Wine Spectator November 30, 2022

Few would dispute the extraordinary impact that Robert Mondavi had on California wine. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he took his passion and vision for wine to America’s four corners, drawing comparisons between Napa Valley wine and the best wines of the world. He established himself as the ambassador for great winemaking in Napa Valley while also evangelizing on the health, social and cultural benefits of wine, especially when enjoyed around the dinner table. I watched him work his magic firsthand. I vividly remember when he told me of his plan for a joint venture, to make a new wine with a Bordeaux first-growth. He told me he was going into business with the legendary Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton-Rothschild. In his mind, this was a dramatic way of demonstrating…

Should the label on a bottle of Pinot or Pilsner hold similar information to what’s on a can of soda? Alcoholic beverages are regulated by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), not the Food and Drug Administration; as such, they’re subject to different regulations than most foods and drinks. Now the TTB has proposed that new labels should get a more serious look. Some vintners have resisted labeling requirements, saying they would impose an unreasonable economic and logistical burden on producers and risk alienating consumers with potentially confusing and misleading information. Others think greater transparency would help wine. “I want to know what I’m drinking and I want that to be on the label,” says Pascaline Lepeltier, sommelier and co-owner of the restaurant Chambers, and partner at…

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates has acquired Oregon’s fast-growing A to Z Wineworks brand, as well as its sister label, Rex Hill. Already the largest producer in Washington, Ste. Michelle (SMWE) now has a dominant footprint in Oregon as well. The purchase, when combined with SMWE’s existing Oregon winery, Erath, brings the company’s total annual production in Oregon to approximately 700,000 cases. The sale includes the A to Z and Rex Hill brands and inventory, along with the Newberg, Oregon, winery facility. The purchase price was not disclosed. “Erath and A to Z share the same passion for producing high quality wines at fair prices, making A to Z a natural fit for Ste. Michelle,” said SMWE president and CEO David Dearie in a statement. A to Z Wineworks was founded in 2002…

Washington’s wine community is grappling with the loss of respected winemaker Ross Andrew Mickel. The 47-year-old, along with his wife and young son, were among 10 people lost on Sept. 4 when a seaplane crashed in Washington’s Puget Sound, just north of Seattle. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing plane on Sept. 5; all of the passengers and crew are missing and presumed dead. Mickel’s wine career began in the restaurant industry, where he was a sommelier at Canlis, a Wine Spectator Grand Award winner in Seattle, beginning in 1996. He landed a harvest internship at the well-known Washington winery DeLille Cellars in the fall of 1997, and went on to spend that winter working a harvest in Australia’s McLaren Vale appellation. Around that time, Mickel met acclaimed…

California’s Russian River Valley and Joe Rochioli Jr. are ever connected in wine history. Raised on his family’s farm in Healdsburg, Rochioli left only for college and military service. He was a proud farmer who helped earn the Russian River Valley a reputation as a world-class location for Pinot Noir. Rochioli died Aug. 18 at age 88. According to his son Tom, Rochioli suffered a stroke in September 2020 and had been in and out of the hospital since. “He fought hard,” said Tom. “He was a tough guy.” Joe Jr. grew up a local sports star. When he entered high school, he was 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, his linebacker build enforced by daily farm labor. His father was primarily in the hops business, but also farmed beans as…

Arthur Hon approaches the curation of his guests’ wine experiences as a multidimensional canvas for his creativity. Born in Taipei, Hon moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family as a teenager. Rebelling against the competitive academic track his parents sought for him, Hon secured a coveted spot at the Art Institute of Chicago and pursued a degree as a graphic artist. Yet, part-time restaurant jobs ignited Hon’s passion for wine, setting him on a different path. After he graduated, he went on to become the beverage director at Chicago’s Sepia restaurant and then Proxi. Hon moved to New York in 2017 for the opportunity to work at Union Square Hospitality Group’s (USHG) Union Square Café. Next, he spent two years as beverage director at David Chang’s Momofuku Ko,…