Wine Spectator July 31, 2022

It’s a great time to be a Chardonnay drinker, and I’m not just speaking about the arrival of the warm summer months. California is excelling with this grape like never before, with an abundance of outstanding-and classic-scoring bottles emerging from Golden State wineries. But Chardonnay didn’t fulfill its promise in the U.S. overnight. It’s been a long evolution that took years of work by talented winemakers, many of whom cite Burgundy as their inspiration, to bring us to this moment. In this issue, we salute seven legends of California Chardonnay who contributed to the rise of America’s favorite white wine. Some of their names will be familiar to you from their wine labels—Aubert, Hobbs, Kistler, Kongsgaard and Ramey. Helen Turley, the recipient of Wine Spectator’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010, is…

American grapegrowers have yet to pick a single grape, but it’s already clear there will be less Pinot Noir this year. Record-low temperatures struck Oregon’s Willamette Valley—down to 26° F in some areas—in early April, just as the vineyards were starting budbreak. Frost isn’t uncommon in Oregon, but it typically strikes earlier in the season when vines are still dormant. “We have never seen such cold temperatures so late in the season,” vintner Josh Bergström told Wine Spectator. To the south, California’s Central Valley and eastern foothills experienced their worst frost in recent years, inflicting widespread damage. After a storm front blew through in the early morning hours of April 12, the dew point dropped and temperatures plummeted. “We were experiencing 90° F temperatures three days before,” said Stuart Spencer, executive…

You might have heard of micro-houses. Here come microwineries. For more than 30 years, Napa County has legally defined “wineries” as producers of 2,000 cases a year or more. In April, the County Board created a new winery category, microwineries, hoping to carve out a spot for small cellars previously denied full winery rights. The Microwinery Ordinance simplifies the permitting process for producers who make up to 1,000 cases of wine per year. Supporters of the move say it will make running a craft winery truly sustainable. Elise Nerlove, co-owner of Elkhorn Peak Cellars and vice president of the microwinery advocacy group Save the Family Farms, said the old regulation was hard “to live within.” “With the consolidation of distribution companies,” she began, “many [microwineries] have been dropped from distributors and…

Jackson Family Wines, the Sonoma-based firm behind Kendall-Jackson, La Crema, Penner-Ash and others, has purchased 61 acres of vineyard land in Washington’s Walla Walla Valley. The company plans to develop a new Washington wine brand there, to be overseen by winemaker Chris Carpenter. Located in Mill Creek in an eastern section of Walla Walla, the vineyard parcel was sold by Abeja, which still owns another 56 acres of the property. The purchase price was not disclosed. The deal marks Jackson Family’s first foray into Washington state, and comes following several recent acquisitions in Oregon. The company produces more than 6.1 million cases of wine per year. The full 117-acre property will remain known as one vineyard, though the two companies each own distinct parts. Abeja plans to buy fruit from the Jackson-owned…

Franco Allegrini, one of Northern Italy’s most influential winemakers, died April 23 at his home in the Valpolicella hills after a long battle with cancer. He was 65. “Franco was not only a genius, but he was a man of heart—a good man, a generous man, an honest man and a family man,” said his good friend Roberto Anselmi, a well-known winemaker in Soave. With his sister, Marilisa, and their elder brother, Walter, Franco took the helm of a modest family estate in 1983, following the death of their father. Franco’s role initially focused on the cellar, but with the untimely death of Walter in 2003, he took over agriculture. Even as his family’s Allegrini brand grew into one of Italy’s greatest wine success stories, Franco remained a hands-on winemaker, while Marilisa…

Moving to Napa Valley in the 1970s, Jack Cakebread launched Cakebread Cellars, and over the next five decades built it into an internationally recognized family-owned winery. Cakebread died April 26 at age 92. Cakebread grew up in his father’s car repair shop in Oakland and became a partner in 1948. He was also a photographer, studying under the influential Ansel Adams. In 1972, he traveled to Napa on assignment, and while visiting some friends who owned a 22-acre ranch in Rutherford, he said he’d buy their land if they ever wanted to sell. They took his offer. Throughout his career, Cakebread produced a range of wines, from Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel to Pinot Noir. But it was Chardonnay that sealed his legacy. At a time when the grape was gaining a following,…