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Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon Estate: 1983-2014
napa, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured
, Dec 2025
Philip Togni’s long, distinguished career stretches across eight decades, during which he has turned out some of the most brilliant wines in Napa Valley. This unforgettable vertical tasting and dinner at Union Square Café surveyed a vast number of vintages all the way back to 1983, Togni’s debut from his estate vineyard on Spring Mountain. The audience, which included several fellow winemakers who traveled to New York for this tasting and many consumers with deep cellars, left no doubt as to where Togni stands among the greatest estates in Napa Valley and the world.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2005: The Grand Backbone Vintage
Verticals & Retrospectives, featured, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Dec 2025
After 20 years, the 2005 vintage in Châteauneuf-du-Pape stands as a striking example of the region’s ability to deliver wines that age with grace. These wines combine notable structural integrity, enticing tertiary development and remarkable balance, offering both immediate pleasure and the occasional promise of further evolution. Two thousand five remains an outstanding vintage of classic beauty and intrigue.
Cavallotto: Raiding the Cellar
Verticals & Retrospectives, Italy: Piedmont, featured
, Dec 2025
The first edition of Vinous Icons: Italy, held in May 2025, got off to a serious bang with this vertical tasting and dinner of Cavallotto Barolos dating back to the 1960s. It was a special evening of superb wine, food and the kind of camaraderie that the best wines inspire. We surveyed Barolos across six decades, a great opportunity to examine how these wines have developed over several generations.
Giacomo Conterno: Seven Decades of Barolo Riserva Monfortino
Verticals & Retrospectives, Italy: Piedmont, featured
, Dec 2025
La Festa del Barolo 2024 was full of highlights. Our vertical tasting and dinner featuring Conterno’s flagship Barolo Riserva Monfortino was one of the most highly anticipated events of the weekend. It was a magical night. The wines spoke with tremendous eloquence, while our guests brought energy and enthusiasm to match.
Piedmont Icons Dinner
Verticals & Retrospectives, Italy: Piedmont, featured
, Dec 2025
Reference points. That’s one of the key themes we think about when we develop events, tastings and seminars. This recent dinner showcased five benchmark grower estates, each with their best wines and vintages. It was a magical evening that once again showed how powerful wine can be as a catalyst for conversation and friendship.
Massolino Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda Vertical Tasting & Lunch at La Festa del Barolo
Verticals & Retrospectives, Italy: Piedmont, featured
, Dec 2025
Vigna Rionda holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Barolo lovers. It’s an evocative vineyard, a magical site that has given birth to extraordinary Barolos for the last several decades. The Massolino family have long been stewards of Rionda and all the history that lies within its slopes. This lunch, featuring ten vintages of Massolino’s Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda with Franco Massolino, offered a unique opportunity to explore the nuances of this historic vineyard as seen through the lens of one of its greatest interpreters.
Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio: Barolo Monprivato and Riserva Cà d’Morissio in Magnum
Verticals & Retrospectives, Piedmont, featured
, Dec 2025
Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio is one of Piedmont’s most historic estates. This rare vertical tasting of Mascarello’s iconic Barolo Monprivato and Barolo Riserva Cà d’Morissio, all from magnum, provided an extraordinary opportunity to trace the evolution of the wines across three decades that include many of the estate’s most legendary vintages.
Battle Royale! Bordeaux 1961, 1982, 1990 & 1995
Verticals & Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux, France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured, featured
, Dec 2025
In this Battle Royale, four renowned Bordeaux vintages enter the ring to see who comes out on top. Take a ringside seat for a wrestling tag match between 1961, 1982, 1990 and 1995. Let the “battle” commence!
El Molino: The Essence of Napa Valley Classicism
Verticals & Retrospectives, featured
, Nov 2025
Despite boasting a history that stretches back to the late 1800s, El Molino remains one of Napa Valley’s most under-the-radar estates. I have only tasted these wines sporadically over the years myself, as the wines are rarely seen. Here, at her family’s historic St. Helena winery, proprietor Lily Oliver Berlin quietly crafts Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs of rare distinction. This vertical of the estate’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir back to 1999 revealed a sleeping giant, an iconic Napa Valley winery waiting to be discovered. Readers who admire old-school, classically built wines will find so much to admire.
2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: In the Zone
napa, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured
, Nov 2025
My annual look at the Napa Valley vintage ten years on was so illuminating. Two thousand fifteen is a vintage I have followed since the very beginning. Several trips during the fall of that year allowed me to see everything from fruit on the vine through to harvest, and then very young wines in tank. Overall, the wines have aged beautifully. Most are heading effortlessly into their second decade. Two thousand fifteen is a terrific vintage to drink now, although the best wines will continue to drink well for some time.