james laube

Aug 31, 2012 Issue : Columns

Working the Wine List

Posted: August 31, 2012 By James Laube

Another Napa Veteran Is Ripe for a Turnaround

Pine Ridge Vineyards' latest offerings are some of the winery's best in years

Posted: August 29, 2012 By James Laube

Napa Valley's Pine Ridge Vineyards has recently made some of its best wines in years, and the 30-plus-year-old winery could be on the path to making even better California Cabernets and more.

Blogs : James Laube's Wine Flights

Will the Number of Outstanding Napa Cabernets Ever Stop Growing?

If recent trends continue, not for a very long time. And here's why

Posted: August 24, 2012 By James Laube

If you've noticed a proliferation of highly rated Napa Cabernets, here's one reason why: The subdivision of Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville has become the source of more and more Cabernets and, consequently, more and more highly rated wines.

Blogs : James Laube's Wine Flights

Stag's Leap Cleans Up

After a decade of mediocre wines, a turnaround

Posted: August 22, 2012 By James Laube

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars has cleaned up its cellar.

After nearly a decade of mediocre red wines, many flawed by the spoilage yeast brettanomyces, the owners of this once prominent Napa Valley winery have released the first vintage of what seem to be clean, complex Cabernets.

Blogs : James Laube's Wine Flights

Tastes Change, but Wine Surprises Never Cease

The California wine industry is doing well, all things considered, thanks in part to American wine lovers' enthusiasm for trying new things

Posted: August 2, 2012 By James Laube

I've been surprised, though perhaps I shouldn't have been.

When I travel, the most frequent question I'm asked by friends is, "How is the wine business doing?" People seem genuinely interested knowing that I'm immersed in it.

My standard reply is that the wine economy more or less mirrors that of the U.S. economy. Some areas of the market are strong. Others are weak. The economy as a whole seems to be improving, if not as strongly as the California wine industry has been (value wines—including the improving category of box wines—inevitably bolster the wine market when the economy is down).

Blogs : James Laube's Wine Flights

Boxed Wines Worth a Try

The best are pure, clean, young and affordable

Posted: July 31, 2012 By James Laube

I met a guy wearing an "I Love Boxed Wines" T-shirt the other day at the gas station, while we were filling our tanks. This being Napa, I asked him if he worked in the wine business, thinking that perhaps he was promoting a wine company.

"No," he replied, "I just like boxed wine." Enough to promote it on the front of his shirt. I smiled at his casual reply. No wine snoot here. Just someone who knows what he likes and when it comes to boxed wines, or wine in a box, there's plenty to like.

July 31, 2012 Issue : Columns