Napa Valley often gets unduly painted as a monolith of Cabernet Sauvignon, and, indeed, it grows a lot of it, with Cabernet making up 40% of the region’s total wine production and 55% of its value. But despite Cab’s powerful presence, div...

It’s a rule we learn early in our wine education: wine grapes grow almost exclusively between 30 degrees and 50 degrees north and south of the equator. Above this latitude, cold winters injure vines, spring frosts damage buds, and the sun&rsquo...

Joel Butler, MW, isn’t convinced that adding nutrition and ingredient labels to wine will make much difference. “When someone orders a bottle of wine for dinner, they want a good bottle,” he says. “They’re not so much co...

Closures are an essential consideration for any wine. A bottle’s closure contributes to how the wine tastes and how it ages. When choosing a closure, winemakers must evaluate how the closure might affect oxygen ingress, flavor, and bottle consistency. For Champagne, however, there are unique factors that impact producers’ decisions around closures. This article will explore the history of Champagne closures, the most…

Last fall, Marta Casas joined fellow wine students for a two-day sparkling wine seminar in Austria, in preparation for the Diploma in Wines from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). Following a handful of blind tastings, she heard many stude...

Material other than grapes, or MOG, is assiduously avoided by winemakers. Leaves, bugs, pebbles, sticks, and other debris are removed before grape clusters are processed. But before the prevalence of destemming machines, stems, which strictly speakin...

The needling sensation started in the vineyard at Beaux Frères. I was walking next to winemaker Mike Etzel Jr., scribbling notes as he talked about biodynamic farming, when a tractor pulled up. Etzel ran into a shed, grabbed a carton of a myst...

A cool-climate wine region steeped in Old World tradition, with origins dating to the Roman Empire. A detailed hierarchy of vineyards, with specific soil types that encourage two key grape varieties to flourish under optimal conditions. Wines with te...