roney…

Tuscany’s Marchesi Antinori has purchased sole ownership of Col Solare, a premium Washington winery launched as a 50-50 partnership with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in 1995. The sale includes the brand, a winery and 29 acres of vines. The price was not disclosed. Annual production is roughly 5,000 cases. “Our family has been fascinated by the unique terroir of Red Mountain AVA since the early ’90s. It’s an ongoing and exciting challenge for us to make Washington red wines distinctive and renowned for their high quality,” said Marchese Antinori chairman Piero Antinori. Col Solare, Italian for “shining hill,” has a 29-acre estate vineyard that includes five clones of Cabernet Sauvignon as well as Merlot, Carmenère, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. A dedicated winery located on the estate vineyard opened in…

The flight approach to the San Sebastián airport skims northern Spain, with panoramic views of the area’s dramatic coastline presented in a rapid series. Against a backdrop of rising mountains, the famed La Concha cove and beach flashes by, its seashell shape even more apparent from the sky. San Sebastián offers an inviting resort town experience. It draws visitors for the history and charm of its old town as well as for its pristine beaches and outdoor activities. Food and wine lovers flock to its distinctive dining opportunities—from the casual snack at a pintxos bar to elevated gastronomy at one of the city’s internationally recognized restaurants. San Sebastián provides ample opportunity to explore, but in this story we give you insights to inspire the journey. Where to Stay Hotel María…

This is the most famous vineyard in America, the source of some of Napa Valley’s most revered Cabernet Sauvignons. It’s the best example of why Oakville is an ideal place for growing that grape. It’s iconic enough that winemakers go to court for the right to put its name on their label. It’s the spot where Robert Mondavi decided to found his namesake winery that would define modern American wine. In 1868, Hamilton Walker Crabb, an Ohio native who moved west looking for gold, came to Napa Valley and purchased 240 acres in Oakville. Crabb planted grapes and named his land Hermosa Vineyards. He bought two adjacent parcels, in 1879 and 1891. In 1886, he renamed his winery and the vineyard To Kalon, Greek for “the place of highest beauty.”…

The origins of the terroir of Bordeaux’s Médoc starts about 2 million years ago when a series of ice ages struck Europe. As the glaciers advanced in France, they scraped up tons of rocks and sand from the Pyrenees and the Massif Central. When temperatures rose and the ice melted, the released waters flooded down what is now the Gironde, dumping all that sand, clay and gravel onto the Médoc. This cycle of freeze and thaw built up the gravel mounds over the centuries. In the heart of the region, as St.-Julien gives way to Pauillac, the gravels date back 38 million years and run more than 30-feet deep in parts. When Dutch engineers drained the swampy areas along the Gironde in the early 1600s, the gravels were rendered dry,…

Despite its long history, wine has dramatically changed in the past half century. New World regions have emerged on stage and demanded respect. Old World areas that languished during hard times have been revitalized by visionary vintners. The sites profiled below all consistently produce outstanding wines and stand apart. L’Ermita PRIORAT, SPAIN One of the most significant wine revolutions of the past 50 years has been Spain’s emergence as a source for premium wine. And while traditional regions like Rioja played a major role, a group of ambitious winemakers exploring a relatively unknown area in the mountains south of Barcelona made it clear something remarkable was underway. In the 1980s, when they began to modernize wine in Priorat, there were just 1,500 acres of vines. A century earlier, before phylloxera…

The first thing to know about a meal at Essential by Christophe, an ambitious restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is that it will begin with the mushroom cappuccino amusebouche. Served slightly warm, it’s a small custard of sweet potato brushed with Madeira reduction and topped with mushroom foam. It will catch you off guard by its intense burst of flavor and creamy deliciousness. You will want a second one. “We began serving that dish when we opened, and we can’t remove it or people would be upset. Some guests request two or three,” says chefowner Christophe Bellanca. After more than three decades of cooking in top kitchens around the world, Bellanca is now at the helm of his own, launching Essential in December of 2022 with the goal of…