The Mondavis shaped the Napa we know today – but now Tim Mondavi is building a new future for his family with Continuum. As the 2021 vintage is released, Sophie Thorpe spoke to Tim about the project – and how it’s about much more than wine “I was broken-hearted,” says Tim Mondavi, his eyes glistening at the memory of how his family was forced out of their business, Robert Mondavi Winery, 20 years ago. Wine runs through the Mondavi family’s veins. Cesare Mondavi – Tim’s grandfather – made his first vintage in 1919, and the family purchased Charles Krug Winery in 1943, before Robert broke away ..read more

We are hosting a series of seminars and dinners with a remarkable roster of producers at the most keenly anticipated fine wine and food festival of the year, Pebble Beach Food & Wine 2024. Read what’s in store at the four-day festival running from Thursday 4th April to Sunday 7th April. Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, America’s foremost food and wine event, is back in April.    This year, 125 globally celebrated chefs, 150 wineries, and the industry’s glitterati will descend on the iconic Pebble Beach Resorts – located on the coast of Monterey – for four remarkable d ..read more

Sheep grazing on Donum’s estate in Carneros, which is dotted with its impressive sculpture collection For more than two decades, Donum has been quietly crafting single-site, single-clone and sometimes single-barrel wines. With a new estate vineyard to their name, Rachael Ryan – Senior Buyer at our US arm, Vinfolio – sat down with winemaker Dan Fishman to find out more about the ambitious estate Like most of the New World, California eschews a hierarchy of vineyards. Yet in the absence of Grands Crus and First Growths, some vineyards are just acknowledged as being a notch above the rest. Ask ..read more

Napa’s producers have already started releasing their 2021s – and more will be hitting the market in the coming months. The vintage is one that allowed producers to breathe – and produced some stunning wines, as Rachael Ryan – Senior Buyer at Vinfolio – discovers After the stresses of 2020 – with severe drought, heat and widespread wildfires, the 2021 vintage provided much-needed relief for Napa’s wine producers. Not only was the growing season reassuringly uneventful, but the resulting wines are fantastic. Concentrated, pure with vibrant acidity, this is a vintage that sits alongside 2013, 2 ..read more

Ad Vivum is a boutique Napa project from Chris Phelps. Vinfolio’s Sophie Thorpe spoke to him about how twists of fate saw him go from aspiring medic to star winemaker at the likes of Dominus, Caymus – and now his own label Chris Phelps never really meant to start his own winery. But fate had other plans. Wine had always been part of life, just in the background. Growing up in Livermore, east of San Francisco, Phelps’s parents would buy a ton of grapes from Napa or Sonoma, and make wine each year for themselves. Phelps even dug out a cellar by hand for them as a teenager. Nevertheless, when he ..read more

Kistler’s Chardonnays are the stuff of legend – but now Steve Kistler has a new project, Occidental, crafting Pinot Noir on the outer reaches of the Sonoma Coast. Vinfolio’s Sophie Thorpe explores the winemaker’s legacy and these two very special estates Unlike many wine-lovers, I came across Occidental before Kistler. I worked for a company that imported some of its early vintages – and they were like nothing I’d ever tasted. These translucent Pinot Noirs glimmered, but their pastel-pale shade was nothing but a nudge and wink at the Burgundies that inspired them. Aromatics lea ..read more

Top Napa estate Schrader Cellars has championed the use of individual clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, often in the same vineyard, in its quest for quality. Tasting through the range with the property’s own Master Sommelier Jason Smith, we explore how these pioneering wines have won the hearts of oenophiles around the world  Schrader Cellars is one of Napa’s most decorated producers. The estate’s approach of pairing specific clones with the perfect site to produce the ultimate expression of Napa Cabernet has made it a critics’ darling – and the property is behind some of the most covet ..read more

Maligned by many, adored by more, Sauvignon Blanc divides wine-drinkers – and no more so than the wine-drinking elite. But why? Vinfolio’s Sophie Thorpe talks to the people behind some of the world’s best examples to explore the grape’s status today It’s easy to sneer at Sauvignon Blanc. Its success has been its downfall. It’s one of the most popular varieties planted around the world – coming in just behind Airén (grown widely for distillation, rather than wine) and Chardonnay. In New Zealand alone – a nation that has fully tied its cart to Sauvignon Blanc – 26,559 of its 41,603 hectares of ..read more

The 2019 vintage in Napa produced a brace of fantastic wines that are classical expressions of California’s heartland. We talk to top producers about the year and the style of wines it produced  Following on from the cooler, elegant 2018 vintage, 2019 is another excellent year for Napa – together forming an impressive duo that will be enjoyed (and inevitably compared) over the coming decades. The preceding winter was wet, replenishing the water table and encouraging vigorous early growth. Indeed, as Danielle Aita at Colgin noted, it was still raining in May – with almost 2.5 in ..read more

No one is likely to forget the 2020 vintage – least of all Californians who saw their state swept by wildfires. We caught up with some of Napa’s leading producers to talk about the rest of the growing season, the implications of the fires and the style of the wines that were produced The 2020 vintage in California is not one that the state’s natives are likely to forget. Wildfires ravaged the region, and the wines – now being released – are being tainted just by the idea of the smoke that those fires produced. But there is much more to be said about the year – which was also harvested an ..read more