Jon Fine

1 month ago | newwinereview.com | Jon Fine |Susannah Skiver Barton

Today, it is entirely possible that two full generations of younger, savvy wine drinkers find Napa Valley monumentally uncool: luxury-oriented, points-chasing, boring. Clearly, none of them have met Ketan Mody, the founder and winemaker at Jasud Estate and Beta Wines. Mody, who’s 43 and whose father from India, is perhaps best understood as a punk-rock fusion of Sisyphus and the Japanese farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka.

Jan 23, 2025 | newwinereview.com | Jon Fine |Susannah Skiver Barton

A few months ago, I visited the (very) low-key Northern Rhône superstar Agnes Levet at her family’s domaine, Vignobles Levet. She is rightly celebrated for her uncompromising, almost alarmingly pure Côte Rôties, which manage the neat trick of being benchmark expressions of Syrah, and their region, while remaining distinct and singular. These are wines that are unapologetically what they are, and they take a long time to come around.

Jan 22, 2025 | newwinereview.com | Jon Fine |Susannah Skiver Barton

I could, I guess, try to act like I know a lot about Australian wine. There’s Wendouree, which has produced singular, structured, and very slow-to-develop reds in the Clare Valley for more than 100 years. There are the stunning Reserve Rieslings made by Crawford River in the far Southwestern reaches of Victoria, or those made by Grosset, which is also in the Clare Valley. There’s Rockford’s legendary Basket Press Shiraz, which harkens back to an earlier, pre-Parker time in the Barossa.

Nov 11, 2024 | newwinereview.com | Jason Wilson |Jon Fine |Sarah Parker Jang

While Grüner Veltliner has experienced an up-and-down popularity with American wine drinkers, Austrian red wines have struggled to find love, and remain relatively obscure. Certainly, you’ll see ageworthy Blaufränkisch on more contemporary wine lists, and a good wine bar may offer an entry-level Austrian red by the glass. But there’s rarely much buzz, and little understanding or interest outside the wine-geek bubble.

Nov 8, 2024 | newwinereview.com | Jon Fine |Sarah Parker Jang |Jason Wilson |Susannah Skiver Barton

Here’s what’s happening on the wine internet this week:🦃  26 wines for Thanksgiving dinner. 🧀  But first: what to drink before the meal. 🙊  And what to drink afterward. 🥪  And, hell, what to drink the next day. 🛒  Quiet changes at much-beloved K&L. (Paywall – SF Chron)☕  One way to make it as a top-tier somm: start in a diner. 🌤️  Amid plummeting wine sales, where are the bright spots? Margaret River, Prosecco, and Oregon Chards, to name a few.