Wine

On Thursday, March 9, a customer brought a single bottle of wine to the sales counter at Sherry-Lehmann, the legendary Manhattan wine and spirits shop. The sale was rung up by a rookie salesperson. Then the customer flashed a badge. He was an enforcement agent for the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA). Acting general

Bordeaux grapegrowers are planning to tear out almost 23,500 acres of vines—and they’re thrilled. After nine months of negotiations with local, regional and national government representatives, on March 1 the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB) reached an agreement with Marc Fesneau, France’s minister of agriculture and food sovereignty, for financing the vine pull. These uprooting efforts

What more could a four-day festival packed with incredible dinners and tastings spotlighting some of the world’s most renowned chefs offer? How about a partnership with the world’s leading wine magazine? The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival (PBFWF) has announced a joint venture with Wine Spectator, part of a plan to expand the growing

On Feb. 17, the Quality Branded restaurant group opened Bad Roman at the Deutsch Bank Center (formerly the Time Warner Center) in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. With picturesque views over Central Park, the restaurant occupies the space formerly used by chef Marc Murphy’s Landmarc, which closed in 2019. It joins a celebrated portfolio, including sibling restaurants

Burgundy’s second most famous charity auction is grabbing a lot more attention these days. On March 12, the 62nd edition of the Hospices de Nuits-St.-Georges auction will take place both online and at its usual location, Château du Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy. This is the fourth year in a row that the Hospices has

Scientists collaborating across the globe have unlocked a new, astounding origin story for wine grapes, pushing back the domestication of Vitis vinifera, the grape species used for most winemaking, to more than 11,000 years ago. The findings suggest humans domesticated grapevines around the same time period they domesticated the first cereal plants. “The grapevine was

Two weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the North Island of New Zealand, residents are still assessing the destruction. The storm is already considered the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere, with damages estimated to be upward of $8 billion. The cyclone, which killed at least 11 people, hit the farming and winegrowing

If you’re looking for a fine wine pit stop during your travels, Best of Award of Excellence winner Wine Bar George—owned and led by Master Sommelier George Miliotes—now has a second location in Florida, at Orlando International Airport, in the Palm Court area of the new Terminal C. “[On our first day], five guys walked

The world of prestige rosé is consolidating. Moët-Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of LVMH, has purchased a majority stake in the fast-growing Provence estate Château Minuty. Fourth-generation owners Jean-Etienne and François Matton will remain at the helm of the winery their family founded in Saint-Tropez in 1936. Minuty is credited with helping establish the

Chile’s firefighting efforts continue, nearly three weeks after hundreds of fires erupted in several Southern provinces, burning more than one million acres, destroying more than 2,100 homes and businesses, and killing at least 25 people. According to officials, dozens of uncontrolled fires are still burning in and around Concepicon province, which lies 350 miles south

Chef Charlie Palmer is closing his Aureole restaurant in Las Vegas, known for its Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine list and its four-story wine tower, where “wine angels” sailed on wires to retrieve bottles. A centerpiece of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino since it opened in 1999, Aureole has been a training ground for

Bordeaux’s struggling farmers are unimpressed with government proposals to help them with a crisis that is threatening their way of life. France’s agricultural minister has a plan to get rid of excess wine stocks across the nation, but without bigger changes, farmers will continue to face financial ruin. The source of the crisis is a

Where would we be without coffee and tea? Our favorite sources of caffeine spur productivity, social connection and pleasure, and their ritual importance makes them central to many cultures. Even better, they may be fueling longer lives and reduced disease risks for people who enjoy them. New research has linked coffee and tea to increased

Napa Valley winemaking iconoclast and Massican winery founder Dan Petroski pulls no punches in this hard look at the wine industry’s newest obstacles and trends. Host James Molesworth and Wine Spectator contributing editor Suzanne Mustacich look at the 2020 Bordeaux vintage and speak with Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande director Nicolas Glumineau and CVBG president

Having been closed for several months, chef Michael Mina’s Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence–winning Stripsteak in Las Vegas reopened Dec. 30 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, with a revamped menu and a new design. “We opened Stripsteak 17 years ago. In fact, it was my very first steakhouse!” Mina, the founder

Giuseppe Benanti, a forerunner for the rebirth of Sicily’s now thriving wine scene on Mount Etna, died Feb. 1. He was 78. “Pippo Benanti was a charismatic, visionary and ambitious winegrower,” said Alberto Aiello Graci, owner-winemaker of Graci winery. “He helped to set a glorious path for the wines of Etna, believing in their value from

A state of emergency was declared in southern Chile’s bucolic Ñuble and BioBio regions this morning as wildfires rage out of control, worsened by strong winds. The blazes broke out in Concepcion province after a record heatwave. At least four people are dead. The National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response reported 39 separate fires

Donald Hess, a businessman, art collector and a vintner on four continents, died at the age of 86 in Bern, Switzerland, on Jan. 30. Born in Switzerland in a family of brewers, Hess built a successful mineral water company before entering the wine industry in 1978 by purchasing 700 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley’s

Christian Moueix is the kind of man who has annual rainfall statistics memorized. “In Bordeaux, the average is 38 inches, with much less variation than Napa,” he detailed. “The past 25 years in Napa range from 8 to 63 inches.” It’s important for vintners—and not just Moueix, whose 134-acre Napa Valley property Napanook Vineyard is

Straight Talk kicks off 2023 with a star-studded trip to France’s Rhône Valley, a closer look at Port with two of the region’s biggest names, and Wine Spectator’s Value Wine of the Year for 2022. Host James Molesworth and senior editor Kristen Bieler share tales of their recent trip to France’s Rhône Valley, and we’re joined

With the opening of MaMou near New Orleans’ historic Louis Armstrong Park, wine lovers have a new go-to spot in the Lower French Quarter’s vibrant dining scene. Since November, the restaurant has been serving classic continental cuisine with local flair, true to executive chef Tom Branighan’s southern Louisiana roots. Branighan looks to provide a taste

Giving a big boost to the eco-friendly and socially conscious farming approach known as regenerative agriculture, Mendocino County-based Bonterra Organic Estates is releasing a new tier of wines, its first bearing the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) logo. The company, which changed its name from Fetzer last year, is the largest vineyard holder to date to

New York City’s popular Restaurant Week is returning from Jan. 17 until Feb. 12 for its fourth annual “Winter Outing,” a way to lure visitors and locals out and about in the chilly weather even after the holiday season has ended. The event spotlights more than 460 restaurants from all over Gotham, including 57 Wine Spectator

After years of drought, much of California has been hammered with snow and rain since New Year’s Eve, including heavy precipitation from back-to-back strong “atmospheric rivers”, and reports of floods, fallen trees, high winds, power outages, evacuations, sink holes and mudslides. So far, 17 deaths have been attributed to the weather in the Golden State. While several

Michael Martini, who was born into a Napa Valley wine dynasty and followed in the winemaking footsteps of his father and grandfather, died Tuesday after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 73. Martini retired from Louis M. Martini winery in 2015, after 40 years of making wine for his family. Late last year,

In December, the team at Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner Little Saint announced that co-owners Laurie and Jeff Ubben would take full control of the plant-based, farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Healdsburg, Calif. Philanthropists and owners of DuMol Winery, the Ubbens opened Little Saint in 2022, in a partnership with Kyle and Katina Connaughton, co-owners

The past 12 months have largely been a time of evolution for the wine and hospitality industries, as they push towards a post-pandemic recovery while trying to gain a better understanding of new consumers and wine’s place in everyday life. Some of the most famous and reliable family-owned wine brands have changed hands, driven by

Luciano Sandrone, a vintner who was part of a movement to elevate quality in Barolo for more than four decades, died yesterday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76. Sandrone built his wine business from a tiny 2.5-acre parcel in the appellation of Cannubi to 67 acres stretching from Barolo to Serralunga d’Alba

On a sunny afternoon last December, a middle-aged woman angrily walked out of 88-year-old Sherry-Lehmann, once the royalty of Manhattan wine and spirits stores. “I was shopping for a gift bottle of tequila for my boss,” the woman said, as she waited to cross Park Avenue. “But the salesperson tells me there’s only one bottle

Earlier this month, a thousand angry vignerons and their allies marched through the streets of downtown Bordeaux, calling for help to save their livelihood. When they reached the doors of the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB), the local trade organization, they hung a dummy from a tree outside, representing financially troubled grapegrowers at risk of suicide,