Andy Beckstoffer—The Man No One Knows
How the Crown Jewels of Napa Became His By Karen MacNeil July 31, 2026 There are men behind the Napa Valley wine industry that few wine consumers know. Men (and they are mostly men) with huge sway. Men whose mark on Napa has been and continues to be profound. Like...
Love to Hate
By Karen MacNeil July 10, 2026 Originally 3/18/2026 (A version of this piece originally appeared in Decanter magazine in May 2026.) It takes a long time to become hated. First you have to become desired. Deeply desired. Such is the psychological paradox of...
Relighting Passion
Wine and America on the 250th Anniversary of the United States By Karen MacNeil June 30, 2026 The Statue of Liberty was crumbling. But in 1986, after five years and $250 million, the statue—an extraordinary gift from France—was “relit” in a thrilling nationwide...
The Return of a Revolutionary Wine
By Karen MacNeil Insignia Rising From a tiny seed of an idea, a whole new garden can flourish. And so it was that in 1974 Joseph Phelps created Insignia, Napa Valley’s first premier proprietary red blend, a wine that henceforth would be known—by its name alone—as an...
What the Wine World Can Learn from #PerfumeTok
Guest Blog By Jacqueline Strum Introduction from Karen: Jacki Strum is the President and Publisher of Wine Enthusiast Media. In this guest blog, she makes a fascinating and compelling case for using lessons from the perfume industry to reach young wine...
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