2009
From the Robb Cellar: Vineyard 29 2009 29 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Few properties in California’s Napa Valley boast as impressive a succession of winemaking alumni as Vineyard 29, which Teresa Norton and Tom Paine established in 1989 on 3 acres located just northwest of St. Helena. The couple had the good fortune to retain vineyard manager par excellence David Abreu to care for their investment; in […]

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From the Robb Cellar: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2009 Cask 23 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Serendipity played its part in the evolution of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The first happy accident occurred in 1969, when founder Warren Winiarski met Nathan Fay, the first grower to plant Cabernet in what would later become the Stags Leap District. Winiarski was so impressed with Fay’s efforts that he bought a neighboring parcel; this […]
FrontRunners: From the Robb Cellar
The Heidsieck name has been intimately associated with Champagne since 1785, when Florens-Louis Heidsieck established Heidsieck & Co. in Reims. Champagne Charles Heidsieck was founded in 1851 by its eponymous proprietor, a grandnephew of Florens-Louis, who earned the sobriquet “Champagne Charlie” while marketing his bubbly to the prosperous inhabitants of New York and Boston in […]
FrontRunners: From the Robb Cellar
Water, barley, and yeast are not especially valuable ingredients; but, when combined at the Bowmore distillery, they can be transformed into something extraordinary. Such a miraculous metamorphosis took place in 1964, the year that the Islay distillery put into casks the handcrafted spirit that makes up the Trilogy, a sought-after limited edition that included three […]
Best of the Best 2012: Domestic Red Wines: Justin 2009 Focus Paso Robles
One of the first wines of note to emerge from the now-bustling Paso Robles region on California’s Central Coast was a wine called Isosceles, a Pauillac-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc from Justin Vineyards, founded by Justin Baldwin in 1981. Since that time, the region and this particular winery have gained renown […]
Best of the Best 2012: Domestic Red Wines: Aubert 2009 Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Mark Aubert’s career has been a peripatetic one. After succeeding celebrated winemaker Helen Turley at Peter Michael Winery, where for nine years he produced magnificent Chardonnays and ethereally beautiful Bordeaux-style reds, he later replaced his former mentor as winemaker at Colgin Cellars. He also reinforced his reputation as one of Napa Valley’s top talents with […]
Best of the Best 2012: International White Wines: Leeuwin Estate 2009 Chardonnay Art Series Margaret River
In the early 1970s, when Denis Horgan acquired Leeuwin Estate, now one of Australia’s most important viticultural properties, there was not a vine in sight: It was a cattle ranch. Working with California vintner Robert Mondavi as their adviser, Horgan and his wife, Tricia, undertook the arduous task of transforming this parcel of land in […]
Best of the Best 2012: International White Wines: Domaine Leflaive 2009 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Though white wines of epic grace and beauty come from such regions as Alsace, the Rhône, Austria, Germany, California, and Oregon, nowhere does the Chardonnay grape develop the combination of sensuality and soulfulness that one finds in fruit from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. Connoisseurs in particular associate the Côte de Beaune with white wines that merge […]
Best of the Best 2012: Domestic White Wines: Paul Hobbs 2009 Chardonnay Cuvée Agustina Richard Dinner Vineyard
From the ages of ancient Sumeria and classical Greece to the present day, human beings have treated wine as everything from a religious totem to an art form. The mystic and romantic connotations we have attached to this beverage throughout history make it easy for us to forget that it is fundamentally an agricultural product—albeit […]