April 30, 1999 Latest Auction Highlights BUTTERFIELD, BUTTERFIELD & DUNNING (San Francisco) SALE DATE Jan. 23 SALE TOTAL $1.1 million (including the 15 percent buyer's premium) NUMBER OF LOTS 1,599 PERCENT SOLD 97 Wine / Quantity / Price / …
Wine Spectator associate editor Tim Fish recalls his past days of wine obsessing, when he would exhaustively search for hard-to-find wines. His obsessing is largely a thing of the past, but it still rears its head from time to time. Which …
James Laube explores the life of grapegrower and négociant Tom May and his contributions to Napa's wine industry.
Paying the Price By James Laube, senior editor You may think that wine pricing is a sophisticated, profoundly analytical process, but for many fine wines, it's far from it. The price you pay for wine is more likely tied to a winery's own …
December 31st, 1999 Paying the Price By James Laube You may think that wine pricing is a sophisticated, profoundly analytical process, but for many fine wines, it's far from it. The price you pay for wine is more likely tied to a winery's …
Contemplating The Magic Of Martha's Cabernet A denim-clad Tom May furrowed his brow, but shrugged off the weather. Never mind that his Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were stuck at a not-quite-fully-ripe 21 degrees Brix in the …
Barney Rhodes , a great wine connoisseur and owner of Bella Oaks Vineyard in Napa Valley, died today at age 88 after a brief illness. His wife, Belle, died last year. Barney and Belle moved to Napa in the early 1960s and planted their …
The CEO of Napa's Heitz Cellar talks about his incredible journey from high-school dropout to star sommelier to the upper crust of California Cabernet, and how the wine industry can become more inclusive for those like him
Last week I read a story in the New York Times about 1960s rocker Norman Greenbaum. Some of you will recall he wrote the one-hit wonder, "Spirit In The Sky," in 1969, which by the way was a great vintage for Napa Cabernet and a washout in …
October 15, 1997 Grapevine Marcel Ducasse , director and winemaker at Château Lagrange in Bordeaux, will make a white wine for the first time in the history of the estate, either this year or next, depending on the crop.
Barney Rhodes was a wine man for all seasons—a vineyard owner, winery investor, student and versatile collector. Perhaps most importantly, he helped revive the Napa wine industry in the 1960s from its post-Prohibition economic and creative …
A long, long, long time ago, when I had just started writing about wine, I typed (on a typewriter) a piece for a now-defunct magazine about the importance of getting on wineries’ mailing lists. In the article, I wrote that I enjoyed …
I visited with Barney Rhodes at his home in Rutherford on Friday. Barney will turn 87 this year and is in fair to good health. He’s an old friend and one of the great wine men of Napa Valley and beyond, a true connoisseur with an incredibl…
January 31, 1996 Morrell & Co. grosses $700,000 in sale built for speed The most dramatic aspect of Morrell & Co.'s Nov. 18 auction was its speed. Auctioneer David Molyneux-Berry knocked down 220 lots per hour, about 50 percent faster than …
Winemaker Nigel Kinsman gives senior editor James Molesworth a look at the Bella Oaks vineyard in Napa's Rutherford AVA, which in the past has been bottled as a single-vineyard Cabernet under the Heitz and Staglin labels.
Scores and tasting notes for California Zinfadel from Napa Valley and Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley, reviewed by Wine Spectator senior editor Tim Fish.
Vineyard owner Belle Rhodes' death on Feb. 13 went largely unnoticed in the wine world, even in Napa Valley, where she resided for most of her 87 years. In her prime, Belle and her husband, Barney, kept a low profile and shunned the …
Heitz Martha’s Vineyard is a Napa icon, and the property's new owners and winemaker have brought it back to its past glory, earning this Oakville Cabernet the No. 3 spot among Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2021. Senior editor James Molesworth, who reviewed the wine, explains how this California classic has been modernized without sacrificing tradition.
Winemaker Matt Taylor invited senior editor James Molesworth for a look at Ink Grade on Howell Mountain in California's Napa Valley. The Cabernet Sauvignon project is part of the Lawrence family's slate of brands that includes Heitz Cellar, Burgess Cellars, Stony Hill and others.
James Laube's Napa Valley Cabernet Hall of Fame For this fantasy list of all-star Cabernets, I've chosen a range of vintages--older wines that have demonstrated their greatness by improving with age and newer releases that I think will …
