Wine Spectator August 31, 2021

Visit WineSpectator.com/083121 to find links to all of the following resources. FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL WINESPECTATOR.COM READERS WINE SPECTATOR’S VIDEO CONTEST Share your wine story to compete for great prizes! Submit your short video to Wine Spectator’s 15th annual Video Contest and you could win tickets to our spectacular Wine Experience weekend or a Grand Tasting. Entry deadline is Monday, Aug. 30. Check out the rules and previous years’ finalists online. WORLD’S BEST WINE LISTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Awards app helps you find restaurants with exciting wine lists. Every dining destination in this app has earned a Wine Spectator award for its commitment to wine. The app allows you to search through more than 2,900 award winners to find the ultimate wine experience. WINESPECTATOR.COM/RESTAURANTS With our free on-line Restaurant Search you…

In August 2020, our cover story proclaimed “Restaurants in Crisis.” There was no other way to describe the unprecedented challenges facing the industry in the midst of the darkest year in their history. At that time, even with no end to the global pandemic in sight, we predicted that restaurants would find a new normal. However, even we could not have imagined the ingenuity and resilience that would be demonstrated by restaurant owners and their hospitality workers in their efforts to survive. But survive they did. And while the scene has not fully recovered, there is no doubt that American restaurants are back in business! Their future is all but assured by the success of a massive vaccination program that has patrons eagerly returning to dining rooms across the nation to…

Wine Spectator’s Grand Award, founded in 1981, recognizes outstanding restaurants with extraordinary wine programs. We honor 103 restaurants with our Grand Award this year; listed here, they represent 17 countries and 14 states plus the District of Columbia. For more information about these distinguished restaurants, turn to the Restaurant Awards listings beginning on page 75; comprehensive coverage is also available at WineSpectator.com/Restaurants. UNITED STATES CALIFORNIA Acquerello Grand Award since 2012 Addison Grand Award since 2009 Capo Grand Award since 2015 The French Laundry Grand Award since 2007 La Toque Grand Award since 2014 Madera Grand Award since 2018 Murray Circle Grand Award since 2016 ♦Patina Grand Award since 1994 The Plumed Horse Grand Award since 2015 Restaurant Gary Danko Grand Award since 2001 ♦The Restaurant at Meadowood Grand Award since 2016 Restaurant 301 at the Hotel Carter Grand Award since 1998 Saison Grand Award since 2014 Sierra Mar Grand Award since 2012 SingleThread Farms Grand Award since 2021 Spago Beverly Hills Grand Award since…

When Louis de Bonnecaze started diving into digital currencies in 2015, he saw a unique opportunity for the fine wine industry. Three years later, the CEO of BTC Wine, a Bordeaux-based wine retailer, became one of the first to accept cryptocurrencies, or “crypto,” as payment for prestigious French wines. “I thought it was a good idea to use crypto as payment because it is fast, secure and convenient,” de Bonnecaze told Wine Spectator. “People want to spend the virtual currency and change it to a tangible asset, and buying fine wines can be a solution.” In the past few years, wine auction houses and retailers have increasingly accepted digital tokens such as Bitcoin in the wine world, but many are still hesitant about virtual currencies—decentralized, digital money not issued by a…

Two long-established Sonoma County wineries lost their homes in May as the parent companies of Sebastiani and Clos du Bois laid off workers and shifted production to other facilities. The brands will continue, but the wines will be made elsewhere. In the case of Sebastiani, this marks the end of an era. The winery, located a mile east of Sonoma Plaza, has produced wine continuously since 1904, surviving even Prohibition and the Great Depression. Foley Family Wines bought the winery from the Sebastiani family in 2008. About 30 winemaking and production employees have been let go. Sebastiani’s tasting room and administrative offices at the site will remain open for now. E. & J. Gallo, which acquired Clos du Bois from Constellation in a $1.7 billion deal in January, laid off 36 employees,…

Jim Clendenen Jim Clendenen, who brought a love of Burgundy to his groundbreaking Santa Barbara winery Au Bon Climat and helped put the region on the world winemaking stage, died in his sleep on May 15 at his home near the town of Buellton, Calif. He was 68. Clendenen was a tireless proponent of Santa Barbara wines from his base in the cool-climate Santa Maria Valley in the northern reaches of the county. His Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from a variety of vineyard sources helped set the quality bar high for the region’s wines. He was also a frequent traveler, spreading the gospel of Santa Barbara wines and Burgundian varietals in California. With a flowing mane of blond hair and a beard to match, Clendenen cut a distinctive figure in the mostly buttoned-down…