Mike Grgich is renowned for having crafted the Judgment of Paris Chardonnay but what sets apart award-winning wines from truly great wines? The ability to age. I recently attended a vertical of Grgich Chardonnay from the 1970s to today, and this is what I found.
For many Rutherford vintners, the cool 2011 vintage marked by an unusually rainy October was something they’d never seen in their careers. It was a year that vintners became winegrowers in the true sense, making key decisions in the vineyards, at harvest and in the cellar that would ultimately highlight the best aspects of the cool vintage: purity and freshness.
I’ve written about Napa Valley’s earliest vineyards from St. Helena to Howell Mountain and Stags Leap, but no region’s vintners have had …
In naming his first wine Rubicon, Francis Ford Coppola laid down his commitment to quality begun by his predecessors at Inglenook. In the spirit of Gustave Niebaum and John Daniel Jr. before him, and with the tenacity to see his vision come to fruition as some of his greatest films, Francis Ford Coppola creates the next great chapter in the saga of this celebrated estate.
Cakebread Culinary Director Brian Streeter Cakebread Cellars is serious about food. Based in Rutherford, Cakebread’s tradition of food and wine has been …
