Top Wine News of 2024
2024 was a year of transition for the wine world, with old-guard retirements, new buyers on the scene and big names changing hands. Market shifts saw previous owners buying back their namesake businesses, an average 25 percent drop in Bordeaux futures prices, and major retailers adapting their strategies to attract younger consumers.
The year also brought plenty of crime and courtroom drama, with thievery, bankruptcy, permit suits and money laundering capturing the wine-loving public’s attention. As 2025 approaches, bringing with it another year of exciting enological news, revisit Wine Spectator’s most-read stories of 2024 by clicking on each headline below!
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns-mike-and-kendall-officer-071624_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of Carlisle)] [alt= Mike Officer and Kendall Officer in one of Carlisle’s Zinfandel vineyards in Sonoma County, California.][end: article-img-container]
1. Carlisle’s Officers Say Farewell to Zinfandel
Mike and Kendall Officer started the Carlisle brand making wine garagiste-style in their kitchen. Now, Carlisle is one of the biggest names in old-vine California Zinfandel. But after over three decades in the game, they decided to quit while they were ahead and announced their imminent retirement. While the goodbye is bittersweet, the wines are better than ever: Six of Carlisle’s wines scored a classic rating of 96 points in Wine Spectator’s most recent tasting report for California Zinfandel. Senior editor Tim Fish sat down with Mike Officer to discuss these excellent single-vineyard cuvées that may soon become prized collectibles with the brand’s discontinuation on the horizon.
Posted July 16, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_james-macphail-pinot-082724_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of The Calling)] [alt= James MacPhail tastes Pinot Noir from the barrel during his work at The Calling winery.][end: article-img-container]
2. Reclaiming Namesakes: Winemakers Buy Back Their Businesses
This year saw a notable trend that delighted winemakers and consumers alike. Multiple small producers who had previously made the decision to sell their eponymous brands to large companies bought back their namesake labels, as businesses like Hess Persson and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates reshuffled their portfolios. Two of these comebacks were winemaker James MacPhail of MacPhail Family Wines and James Hall of Patz & Hall.
For James MacPhail, it has been 13 years since MacPhail Family Wines, a brand he started as a boutique Pinot Noir house back in 2001, has been under his name. As for Hall, “it’s a dream come true” to be back as the owner and winemaker at Patz & Hall, one of the most recognized names in California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Posted August 22, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_seasmoke-rock-050824_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of Constellation Brands)] [alt= Aerial view of Sea Smoke estate in the Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara, California.][end: article-img-container]
3. Big Purchases in Pinot Noir
The wine world continued to see the growth of California Pinot Noir this year. Big companies made major purchases, particularly in Sonoma and Santa Barbara Counties, to shore up their pieces of the Pinot pie. Of particular note was Constellation Brands’ purchase of Sea Smoke, one of the Sta. Rita Hills’ most well-known producers of quality Pinot Noir. Another major sale was the purchase of a majority stake in Williams Selyem, only a month later, by Domaine Faiveley, one of Burgundy’s biggest names. The power of Pinot shows no signs of waning any time soon.
Posted May 8, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_vintage-clos-pegase-072924_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of Clos Pegase)] [alt= The exterior of Clos Pegase, featuring a modern art sculpture, in Napa Valley, California.][end: article-img-container]
4. A Case of Bankruptcy, Breakup and the Auction Block for Vintage Wine Estates
In the summer, Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of struggle and withdrew from the Nasdaq after its initial public offering in 2021. When the bankruptcy auction was held in the fall, Foley Family Wines & Spirits, Adair Wines and Vino.com scooped up many of VWE’s top-selling brands, such as Swanson Vineyards, Cosentino, Clos Pegase, Girard, Laetitia and Layer Cake. It was a rapid decline for such a massive conglomerate—and a sign of larger uncertainty in the world of wine.
Posted July 29, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_beaulieu-plans-exterior-071724_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of Beaulieu Vineyard)] [alt= A graphic depicting the finished tasting courtyard outside one of Beaulieu Vineyard’s winery buildings post-renovation][end: article-img-container]
5. Beaulieu Vineyard’s Historic Napa Winery Gets a Makeover
Over the summer, Wine Spectator readers were fascinated by the architectural renderings released by Beaulieu Vineyard (BV), one of Napa’s oldest and most revered Cabernet houses, depicting the planned renovations for the estate’s historic structures. Known for its original 1885 stone building, Beaulieu has made wine in Napa for more than 100 years and been home to iconic winemakers such as André Tchelistcheff. Now owned by Treasury Wine Estates, BV’s buildings are getting a multimillion-dollar makeover that incorporates sustainable materials and includes new tasting rooms. See what’s in store for this historic estate.
Posted July 17, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_argent-cellar-013024_1600.jpg] [credit= (Thomas Renaut)] [alt= A sommelier reaches for a bottle in the densely packed wine cellar at La Tour d’Argent in Paris, France.][end: article-img-container]
6. A Year of Wine Thievery, from Paris to Burgundy
It started in January, when $1.63 million (€1.5 million) in wine went missing from the cellar of legendary Paris restaurant and Wine Spectator Grand Award winner La Tour d’Argent. Then over the summer, an unsuspected maintenance worker at Maison Albert Bichot was found to have stolen over 1,250 bottles of Burgundy, worth roughly €600,000, from three wineries across the region over a period of seven years.
These two stories, along with more cases of theft around the country, made 2024 a particularly costly year for French wine purveyors, both in retail and production. With the grand cru kleptomaniac of Burgundy apprehended and La Tour d’Argent’s investigation still ongoing, many hope that any light fingers lingering among French society will soon be put away for good.
Posted January 30, 2024 and August 16, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_cos-destournel-roof-051724_1600.jpg] [credit= (Vinexia)] [alt= The pagodas of Château Cos-d’Estournel in Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France][end: article-img-container]
7. A Major Drop in En Primeur Prices Shakes Things Up in Bordeaux
For enophiles, certain times of year are marked by exciting wine-centric events. One of the most significant for collectors and market-watchers is the release of Bordeaux futures, or en primeur, prices at the end of spring. 2024 saw a major drop from last year, with an average of 25 percent lower prices overall. What does it mean for Bordeaux’s future?
Posted June 12, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_napa-battle-drumwright-041624_1600.jpg] [credit= (Courtesy of Vida Valiente)] [alt= Hayes Drumwright (left), founder of Vida Valiente and Memento Mori wineries, with winemaker Sam Kaplan in one of Drumwright’s Napa vineyards.][end: article-img-container]
8. The Legal Battle Between Napa County and Napa Winemakers Rages On
Napa Valley is a top international wine destination—but there’s tension on the home front. After ongoing internal disputes, with Napa winemakers bringing myriad lawsuits against Napa County over grievances concerning land use permits, water rights and government overreach, the legal battle of Napa v. Napa escalated when three wineries filed a federal suit against the county. With an ongoing federal investigation into corruption in the permitting process on top of all that, next year will surely bring more developments.
Posted April 16, 2024 and September 6, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_glut-grapes-lodi-110624_1600.jpg] [credit= (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)] [alt=The silhouette of shriveled grapes on a vine at sunset in Lodi County, California.][end: article-img-container]
9. A Glut of Grapes Causes Crisis in California
The 2024 harvest was a difficult one in California, and this year it wasn’t due to natural disasters. As autumn grew near, grapegrowers across the state faced the devastating reality of an oversaturated market in which they struggled to find buyers for their fruit. With massive amounts of bulk wine from previous years’ harvests still unsold by brokers, the bottleneck has moved into the vineyards themselves, where grapes are going to waste or being left unpicked to rot on the vine. Experts estimate tens of thousands of acres of vines will need to be pulled up to fight the oversupply.
Posted November 7, 2024
[article-img-container][src=2024-12/ns_qu-naijie-fraud-052224_1600.jpg] [credit= (Stéphane Lartigue)] [alt=Qu Naijie outside the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce in 2013][end: article-img-container]
10. Foreign Billionaire Uses Bordeaux Investments to Launder Money
In a case of wine crime that left Bordeaux in shock, Qu Naijie, a billionaire investor from the port city of Dalian in Liaoning, China, was found guilty of money laundering by a Paris tribunal in the spring. While Naijie’s three-year prison sentence was suspended, he also faced a €1 million fine and nine of his 27 Bordeaux châteaus, worth an estimated €35.5 million ($38.4 million), were confiscated by authorities. Qu and his lawyer plan to appeal the verdict, so more courtroom drama is likely to come in 2025. Keep up with Wine Spectator to see what happens!
Posted May 23, 2024
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