Rob Theakston
There is a version of celebrity wine, and celebrity anything really, existing purely as a licensing deal: a label slapped onto something bulk-produced and mildly unremarkable. It is the vineyard equivalent of a perfume “partnership”, with the celebrity’s name performing the heavy marketing lift while the liquid inside does as little as possible. You, savvy…
Alto Adige occupies one a curious corner of Italian wine. Tucked into Italy’s far north against the Austrian border, it carries a distinctly dual identity, shaped by Italian and Germanic influence in language, culture, and winemaking. Alpine peaks dominate the landscape, but the vineyards benefit from a surprisingly varied climate, with daytime sun and warm…
The Baldacci family has established itself as a perennial favorite on the site, often making post-review encore appearances on our curated roundups of top 10 wines. Their familiarity is not without solid justification: nearly three decades into the winery’s run, the story is less about chasing notoriety than building something of high-quality reliability: something to…
Josh Cellars Seaswept Sparkling is tailored for the intersection of brunch, summer, and a playlist starting with anonymous, synthetic downtempo beats and somehow ends up with a sea shanty singalong before the table is cleared and the Uber home arrives. A blend of 50/50 Chenin Blanc and Colombard, it opens with an easygoing brightness of…
No less than six months from our overview of Mi Sueño’s 2025 offerings, we return to one of our favorite Napa Valley vineyards to taste a quartet of vintages released this year. If you’re new to the site (or the wine), Mi Sueño (“my dream”) was founded by Rolando Herrera, a Mexican-born winemaker who rose…
If you are currently a member of Generation X with more miles in the rearview mirror than ahead of you, then you are old enough to remember when subscription card sets were an actual thing. If so, this will feel familiar in a way bordering on both the forensic and nostalgic. There was a stretch…
While a sizeable sum of U.S. wineries find themselves retreating, shuttering tasting rooms, trimming ambitions, or informing shareholders that caution was always in the cards, the Heath Family portfolio carries on adding labels, acreage, and reasons to remain relevant in the ongoing campaign to make Texas a formidable wine destination. K-Estate (Kuhlman Estate) sits within…
Riunite is one of those names that has existed long enough to become cultural furniture: familiar, faintly nostalgic, and impossible to dismiss, even if it has spent years making the case that “approachable” can also mean “just pour another glass and stop talking.” Building its international ascendancy largely around Lambrusco, it helped turn a once-regional…
By the time Brunello di Montalcino was taking shape in the 1800s, Tenuta CastelGiocondo was already on the ground as one of the first estates involved, so the Frescobaldi-owned estate has been there from the beginning in a way that counts. The label, lifted from a Simone Martini fresco, only sharpens the point: this is…
No less than ten months after our last round, we return to Mezzacorona’s Ventessa line with an introduction as minimal as the wines themselves: low-calorie, low abv wines that are vegan, gluten-free, clocking in at 90 calories, and shockingly still affordable while everything else seems to be skyrocketing in price. 2025 Mezzacorona Ventessa Vigneti delle…