Anyone who has spent time in Napa has likely been in a Howard Backen-designed building. The prolific co-founder of Backen & Backen Architecture designed upwards of 300 private homes, 40 restaurants and more than 60 wineries, many of which are located in Napa Valley. His signature farmhouse-chic style champions functionality and natural harmony, favors discreet affluence over ostentation, and has …

Joe & Fran Kysela Fran Kysela is one of America’s most successful, medium sized importers of premium wines at accessible prices. His firm Kysela Père et Fils celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, so we sat down with Fran and his son Joe at their offices in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to talk and taste through a selection of the large …

On the one hand, what you have here is a picture of old vines with Mount Etna erupting behind them. OK, a pretty impressive sight to be sure, and one heck of a soundtrack, with huge booms rolling across the landscape. But on the other hand, what you can see here is the unique terroir of the volcano in action. …

Straight from the cover of Wine Spectator and the season 3 premiere of The Bear, legendary chef Daniel Boulud invites us into the Daniel dining room for an exclusive interview about what it means to be a chef today, his legacy of mentorship and why his next restaurant will reflect a shift in allegiance since becoming a U.S. citizen in …

Duero River winding through DO Toro in Spain Picture yourself in a striking Spanish wine region, where the Duero River winds through a rugged landscape of gnarly old vines, weathered by an extreme climate. This is DO Toro: a region as proudly iconic as the Spanish symbol it is named after – the bull. Wines have been produced for centuries …

Grand-Puy Ducasse photo at event Although designated a Fifth Growth in the 1855 Classification, Château Grand-Puy Ducasse is unlikely to feature high on a list of most desirable purchases for Pauillac fans. Perhaps this is down to its location (the château is situated in ‘downtown’ Pauillac) so doesn’t conform to the classical image of names such as Château Latour, Château …

Bottles found in the shipwreck. Polish divers from the BalticTech Team group discovered the shipwreck and its Champagne cargo while looking for new spots to explore in the Baltic Sea. Two divers went down to investigate after the group noticed what appeared to be a small wreck on their sonar system.  It turned out to be a 19th century shipwreck …

Mathieu Chadronnier is CEO of leading Bordeaux ne?gociant CVBG. The company represents top-flight wine estates from Bordeaux and beyond, and provides access to a distribution network of 3,000 clients globally. Chadronnier pioneered the introduction of ‘Beyond Bordeaux’ wines to La Place de Bordeaux, placing CVBG at the forefront of this industry development. What does a ne?gociant do? We buy wines …

Flavors of chopped cherry and raspberry, mineral, red licorice and cocoa powder are rich and expressive in this powerful red, which also shows fine integration and silky grace on the palate, keeping the power in restraint. Lively and well-spiced, with a lingering, chalky-textured finish echoing the ripe fruit and accents of Mediterranean macchia and ground anise and pepper. Best from …

Bright, buoyant acidity supports a pretty mix of ripe nectarine, Gala apple, blood orange pith and almond blossoms in this lithe, light-bodied white, with a salty undertow. Drink now. 25,000 cases made, 600 cases imported. Source : bfdb9c4431e5024852af006d7bedc90e

The Ferragamo family, owners of the luxury fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo and the winery and hotel Il Borro, in Tuscany’s Valdarno di Sopra southeast of Florence, are expanding into the Brunello business. The family just closed a deal to buy the Pinino estate in Montalcino. The sale includes 40 acres of vineyards (with almost 19 acres designated for Brunello di …

Does wine add something special to your life? A way to connect with friends and family, a chance to travel the world without even leaving the table, a reason to head out of town to explore other regions, countries or cultures? Share why you love wine by submitting your short video to Wine Spectator’s 18th Annual Video Contest. This year, …

Who’s behind it: César is the new namesake restaurant from chef César Ramirez, who formerly led the kitchen of Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (a past Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winner). Ramirez also previously worked at Grand Award winners the French Laundry and Le Bernardin, as well as at the late David Bouley’s Danube. “[It] was a longtime dream to …

A little more than ten years ago, an unsolicited case of wine showed up on my doorstep. That wasn’t particularly unusual, of course, but the place it came from managed to surprise me at the time. Those first 12 tastes of Idaho wine proved quite enlightening. They told the story of a wine region early in its development, with a …

Perinet winery in Priorat, Spain Call it Carignan, call it Mazuelo, call it Samsó – no matter which guise Carinyena takes, it’s often dismissed as a blending grape, only included to add colour and structure. But at Perinet in Priorat, winemaker Toni Sanchez-Ortiz is treating Carinyena as a star. Having worked in Australia, California and New Zealand, Sanchez-Ortiz returned home …

The wine legs tend to form easier in tannic red wines with higher alcohol, and richly sweet wines. Credit: David Silverman / Getty Images News ‘In all the tastings I host, I get more questions about wine legs than any other topic,’ says Matt Walls, Decanter World Wine Awards’ Regional Chair for the Rhône. ‘It’s surely one of the most …

The Weitenberg. Credit: Vinea Wachau / Herbst The Wachau region along the Danube valley is surely one of Europe’s unforgettable stretches of vineyard, alongside the Mosel in Germany and Douro in Portugal. Most of the vineyards are very steep, and terraced within stone walls so as to benefit from maximum exposure to sunlight. The vines are largely planted on the …

François Desirè Bazie. ‘I first had the idea of producing wine back in Burkina Faso about four years ago,’ said François Desirè Bazie, an asylum seeker turned winemaker committed to seeing vineyards flourish in his home country in West Africa. Born in Burkina Faso, Bazie sought asylum in Piedmont during the 2000s due to escalating civil conflict in Ivory Coast, …

Lush and generous, offering tiers of mouthcoating flavors of berry preserves, yet the minerally spine offsets the opulence with tension. A subtle floral detail weaves in and out as this works its way to the fruit-filled finish around fine tannins. Drink now through 2034. 31,111 cases made, 3,500 cases imported. Source : daf6a0b848f3b0550f3afecd1901e011

A ripe white cherry note is enlivened by hints of blood orange, pink grapefruit zest, pickled ginger and white blossoms in this mouthwatering Prosecco rosé, with a lacy bead. Drink now. 23,000 cases made, 1,000 cases imported. Source : 852541d8700440e9fd6780a5ca700dd5