Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta travels the world representing one of the most prominent names in Italian wine—a wine that is more than the sum of its parts, synonymous with the birth of a world-class region.

Incisa della Rocchetta brought magnums of the Cabernet Sauvignon–dominated Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2006 (94 points, $215/750ml on release) to share along with the history of the wine. “It’s a wine which is a very classic Sassicaia,” she said. “It’s structured, but at the same time very elegant. It really is a very, very good interpretation of the territory of Bolgheri, and for us, the territory is the main player in the success of this wine.”

It goes both ways: Sassicaia is also key to the success of Bolgheri. In the 1940s, Incisa della Rocchetta’s grandfather, Mario, began experimenting with Bordeaux varieties after moving to Bolgheri from outside of Rome. The wines were unlike the Sangioveses and Trebbianos that the locals were used to, and many were skeptical of the Piedmont native’s new style. Nevertheless, Mario continued making his wines from Cabernet Franc, sharing his creations with family and friends.

About 20 years later, Incisa della Rocchetta’s father, Nicoló, joined his father, Mario, and convinced him to release Sassicaia commercially. “My grandfather was very much against it,” Incisa della Rocchetta said. “He didn’t want to share his baby wine with anybody else.”

Finally, in 1968, Tenuta San Guido produced the first commercial vintage of Sassicaia. With some help from nephew Piero Antinori and his enologist, Giacomo Tachis, along with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon to the blend, it wasn’t long until the world took notice. In 1994, the wine was recognized for bringing attention and credibility to the region with the creation of the Bolgheri-Sassicaia DOC.

While Priscilla was the star on stage, the Tenuta San Guido co-owner emphasized that her father and grandfather made the company what it is: “I am very proud to take the merits today, but it’s actually them that we should thank.”

Read more about Bolgheri, and Sassicaia’s role in its success, in “Tuscany’s Napa,” in Wine Spectator‘s April 30, 2018, issue.

One sip of the Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Lauren 2014 and it was obvious Wine Spectator senior editor Kim Marcus wasn’t exaggerating when he told the Wine Experience audience, “Mark’s wines are magnificent examples of California Chardonnay.”

Mark Aubert, like his Chardonnay, was quietly intense and dignified on stage, his dark hair accented by white and his humor dusty dry. The Napa Valley native told the crowd that while he’s inspired and guided by the great whites of Burgundy, his goal is to make Chardonnay that’s distinctly Californian.

Aubert turns to western Sonoma County for most of his Chardonnay grapes. Lauren vineyard holds a special significance for him. It was the first estate vineyard he and his wife/partner, Teresa, planted, having bought the property in 2000. They also named it after their daughter. “She has no interest in the wine business, but she sure likes to see her name in print,” he joked.

Located just outside the small town of Forestville, near the Russian River, the 8-acre vineyard is in what Aubert considers his personal sweet spot. The soils, called Goldridge, are a sandy, loamy mix with a high natural minerality. It was once an ancient seabed. “It’s a winemaker’s dream to have this kind of soil mix in a vineyard,” he said.

The 2014 Lauren (93 points, $95) reveals Aubert’s winemaking signature: opulent and rich but sleek and graceful. It was 100 percent barrel-fermented with native yeasts, and aged mostly in new French oak. “Chardonnay has been good to us,” Aubert said. “I’ve been able to coax out a lot of flavors that other people seem to miss.”

Laura Catena is an emergency-room physician, a published author and the fourth-generation leader at her family’s Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina. But that last part wasn’t always the plan. “I thought that I was going to spend my life working as a doctor and drinking the family’s wines, not making them,” she said Friday at the Wine Experience.

But Catena obviously did join the family business. Her decision, it turns out, came after her first New York Wine Experience back in 1995.

“The New York Wine Experience changed my life,” Catena said. She recalled her frustration when attendees passed over her family’s booth for more popular producers from California, France and Italy. “I called my father the next day and I said ‘Papa, I am coming to work with you.'”

Today, Catena Zapata is world-renowned for revolutionizing the quality and reputation of Argentine Malbec, and Catena, now the winery’s managing director, is a fierce advocate for the estate, the region and the grape. Inspired by the history of Malbec, from its birth in France to its disastrous near-extinction due to phylloxera to its renaissance in Argentina, Catena is intent on establishing Argentine Malbec as an equal to the most famous of French wines.

“There is a question that I keep getting asked that I don’t like … ‘What comes after Malbec in Argentina?'” she said. “You wouldn’t ask Aubert de Villaine from Romanée-Conti ‘What comes after Pinot Noir in Burgundy?’ would you?”

As Catena shared her family’s still bright and vibrant 2004 Malbec Mendoza Argentino (95 points, $120 on release) with hundreds of eager wine lovers, it was clear that Malbec’s days of being passed over at wine tastings are long gone.

New models, partnerships, no tipping, three day consecutive holidays, benefits and better work hours: the kitchen is changing and to make chefs sustainable