Rob Theakston
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…
Largely known for its easy-going line of Prosecco, Cantine Maschio enters the non-alcoholic arena with this dealcoholized white sparkling variation on a classic spring/summer sipper. There’s an opening lemon note giving the wine immediate lift, but it threatens to present as “cleaning supplies” or “lemonhead soda”, especially when pouring multiple servings in the same proximity.…
Campo Viejo is an iconic part of Rioja, a place where wine has allowed ample time to permeate the landscape, economy and local culture. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve had anything from the winery, so it’s time to revisit and check out its flagship offering. The nose on this Tempranillo does everything in…
New Zealand’s sustainable wine story is easy to tell because the numbers do most of the talking. Launched way back in the mid-90s, Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) has grown into an internationally-recognized, industry-wide certification program covering all aspects of vineyard operations. The headline figures are hard to ignore: 98% of the country’s vineyard-producing area…
The All Blacks Red Blend from California’s Black Powder at least has the decency to disclose that it changes personalities every year. In this vintage, the cast list includes 55% Grenache from Santa Barbara and Lodi, 38% Petite Sirah from Dunnigan Hills, and a cameo of 7% Cabernet from Napa, which is about as much of…
Vale do Bomfim is what happens when an internationally beloved Port dynasty decides to behave like a regular winery, or at least makes a credible showing of it. Part of the Dow side of the sprawling Symington family empire, it leaves the fortified fireworks to the better-known labels and carries on with the business of…
Tupac Shakur was impossible to place into a specific, tidy category for the sake of convenience, the result of an intentional refusal to stay in one lane long enough for anyone to simplify him. He could move from party swagger to full political indictment in the space of a verse, sometimes in the same breath,…