Category: Cooking, Food & Wine

AXA Millésimes, the wine subsidiary of French insurance company AXA, has purchased Platt Vineyard from Russian River Partners, a vineyard investment fund managed by Eric Flanagan of Flanagan Wines in Healdsburg. The 38-acre vineyard is located in the Sonoma Coast wine region near the town of Freestone. The price was not disclosed, but permits are in place for an additional 11 vineyard acres to be planted.

Since its original planting in 2003, Platt has been a key vineyard source for numerous wineries, including Ramey, Littorai and Rivers-Marie. The wines from Rivers-Marie, in particular, gave AXA the confidence to purchase the vineyard. “Above all, the wines Thomas Rivers Brown made from Platt grapes convinced me,” Christian Seely, longtime managing director of AXA Millésimes, told Wine Spectator. Brown makes the wines for Outpost, which AXA purchased in 2018. “There was something special about the Pinots in particular that showed that this vineyard site is capable of great things.”

Platt Vineyard was planted in 2003 by Joan Platt and the late Lew Platt. Russian River Partners took control of the vineyard in 2015. The vineyard, planted in fine, sandy Goldridge soil, approximately eight miles from the Pacific Ocean, is known for producing wines with remarkably fresh acidity.

Seely said AXA, which owns Bordeaux’s Château Pichon Baron, Domaine de l’Arlot in Burgundy and Portugal’s Quinta do Noval, has been in search of a premium California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyard to expand their California holdings since they acquired Outpost in 2018. Seely believes Platt offers similarly exceptional terroir to l’Arlot’s premier cru sites in Nuits-St.-Georges and Vosne-Romanée, and grand cru sites in Romanée St Vivant.

Seely said they plan to build a winery on the property, but for now, they will make the wines at Outpost. “We believe that the potential for making great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines here is immense, and we look forward to working with Thomas and with [Outpost general manager] Frank Dotzler and all our outstanding team at Outpost to develop this potential and make some outstanding wines here in years to come.”

—With reporting by James Molesworth.

In 2021, one of New York City’s most luxurious institutions, the NoMad hotel, shut its doors. This followed the departure of acclaimed chef and Eleven Madison Park owner Daniel Humm, who had overseen the hotel’s Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning NoMad restaurant before breaking in 2020 with its then-owner, Sydell Group.

Earlier this summer, the NoMad’s former location, the historic Johnston Building, became home to the Ned NoMad, a hotel and private members’ club from the owners of the Soho House club group. This is the second location for the Ned concept, which originated in London in 2017.

While several of the hotel’s spaces will be exclusively for the Ned’s members—Ned’s Club Upstairs and the Dining Room, for instance—two restaurants will be open to the public and hotel guests, both overseen by Ned NoMad executive chef Brian Vandergast, food and beverage director Vittorio Viotti and head of bars Chris Moore, formerly of New York mainstay Dante.

“What excites us most about opening the Ned NoMad was transforming this building with rich history in all aspects, into our version of classic hospitality that feels very reminiscent of the Ned London, yet deeply and clearly rooted in New York,” Moore told Wine Spectator via email.

Northern Italian restaurant Cecconi’s will serve guests on the hotel’s first floor. This is the latest Cecconi’s location and the first in Manhattan, joining sibling restaurants in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Istanbul, Miami Beach, Mumbai and West Hollywood, as well as three in London, including a location at the Ned. (Cecconi’s has been a Soho House property since 2004.) Diners can expect dishes such as beef tartare with black truffle, chicken paillard with cherry tomatoes, filet mignon, wood-fired pizzas, diverse pastas and other Italian classics.

Alongside the menu is a growing, Italy-focused list of about 77 wines, overseen by Viotti. This includes Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Barolo, Barbaresco, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and more. Picks from France, California and other regions bring additional diversity, including white Burgundy, Champagne, Sonoma Chardonnay and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. “We tried to curate a selection that will appeal to both the person trying to explore wine a bit more and learn, as well as the seasoned expert,” Moore explained. A 1,000-label, hotel-wide reserve wine list, largely focused on Burgundy, will premier later this year.

The Cecconi’s dining room is inspired by traditional Italian trattorias, with a terrazzo-mosaic floor, velvet banquettes and a polished wood bar. On its walls hang several pieces of contemporary art, part of a massive collection exhibited throughout the hotel.

The Ned NoMad will also soon be opening Little Ned, a restaurant exclusively for club members and hotel guests. (Club members will be able to access the restaurant’s mezzanine with Empire State Building views). Set in a 1920s-inspired dining room, Little Ned offers a smaller menu of traditional bar and club dishes, such as hamburgers, steak tartare and caviar.

The Ned is set to keep globetrotting. The Ned Doha launches in Qatar in late 2022, and another New York location, the Ned Exchange, is opening at the American Stock Exchange Building in 2024.—C.D.

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[article-img-container][src=2022-07/tt_oktacaviar072822_1600.jpg] [credit= (Evan Sung)] [alt= A plate of caviar with Ozette potato, topped with purple spinach and accompanied by barbecue honey and a glass of white wine][end: article-img-container]

Ōkta Opens in Oregon’s Willamette Valley

A visit to the Pacific Northwest often comes with overcast weather, which can disappoint some, but locals embrace and cherish the moody climate. So has Ōkta, a new restaurant located within the Tributary Hotel in the Willamette Valley town of McMinnville. The boutique hotel, owned by Katie Jackson and Shaun Kajiwara of Jackson Family Wines, opened earlier this summer, and Ōkta debuted on July 13.

The restaurant takes its name from a meteorological measurement for cloud coverage, and the intimate dining room, which holds just 26 guests, evokes Oregon’s natural ambiance, with grays and greens, natural oak and stone. The nine tables encircle a massive basalt rock, a token of the Missoula floods, which flung boulders and cliff faces down through the Willamette Valley, sculpting the landscape and enriching the soils.

“We’re taking a lot of elements from the Pacific Northwest and trying to elicit that feel in the dining room,” said general manager Christine Langelier. Beneath the dining room is a cellar and lounge, which showcases rich, dark tones with natural leather and terracotta.

In the open kitchen with a large wood-burning hearth, chef Matthew Lightner, formerly at Atera in New York City, crafts ambitious, ever-changing tasting menus from the local bounty. The hearth is utilized throughout the courses, whether for a trace of smoke or a full char. A recent dish of caviar served with Ozette potatoes and orach (purple spinach) grown at Ōkta’s farm is a quintessential example of Lightner’s deft hand with using the hearth and playing with different textures, tastes and smells. Laminated brioche and barbecued honey accompany the dish, and the orach is slightly wilted from a kiss of the hearth’s flame.

“Chef is homing in on micro seasons in the valley,” explained Langelier, noting that some produce is only at its peak for a few days or weeks. The Ōkta farm will grow a significant portion of the restaurant’s produce, while other local purveyors, from fishermen to berry farms, will help tell the story of the region and its terroirs through food.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the tasting menu is $165 for 8 to 12 dishes, while the weekend offering is $260 for 18-plus dishes. Wine pairings start at $160. Beverage director Ron Acierto is enthusiastic about opening diners’ eyes to the diversity and breadth of Oregon wine. The cellar currently holds approximately 3,500 bottles from 250 wineries, with nearly half of the offerings from Oregon producers. Acierto places a hyper-focus on rare collections from Oregon pioneers such as Eyrie and Adelsheim, including less frequently grown varieties such as Gamay and Riesling. Acierto hopes to grow the list to between 4,000 and 5,000 bottles. There will also be a full bar, copious non-alcoholic offerings, cider and a number of sakes.—A.R.

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Pix Pâtisserie & Bar Vivant Bids Adieu to Portland

Those who know Cheryl Wakerhauser, the Champagne fanatic, pastry whiz and author behind Portland’s exemplary Pix Pâtisserie and Bar Vivant, knew that there was an expiration date for the pastry shop and wine bar. That day is arriving, precisely 10 years to the day since opening. Pix and Bar Vivant will close its doors on Aug 22.

“The restaurant industry is unpredictable and a lot of work. You think when you do something for a while, it gets easier, but it doesn’t; it just changes with new and different problems,” said Wakerhauser, admitting that when she moved into Pix’s East Burnside location in 2012, she had already attempted to sell the business once. “I said, ‘If I’m going to put all this time and work in, then I’m only going to do it for 10 years.’”

Wakerhauser has dazzled Portland since 2001, selling her delectable French pastries at Portland’s Farmer’s Market before opening her first Pix location in Southeast Portland. When she moved to the current location, she added a tapas and wine bar, dubbed Bar Vivant, which offered a remarkable 1,700 wine selections, roughly half of them Champagne, as well as more than 150 Sherries. That impressive wine list earned her a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence every year since 2013.

Wakerhauser always aimed to make wine more fun and accessible. The restaurant was known for its events and parties, including Flamenco Fridays, Thursday night movies at dusk, Bastille Day fêtes and the Bubbly Spectacular, where sparkling wine flowed and sabering lessons were offered.

“It is satisfying to see a full patio and people enjoying themselves, but I’m tired. I opened at the age of 25. It’s time to do something else,” said Wakerhauser. A French pastry cooking school may be in the works, though Wakerhauser wants to take some time off to travel first. “I’ve seen a lot of culinary graduates that maybe didn’t learn as much as they should have,” she explained, adding that she’d like to offer personalized, one-on-one learning and perhaps some classes devoted to Sherry and Champagne. “I taught many people to saber,” she laughed.

Those craving creations from Pix can special order larger cakes for prearranged pick-ups and visit the location for grab-and-go items from the Pix-O-Matic vending machines, which Wakerhauser developed during the pandemic. She said her kitchen staff will fulfill orders and stock the machines for at least the next year to see how it goes. However, she’s quick to point out that she can’t sell wine from a vending machine.—A.R.

The people of Japan have some of the highest life expectancies in the world, at an average of 85 years. But as they live longer, what dietary, fitness or socioeconomic factors affect health as they age? Exploring cognitive function, researchers at Osaka University and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology recently collected health and lifestyle data from Japanese seniors over age 75 and found that moderate and consistent wine consumption was associated with higher cognitive function.

The study, published in BMC Geriatrics, followed 1,226 men and women in Japan, ages 75 to 87, during 2016 and 2017. The subjects were recruited from the SONIC cohort (Septuagenarians, Octogenarians, Nonagenarians and Investigation with Centenarians), an ongoing study that began in 2010 and has followed up on participants every three years.

Health professionals asked participants about their drinking patterns, and measured cognitive function via the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The MoCA is a screening test designed to assist health professionals in the detection of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The MoCA is evaluated on a score of 0 to 30—adults of any age show an average score of 26. Below 22 suggests moderate cognitive impairment.

Researchers noted the frequency of drinking and types of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine, whisky, Japanese rice spirits and sake. Alcohol consumption frequency was broken down into four categories: None, less than one day per week, one to six days per week and daily. For men, alcohol consumption was categorized as none (0 grams of alcohol), moderate (1 to 39 grams), moderate to excessive (40 to 59 grams) and excessive (60 grams and over), while women’s thresholds were half of that. (An average glass of wine contains 14 grams of alcohol.)

“We examined associations with cognitive function for other types of alcohol besides wine, and found significant associations only for wine,” lead author Dr. Yuya Akagi told Wine Spectator. “This suggests that wine-specific substances affect cognitive function, specifically antioxidants such as polyphenol”>polyphenols.” Akagi adds that red wine contains more polyphenols than white wine, specifically resveratrol, and it is highly likely that red and white wines differ with respect to the effect of cognitive function.

The researchers found that participants who reported drinking alcohol one to six days per week had the highest MoCA score, at 23.6 points (the average was 22.7), and a significant increase in cognitive function compared to those who did not drink and those who drank every day. After isolating each alcoholic beverage, researchers also found that wine had the strongest positive correlation with cognitive function, while other drinks such as sake did not.

Akagi’s study focuses more on drinking frequency rather than volume. Being that most participants were moderate drinkers, she suggests that alcohol consumption, regardless of frequency, should be moderate.

The researchers note that social factors such as communication with others may have positively influenced cognitive function. “We believe that not only the effects of wine, but also the context of wine drinking, such as time spent having fun and talking with friends and family, can have a very positive impact on cognitive function,” Akagi said.

They also add that the study comprised older people who voluntarily participated, and tended to be healthier than the average older member of the population. Lastly, alcohol consumption data was evaluated by interviews, which can be subject to inaccuracy. Akagi says she would next like to assess the impacts of red wine vs. white wine.

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The announcements came from different wine regions on different continents, but the message was the same. Last week, both Favia in Napa Valley and Allegrini in Valpolicella announced that some of their wines would now be sold and distributed around the world not by local merchants but by the French négociants of La Place de Bordeaux.

A remarkable transformation is underway on La Place. Dozens of foreign wines—which is to say, wines not produced in Bordeaux—are now being sold by négociants who work through the Bordeaux marketplace during two annual sales campaigns, one held each September and another in March. These include iconic wines like Bill Harlan’s Promontory from Napa, Jackson Family’s Vérité from Sonoma, Oregon’s Beaux Frères, Champagne Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses, Will Berliner’s Cloudburst and Jim Barry’s The Armagh Shiraz from Australia, and super Tuscans like Colore from Bibi Graetz, Masseto and Solaia.

This development, which began cautiously a few years ago, has gained momentum. And it puts Bordeaux at the global crossroads of fine wines. Those involved believe it’s good for winemakers, consumers and La Place. “It’s a win-win-win situation. Or else it wouldn’t be happening,” Mathieu Chadronnier, president of CVBG, a leading négociant, tells Wine Spectator.

“To be sold by some of the most well-respected négociants opens The Armagh up to more markets around the world and gives it credibility as a great wine,” said Sam Barry, commercial manager for his family’s Aussie wine company. “Australian wine is still underrepresented on the global fine wine stage, so being on La Place is not only a breakthrough for The Armagh, it is a breakthrough for fine Australian wine.”

Chadronnier believes it’s part of a shrinking wine world. “The concentration of knowledge and experience that this enables is quite fascinating—the relationships it creates—and it contributes to making the world of fine wine ‘one.’ [It’s] interesting, exciting, and thought-provoking.”

Where is this place?

Despite the name, La Place is not a specific spot. It’s a marketplace and distribution network made up of more than 300 négociants who sell to markets in more than 170 countries. The top châteaus of Bordeaux have never sold direct. Instead, a network of courtiers, or brokers, make deals between the château owners and the négociants as futures are released. The négociants distribute the wine to buyers around the world, quickly and efficiently for the most part. While the top wineries have upped their marketing game in recent decades, they leave sales and distribution to La Place.

The marketplace is resilient and agile. That’s why it’s been dealing in wine for 800 years. That kind of longevity requires the ability to adapt to new circumstances like wars and tariffs and pandemics, and the drive to open new markets, such as emerging ones in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

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Until 24 years ago, La Place never sold a wine made outside Bordeaux. The late Philippine de Rothschild of Château Mouton-Rothschild put the 1996 vintage of her Chilean wine project, Almaviva, on La Place in 1998. Not everyone thought this was a good idea. “It was unequally accepted by different parties,” says Chadronnier diplomatically.

It would be another six years before Opus One, Mouton’s Napa collaboration with Robert Mondavi Winery, also hit La Place. And even longer before any wines without a Bordeaux connection began to be sold.

So why now?

Suffice to say, attitudes have changed. Bordeaux is thriving, open and cosmopolitan.

The hundreds of négociants trading on La Place have their own specialties. And because La Place has always devoted some of its energy to selling rare and sought-after wines, it has a vast and intricate distribution network that reaches shops, restaurants and buyers for collectors around the globe. There is no other place in the world where a single wine can be sold to so many countries and submarkets within those countries in a single day.

“[The Bordeaux négociants] are absolute masters at delivering even small quantities of top-quality wine in many different markets, even far-away ones, in perfect conditions,” says Vianney Gravereaux, sales and marketing director for Masseto.

Take the last sales campaign in March. The Harlan family’s Promontory Napa Valley 2016 “sold out on the release day to hundreds of merchants worldwide,” says Jean-Quentin Prats, CEO of Joanne Rare Wines, which has been a major player in selling “foreign” wines at La Place. Prats sells more than 100 non-Bordeaux wines.

It’s worth taking a moment to consider that none of this would be happening if the world of fine wine hadn’t grown in the past 50 years. While Bordeaux has been a top name for centuries, wineries in other countries and emerging regions have stormed the luxury market. The target consumers for these wines are the same.

“I don’t know anyone who only drinks Napa; I don’t anyone who only drinks Bordeaux or Burgundy or Barolo or Tuscany,” says Chadronnier. “Fine wine consumers may have regions of choice but they consume and enjoy wines from a wide variety of regions and countries. It makes sense that all these wines be distributed through the same channels.”

Charles Philipponnat was the first Champagne producer contacted by La Place and he immediately saw the potential. “It’s an extension of our policies, not a fundamental change,” says Philipponnat, who began releasing his house’s Clos des Goisses on La Place a few years ago. “It allows us to reach many specialist merchants with smaller quantities than a big importer would normally take and this means we reach more individuals who enjoy these kinds of wines.”

The Clos des Goisses release in September was so successful that Philipponnat decided to release their even rarer Clos des Goisses LV during the March campaign. It sold through almost immediately, says Philipponnat.

[article-img-container][src=2022-07/ns_bibi071822_1600.jpg] [credit=] [alt=Bibi Graetz] [end: article-img-container]

For smaller wineries, La Place can be a game-changer. From his vineyard in Tuscany, Bibi Graetz had been trying to enter La Place for several years, but there was no obvious route. He felt he’d taken distribution as far as he could go, but needed a different business model to reach the next level. “I was alone with one person helping me,” he told Wine Spectator. “We managed to cover really well five markets. We had a total of 24 countries—and 24 customers.”

Then an introduction put him in contact with the right négociant partners. “We started selling our wines on La Place five years ago with the 2015 vintage,” says Graetz. “Now we have 700 importers and more than 60 countries. It’s a dream. La Place is fascinating, very sophisticated.”

Graetz is a good example of how La Place acts as an accelerator for brands that already have strong recognition in the wine business and among connoisseurs.

“I’ve always been very much convinced of La Place de Bordeaux and its enormous capacity to build on the width of the distribution when a brand already has a certain amount of recognition,” says Alexander Van Beek, general manager of Château Giscours and the super Tuscan winery Caiarossa. He and his team put the 2013 vintage of Caiarossa on La Place in 2015, working with 15 négociants.

“La Place is not a brand builder. But it really helps to increase the visibility of the brand in markets,” he says. “La Place is strong at capitalizing on the huge market connections that they have in countries where individually you would not be able to sell because it would be too time-consuming and too expensive.”

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It’s not just win-win for the négociants and winemakers. There are pluses for collectors too, says Van Beek. “There are two big advantages with working with La Place. First is the open market. The margins taken in distribution will be lower than with an exclusive contract, so the end consumer gets a better deal. Second, La Place de Bordeaux will always give a valuation of a specific brand in correlation with the vintage. So, if you’re a collector and you want a value for your wine, you’ll have a direct vision from La Place, which is a financial market.”

Bertrand Steip, president of Moët Hennessy’s Estates & Wines, producer of Ao Yun, concurs: “La Place de Bordeaux can be seen as the Wall Street of fine wines.” Putting their Chinese wine on La Place “sends a clear message regarding our ambition to make a great wine at Ao Yun, and ensures we can reach wine aficionados around the world.”

So what does it take for a foreign wine to be accepted on La Place? Quality, story, reputation and, in many cases, rarity.

Berliner’s Cloudburst is a minuscule, hands-on production from Australia’s Margaret River. “Cloudburst demands my full attention and previously required me to drop my vigneron hat several times a year to venture out to bring it to the world,” says Berliner. “It was somewhat taxing, and I often dreamed of the time where someone else would properly represent Cloudburst so that I could focus on the vines and wines.” He began selling his wine on La Place in 2020 and says it feels natural. “In retrospect it seems logical that it would end up on La Place—from inception, my focus has been on producing fine wine,” says Berliner.

And maybe it was logical for Bordeaux to extend its expertise to foreign wines.

What’s less clear is what the long-term ramifications will be as Bordeaux grows and consolidates distribution of the best-known fine and rare wines.

“It’s a fascinating development in Bordeaux. I think it’s part of Bordeaux reinventing itself,” says Chadronnier. “But it goes beyond business. It reinforces what makes fine wine unique in terms of the sense of place and time. There is no product other than wine that has this rapport with place and time. And bringing together all of these landscapes and human histories and experiences and styles and aspirations is very exciting.”

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Chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés recently confirmed he will be opening a new location of the Bazaar at Washington, D.C.’s Old Post Office building later this year, following years of anticipation.

“I first dreamed of opening a restaurant at the Old Post Office back in 1993 when I first came to D.C.,” said Andrés in a statement. “Nearly three decades later, I am building that dream into a reality, and couldn’t be more excited to bring my beloved Bazaar restaurant right here to D.C. in this beautiful historic location.”

Andrés premiered his Bazaar concept in 2008 at the now-shuttered Los Angeles location, before opening new spots in Miami and New York, along with Bazaar Meat locations in Las Vegas and Chicago. (Another is set to open in downtown L.A. in 2022.) Across these restaurants, the chef and his team explore traditional and more contemporary takes on cuisine from Spain (particularly tapas) and farther abroad, offering everything from jamón Iberico and patatas bravas to pork belly bao buns and a bagel-and-lox cone.

Spain is a central focus on Bazaar wine lists as well, which feature the likes of Rioja, Priorat, Navarra rosé and bubbly from Josep Maria Raventós i Blanc. These programs are rounded out with bottles from other regions, including Sonoma, Burgundy and Bordeaux.

The latest Bazaar has been designed by Spanish firm Laìzaro Rosa-Violaìn, taking over a space previously occupied by David Burke’s BLT Prime. The restaurant will sit within one of D.C.’s most historic edifices. Built in the Romanesque Revival school, the Old Post Office served as D.C.’s general post office for about 15 years beginning in 1899. It is now operated as a hotel—as of this month, the Waldorf Astoria Washington, D.C.

Andrés had been set to open a restaurant in the Old Post Office several years ago, when it was Trump International Hotel. (The building was leased to the Trump Organization by the U.S. government’s General Services Administration.) The restaurant, Topo Atrio, was slated for a 2016 opening. However, in summer 2015, Andrés pulled the project due to controversial comments made by Trump Organization owner and then–presidential candidate Donald Trump about Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Chef and television personality Geoffrey Zakarian also pulled his planned restaurant from the hotel for the same reason.

The Trump Organization sued Andrés and his ThinkFoodGroup for breach of contract, reaching a settlement in 2017. In 2021, the organization agreed to sell its lease on the Old Post Office building for $375 million, and it is now operated by investment manager CGI Merchant Group and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

“A lifelong learner with a passion for U.S. history, the opportunity for José and our team to open a flagship restaurant at this iconic site is incredibly meaningful,” said ThinkFoodGroup and José Andrés Media president Sam Bakhshandehpour in a statement. “Bringing the Bazaar to D.C. is an important anchor for us, and our partners, who are locally based and community-minded.”—C.D.

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Mina Group Opens Mother Tongue in Hollywood

“It took me a minute to wrap my head around what this concept would look like,” admitted Jeremy Shanker, corporate wine director for the Mina Group.

That concept is the latest restaurant from the Mina Group, Mother Tongue, a partnership with the RSG Group (the company behind fitness and lifestyle brands such as Gold’s Gym). Situated on the top floor of a five-story building in downtown Hollywood, Mother Tongue, which opened June 20, operates in conjunction with (but as a separate entity from) fitness club Heimat, which occupies the first three floors.

Though connected to the fitness club, Mother Tongue does not feel like a place you’d stroll into after an arduous workout. The vibe is distinctly L.A., with its industrial ceiling and rooftop terrace offering panoramic views of the Hollywood Hills, but terrazzo and Murano glass add Mediterranean flair. The main dining room is bright and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing the natural light to enliven the shades of coral and ochre, with pops of green from tropical-looking indoor plants. The 1,500-square-foot terrace keeps a similar color scheme, adding faded emerald to the mix.

Being a member of Heimat provides eating and drinking perks. The top floor also includes a members-only pool with food and beverage service. “L.A. rooftop bars aren’t always known for the best wine selection,” said Shanker, noting that bottle service will include everything from grower Champagne to a selection of wine in cans, including offerings from Broc Cellars and Sans Wine Co. “We’re trying to build something pretty unique in L.A. The audience is bigger than just the exclusive club below us.”

Chef Fernando Darin, a Patina Group alum, crafts a menu with a global bent while being plant-forward, wholesome and built around eating thoughtfully. Every menu item is marked with a letter corresponding to a key at the bottom of the menu indicating dietary considerations such as keto, plant-based or anti-inflammation. “Guests who attend the gym are very mindful and have strict dietary guidelines, and our menu helps accommodate those while still being delicious,” said Shanker.

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Current menu offerings include a gluten-free spirulina cavatelli with moringa pesto and English peas (categorized as beneficial for the mind and cognition) and a keto-friendly wild Pacific salmon chan chan yaki with white miso sauce, Caraflex cabbage and hon shimeji mushrooms.

The beverage list also takes a health-conscious approach, with alcohol-free and low-alcohol options such as sparkling cold-brewed tea and hard kombucha. Around half of the 100-bottle wine list is devoted to “natural wine” (defined by the restaurant as sustainably grown, fermented with native yeasts and made without additives, including sulfites), which Shanker said is structured to encourage exploration. “I believe in giving the guests what they want, not telling them what they want. If a [natural] wine is made well, it likely won’t taste any different [than its more conventional counterparts]. Some of the best wines are made natural; the rest on our list, while not natural, are still made with that approach in mind.”

Shanker says the reserve selection, titled IYKYK (“if you know, you know”), puts true benchmarks of top regions on display. “If you know Chablis, you won’t be surprised to find that Dauvissat is the Chablis we have. But the list is also an invitation to the person who wants to know what great Chablis tastes like; we’re putting all the secrets on the page.”—A.R.

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Pascaline Lepeltier Opens Chambers in New York City

Diners and wine lovers still mourning the closing, nearly a year ago, of Racines NY, rejoice: Pascaline Lepeltier and her team have reimagined the Tribeca space as Chambers, which opened June 15. Lepeltier, the beverage director and a partner in the restaurant, is known for her commitment to sustainability and stewardship. Those values shine in the new restaurant, less a Racines reboot than a fresh start.

Though the physical location is the same, Lepeltier and her team have carefully crafted the space to be cozier, with gentler lighting and ample curves; the goal is to become a neighborhood go-to. They’ve added a communal table, where they hope strangers will become friends over the shared pleasures of good food and wine. Even the name reflects the change in tenor—the restaurant is on Chambers Street—and while Racines NY was an offshoot of the renowned Parisian bistro, Chambers keeps things more local and down to earth.

“We wanted to rethink the business model … to ensure we could give the staff a better lifestyle,” Lepeltier told Wine Spectator. To that end, they’ve reduced the number of tables, seating 55; streamlined the menu and service; and provided expanded benefits, predictable hours, ample vacation and increased wages. Guests who opt to sit at the four-seat kitchen counter for a view of the action are charged a $25 booking fee, which goes straight to the kitchen staff.

That unfussy, streamlined approach translates to the wine program, with sommelier Ellis Srubas-Giammanco a driving force behind its new direction. Lepeltier said that, though she was proud of Racines’ list (2,400 selections when it shut its doors), it could lean geeky and “scare people from coming.” She also wants to “rebalance” the relationship between the kitchen and the wine program. At Racines, she said, the elaborate, expansive list sometimes risked outshining the food; at Chambers, she plans to cut the list down to 600 to 800 wines to make it a less intimidating, friendlier match for chef Jon Karis’ elegant, energetic cooking. At opening, the one-page menu offered dishes including veal sweetbreads, black sea bass with artichokes, Berkshire pork loin with summer squash and ricotta cavatelli with ramp pesto and pistachio. Sides are simple, yet distinguished, such as asparagus with white anchovy and broccolini with preserved lemon.

Chambers’ list—for now, predominantly comprising wines from the Racines cellar—walks a fine line between pleasing traditional wine lovers and the vanguard of natural wine and pét-nat enthusiasts. The style is hip but humble—approachable for casual wine drinkers but with plenty to interest even the savviest enophile. There’s particular strength in Jura and the Loire, Lepeltier’s homeland, and some welcome quirks—the opening list offers only two Napa Valley whites, both Chenin Blancs, yet boasts a Chardonnay from Texas. A fascinating cider and co-ferments section will appeal to the adventurous drinker, as will the selection of ancestral method sparklers and skin contact bottlings. The list is producer-focused; many sections have titles like “Vignerons of Vermont” and “Vignerons of Gevrey-Chambertin.” Hybrid and native American varieties will play an increasingly prominent role: The opening list offers a glass of Finger Lakes Concord from Chëpìka, the wine project Lepeltier runs with Nathan Kendall, for an agreeable $9.

“You don’t need me to drink DRC,” Lepeltier said. Indeed, the list currently has fewer than a handful of grand cru Burgundies. She plans to curate the offerings with an eye toward approachability, without sacrificing her passion for highlighting small, family-run producers who farm responsibly and showcase their terroirs. Lepeltier is excited about Chambers’ draft system, which showcases local beverages while cutting down on shipping costs—and has even committed to carrying by-the-glass wines brought to New York by sailboat. And she has assembled a nearly comprehensive selection of Chartreuse.

Chambers also offers an impressive range of low- and non-alcoholic options to engage non-drinkers and promote a healthier culture around drinking in the restaurant industry. Don’t miss the ginger beer, fermented in-house following a recipe by bar consultant Cristian Molina.

For the fall, Lepeltier plans special wine events that explore unexpected connections between wine and topics such as music or philosophy. Chambers is open Monday through Friday during the summer, with the first seating (reservations required) at 6 p.m. and the second (walk-ins welcome) at 8 p.m. After Labor Day, the restaurant will be open Tuesday through Saturday.—K.M.

Another Napa wine icon is changing hands. Wine Spectator has learned that LVMH Moët Hennessy, the global wine and fashion titan, has signed a deal to purchase Joseph Phelps Vineyards. The agreement includes the brand, winery and inventory, as well as 500 acres of vines in Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Phelps produces approximately 60,000 cases of wine annually. The purchase price was not disclosed.

“We have in our portfolio a consistent offer of white wines and Rosé wines so we wanted to reinforce our red wines offer by adding an exquisite one,” Moët Hennessy CEO Philippe Schaus told Wine Spectator. “Joseph Phelps is one of the most respected and acclaimed wine properties in California and in particular in the Napa Valley, notably through the legendary Insignia. It perfectly fits with our DNA and values, [including] Moët Hennessy’s ambition to keep strengthening its global portfolio of exceptional wines and to grow further with scalable brands. A strong presence in Napa is critical to scale our wine business in the U.S.”

Schaus added that no changes to the winery staff are planned for the immediate future. Chief winemaker Ashley Hepworth will stay.

Joseph Phelps was one of Napa’s pioneers, part of a generation that moved to the valley in the 1960s and ’70s and revitalized its wine scene. Phelps made his career as a building contractor in Colorado, then established an office in San Francisco. His company won a bid to build Souverain Winery in Sonoma and Phelps started spending time in wine country and made Cabernet and Zinfandel in the basement of his home using Napa grapes. Contemplating a career change, he purchased a 600-acre cattle ranch in Spring Valley on Napa’s eastern side in 1973, near Heitz Cellar, and started planting vineyards and building a winery.

Phelps released his first wines—a Riesling and a Cabernet Sauvignon—that same year. Then, in 1974, he produced Insignia, a blend of classic Bordeaux varieties that is now recognized as one of Napa’s signature red wines. It was a radical approach to Napa Cabernet at the time—a proprietary label in which the vintage and winemaker determined the final blend. Insignia helped establish the winery as a leading Cabernet producer, with Phelps’ and winemaker Craig Williams’ 2002 bottling named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year in 2005.

After Joseph’s death in 2015, his son Bill and his siblings took over managing the company. In a statement from the Phelps family, they commented, “Joseph Phelps Vineyards has been a producer of iconic wines for nearly 50 years. During that time, and as we plan for the next 50 years, our family’s guiding principle has always been to honor and build on this legacy. We believe that passing the care of this crown jewel of the Napa Valley and Sonoma Coast to LVMH, a world-renowned leader in the luxury wines and spirits market, will enable us to do just that.”

As of 2021, LVMH was the most valuable company in Europe, a global corporation chaired by Bernard Arnault with dozens of top brands in fashion, spirits and wine, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co. Moët Hennessy, its wine and spirits division, is anchored by Hennessy Cognac and Moët & Chandon Champagne. Over recent decades, the company has steadily expanded its wine holdings, adding brands like Champagne’s Krug, Bordeaux’s Château Cheval-Blanc, Burgundy’s Clos des Lambrays, Spain’s Bodega Numanthia and New Zealand’s Cloudy Bay. In Napa Valley, it owns Newton Vineyard and a majority stake in Colgin Cellars.

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American consumers have a thirst for bubbly. Sales of sparkling wine from numerous wine-producing regions continue to be one of the strongest-growing categories in the U.S. market. And while French Champagne and Italian Prosecco are well-known success stories, Spanish Cava emerged as a winner in 2021: Shipments to the United States skyrocketed, ending the year with a record 1.98 million cases, an impressive 40 percent increase from 2020, according to the Consejo Regulador del Cava.

Cava has long waited in the wings of the sparkling wine world. Produced using the same traditional method as Champagne, Cava was the first sparkling wine region to introduce and employ the gyropalette, a machine that reproduced the labor-intensive and costly riddling process.

Cava producers passed those savings along, with many situating themselves in the value segment of the sparkling wine market during the late 1970s and early 1980s. But that decision ended up pigeon-holing Cava at lower price points through the 1990s. And when consumers came to expect those prices, wineries had to cut costs to maintain them, sometimes at the expense of quality.

In 2011, half the Cava reviewed by Wine Spectator, roughly 70 wines, rated 80 to 84 points; the other half rated 85 to 89 points, with no wines earning 90 points or higher. But over the past decade, Cava producers have taken notable steps to raise quality, including allowing French varieties in the wine’s blend, tightening yields and aging regimens, recognizing production subzones and more. In 2021, more than 80 percent of all Cava reviewed fell in the 85- to 89-point range, with 13 percent at 90 points or more. And even though quality is on the rise, the vast majority of bottlings are still wallet-friendly, available for $20 or less.

That pricing puts Cava soundly on par with most bottles of Prosecco in the U.S. market. Prosecco began its meteoric climb roughly 15 years ago, teaching Americans that sparkling wine could be enjoyed on a more regular basis—not just for special occasions. During the pandemic it seems that the dolce vita mentality of Prosecco transferred to Cava consumption.

“Because of COVID lockdowns and Champagne supply issues, consumers shifted to products more in line with how they were spending their time: more at home—less grand, more cozy celebrations,” said Monica Lafuente, U.S. director of trade development for Campo Viejo Cava, which experienced a 44.1 percent increase in U.S. case sales from 2020 to 2021. Lafuente also says their market research finds that Cava drinkers are more likely to enjoy their bubbly with a meal.

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At Freixenet and Segura Viudas, the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked Cava brands by sales in the U.S., respectively, it wasn’t just about capitalizing on Prosecco’s success. “In one way, Cava producers were victims of the success of Prosecco—always playing defense, never offense,” said Enore Ceola, CEO & president of Freixenet Mionetto USA, the U.S. division of sparkling wine powerhouse Henkell Freixenet, which owns both Cava brands as well as Mionetto Prosecco, Alfred Gratien Champagne, California’s Gloria Ferrer and Germany’s Henkell, among other sparkling wine brands.

“We decided [in 2019] that it was time to play offense, to better establish the brands within the Cava category, to premiumize the brands, and to refocus on the consumer,” said Ceola. An ad campaign launched in late 2019 may have helped accelerate sales going into the pandemic, and strong retail sales in 2020 helped to offset the loss of restaurant and bar sales. “For Freixenet, we made the brand more lifestyle than before; for Segura Viudas, it was [about explaining] quality, and about premiumization—basically education on the Cava category.”

Premiumization and education may also be pushing the growth of certain categories within the broader spectrum of Cava. Rosé Cava sales grew almost 30 percent in 2021. But more notably, wines grouped under the term Guarda Superiore grew by a dramatic 104 percent, according to the Consejo Regulador del Cava. This includes wines labeled as Reserva, with more than 18 months of aging, Gran Reserva (minimum 30 months) and Paraje Calificado (minimum 36 months). The impressive growth suggests a more educated interest in Cava, with consumers looking beyond its most inexpensive, entry-level versions, most of which are aged only for the required minimum of nine months.

And some Cava drinkers who enjoyed these higher-quality examples in 2021 may have been consumers looking for bottles of Champagne. “With Champagne shortages, consumers are turning to bubbly alternatives like Prosecco and Cava, so those categories are benefiting,” said Bill Edwards, senior vice president of on-premise national accounts at wholesale giant Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, in a November 2021 interview with Shanken News Daily, a sister publication of Wine Spectator. Increased demand for Champagne coupled with supply chain challenges resulted in a shortage in the fall and winter of 2021, and almost anyone visiting a wine shop on New Year’s Eve experienced it firsthand.

The challenge now for Cava producers is maintaining 2021’s growth, which means retaining customers. This includes older wine drinkers who remember leading Cava brands from earlier years, said Ceola. But it also encompasses newer consumers. Cava producers believe they need to focus on retaining younger wine drinkers. “They’re 22 or 23 years old—they’re discovering sparkling wine now, but not necessarily Prosecco,” said Ceola. “They try different things—they don’t necessarily stick to just one brand or category—it’s more about the moment or the occasion.”

While the curiosity and experimentation exhibited by the Gen Z and Millennial consumer poses challenges for brands hoping to engender loyalty, Ceola also sees opportunities, such as targeting the occasions for consumption, not just the consumer themselves or a specific category of wine. “Freixenet was a huge brand in the U.S. in the late nineties, but at that time sparkling wine was totally celebratory. It’s exciting for us to see how today’s consumer is embracing sparkling wine.”

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After two challenging years, during which many customers took a long hiatus from dining out, restaurants are developing innovative ways to attract diners back, no matter their preferences. From wine flights to creative, quality “mocktails” and more, restaurants around the world are pulling out all the stops with their beverage programs to enhance the full dining experience, giving all wine lovers a reason to be excited about going out again.

For example, take a look at our newly revealed list of nearly 3,200 restaurants that have earned Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards in 2022. This year’s winning restaurants, each offering outstanding wine programs, hail from all 50 states and more than 70 countries and territories. The awards are given across three categories: Award of Excellence, Best of Award of Excellence and Grand Award. We are excited to honor all of these restaurants for their hard work and dedication.

Explaining why the awards matter so much to restaurants, sommelier Jason Ferris said, “When guests see that [Wine Spectator] plaque, or that logo on your menu, it gives them confidence that your wine program stands out among its peers.” The restaurant where he works, the Park Inn in Hammondsport, in New York’s Finger Lakes wine region, was upgraded to Best of Award of Excellence this year.

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At Award of Excellence winner Avanti Restaurant in Dallas, wine director Virginie Naigeon-Malek committed to creating a gender-equal wine list, as well as to showcasing local Texas wines on their Italian- and Mediterranean-driven list. “Beyond the extraordinary recognition and visibility, winning a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award means joining an international community of wine lovers passionate about celebrating the work of winemakers and truly intentional about advancing a diverse, innovative and sustainable wine industry,” she said. “A powerful connector, this award also drives social impact!”

The Award of Excellence is given to restaurants that offer thoughtfully chosen lists, containing both quality and diverse selections that are compatible with the menu’s style and pricing. Generally, these lists average around 100 selections but can be much larger. This year, 1,782 restaurants earned an Award of Excellence.

An additional 1,290 restaurants, of which 137 were new to the awards program this year, achieved our Best of Award of Excellence—for those that go the extra mile. These lists offer around 350 or more well-chosen selections, with a vast array of wines from top producers, wide breadth of regions and vintage depth. Restaurants deserving of our Best of Award of Excellence also take their love of wine a step further, such as carefully designing the presentation of the list, training staff on wine to ensure guests have knowledgeable assistance and giving diners an opportunity to learn more through curated wine dinners.

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“My first Wine Spectator award with One Market Restaurant was in 2011. I can remember painstakingly adding my new items to the wine list and double checking for errors,” said Tonya Pitts, now wine director of the San Francisco dining spot, where she strives to create diversity not just in regions and grape varieties but through special lists, tastings and dinners highlighting wines owned, grown or made by women and members of BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and Indigeneous communities. “Never would I have thought we would be elevated to two glasses on my first solo wine list with the company. Now I strive to get the next glass and Grand Award every year.”

The Grand Award is Wine Spectator’s most prestigious honor and is given to the world’s elite wine programs. To earn this award, restaurants must show unwavering dedication and passion to building and growing an exceptional wine list year after year. These wine lists generally have 1,000 selections or more, present diners with a depth of vintages from some of the world’s most highly regarded producers and include multiple bottle formats. All of our Grand Award winners offer the ultimate dining experience: creative presentation, flawless customer service, comprehensive wine knowledge and pristine cellar conditions. Candidates for the Grand Award are required to go through a rigorous inspection by one of our judges. For 2022, we are bestowing the Grand Award on 97 worthy restaurants throughout the world, including 2 first-time winners: Gabriel Kreuther in New York City and Press Restaurant in Napa Valley.

Read the full profiles of them at WineSpectator.com/Restaurants, or in the Aug. 31 issue of Wine Spectator, available on newsstands July 12.

To find more great dining spots for enjoying wine, go to WineSpectator.com/Restaurants/Search, which features all of Wine Spectator’s 2022 Restaurant Award winners in a free database searchable by location, cuisine type, wine strengths, pricing and award level. To access restaurant recommendations on the go, try Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Awards app, available free in the App Store. All award winners are featured in the Aug. 31 issue of Wine Spectator.

Throughout the year, keep on top of restaurant-related news and trends and learn more about the Restaurant Award winners in Q&As with leading sommeliers, chefs and restaurateurs, as well as in roundups of exciting restaurants in different categories, from restaurants with super-value wine lists to bucket-list destinations. Sign up for our free Private Guide to Dining email newsletter so you don’t miss anything!

Washington wine giant Chateau Ste. Michelle is continuing to shake things up, with news this week that it quietly put its 118-acre Woodinville property on the market. The site has been the winery’s home base since 1976, when the company built the iconic chateau that graces the wine’s labels.

The move follows Ste. Michelle’s decision to consolidate all of its winemaking to existing facilities in Columbia Valley, which lies east and across the Cascades from Woodinville and the Seattle metro area. The winery’s reds have long been produced in Columbia Valley, but its vast white wine production remained in Woodinville until this harvest. Ste. Michelle produced 3.1 million cases in 2020.

The move comes on the heels of the $1.2 billion sale in July 2021 of parent company Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to New York–based private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

“Producing wine in Woodinville so far removed from our Eastern Washington vineyards has resulted in decades of shipping millions of gallons of white wine to our Woodinville facility and burning nearly 75,000 gallons of diesel through over 1,600 freight trips each year,” the company said in a statement. “We are evaluating how to best utilize the facility going forward, including exploring a potential sale of our Woodinville property, or perhaps a portion of it.”

The company declined further comment, but according to news reports, the Woodinville property includes a 100,000-square-foot warehouse, a nearly 50,000-square-foot barrel storage facility, plus the chateau, event facilities, gardens, offices and more. The real-estate listing said the property was zoned for multiple purposes and was “primed for redevelopment.”

No wine region in America is more dependent on a single company than Washington is on Ste. Michelle. It’s a symbiotic relationship with growers and other wineries. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates makes about 60 percent of the wine in the state, and it supports and promotes the industry and wine tourism. Many of the state’s leading winemakers earned their stripes at Ste. Michelle before striking out on their own.

If Ste. Michelle sells its Woodinville facility, there will be repercussions for the area’s booming wine tourism industry. There were no wineries or tasting rooms nearby when Ste. Michelle opened in 1976, and today there are more than 130 in four different districts. Ste. Michelle has long served as a shopping mall’s anchor store, drawing in consumers who then patronize the nearby smaller, family-owned wineries as well, which benefit from Ste. Michelle’s advertising and traffic.

These developments are a long time coming. Ste. Michelle CEO Ted Baseler retired in 2018, and veteran winemaker Bob Bertheau left in 2021. After years of impressive growth, the company’s production volume declined by more than 1.2 million cases between 2017 and 2020, according to Impact Databank, a sister publication of Wine Spectator. In 2020, the company wrote off $292 million worth of wine it couldn’t sell, but current CEO David Dearie said last year that sales and profits were rebounding.