Wine Spectator December 31, 2022

FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL WINESPECTATOR.COM READERS TOP 100 WINES OF THE YEAR Join Wine Spectator’s senior editors as they discuss this year’s Top 10 in our annual video series. Then, find matching recipes and in-depth articles related to this year’s Top 10 and scroll through wine history with our Top 100 lists back to 1988. Plus, enter our sweepstakes to win the Top 10 Wines of 2022! HOLIDAY PARTY PLANNING We’ve recruited top chefs to share some of their favorite dishes for seasonal entertaining, while Wine Spectator editors recommend crowd-pleasing, budget-friendly wines. THE WINE WORLD, UNFILTERED Love wine and spirits? Into pop culture? Get the scoop on how drinks intersect with movies, TV, music, sports, politics and more in our regular column and its companion email newsletter. NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS For both consumers and the…

Due to COVID, Wine Spectator editors were forced to blind-taste and discuss the Top 100 remotely for the past two years. By tasting in our respective offices then convening for a Zoom discussion, we managed to arrive at strong lists, including Wine of the Year, despite the challenges. This year, I was finally able to meet with my senior editorial staff in person in the New York office—and it felt great to be back. Tasting together around a large table as we weigh the merits of the Wine of the Year candidates is an exciting culmination to a year of in-depth wine world coverage. In 2022, our tasters evaluated nearly 9,000 wines. With so many informed opinions in the room, the debate over our Wine of the Year can get quite heated.…

After a scorching summer that saw record temperatures across much of Europe and wildfires in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece, winemakers in these wine-producing countries are optimistic about the 2022 vintage. They also believe that techniques they have been adopting to counter climate change are working. “The season has been out of the ordinary, to say the least,” said Jean-Jacques Bonnie, co-owner and general manager at Graves classified-growth Château Malartic-Lagravière in Bordeaux. Frost, hail, drought and heat waves buffeted the region, testing the sangfroid of growers. “Frost in early April in blocks where we always escape it, two episodes of hail which did not hit hard but were, again, unusual at Beychevelle,” said Philippe Blanc, general manager at Château Beychevelle. “On the other hand, the growing season was steady and fast but…

This fall, Wine Spectator made its podcast debut with the launch of Straight Talk, a new program available at WineSpectator.com/podcast. Hosted by senior editor and special projects director James Molesworth, each episode spotlights individuals featured in the most recent issues of Wine Spectator. Building on the success of the magazine’s Straight Talk Instagram Live series, the Straight Talk podcast debuted with a blockbuster roundtable discussion with Napa Cabernet all-star winemakers Thomas Rivers Brown (Schrader Cellars, Rivers Marie), Andy Erickson (Favia, Dalla Valle, Mayacamas) and Helen Keplinger (Grace Family, Keplinger). The conversation, led by Molesworth, focused on recent vintages, with the vintners weighing in on the 2020 wildfires, the controversy over family wine estates selling to corporate investors, the challenges with balancing their own family wineries’ needs against those of their big-name…

Have you ever worried that your daily cup of joe might increase your risk of heart problems? If so, you’re not alone. Many people still hold the misconception that coffee is unsafe for those at risk of cardiovascular issues. A new study suggests there’s little to fear and that moderate coffee consumption is, in fact, linked to increased lifespan and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Published in September in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the study found that two to three cups of coffee a day, including decaffeinated, provided the best overall health outcomes. While other studies have established links between moderate coffee consumption and improved health, including liver and gut health, this study differentiates between three different types of coffee—ground, instant and decaffeinated—and compares their respective associations with cardiovascular disease,…

On a night when more than 250 of the world’s best wines were being served to a packed house, somehow the wines weren’t the biggest attraction in the room. On opening night of the 2022 New York Wine Experience, it was the people who stole the show. “It’s just fantastic to be back,” said Christian Seely, managing director of an impressive international roster of wineries from Portugal to Bordeaux to Napa. “Not only to see the greatest wine producers in the world, but to see the greatest wine consumers in the world.” Seely and his colleagues poured for close to 2,000 of those consumers on Oct. 20 at the first of two Grand Tastings, kicking off three days of wine, food, seminars and fun at the New York Marriott Marquis in…