Wine & Spirits - June 2018 - 15

NEWS IN
BRIEF

June 2018

2018 Restaurant Poll
Sweepstakes Winners
Kevin Bratt, the Concept
Wine Director at Joe's
Seafood, Prime Steak and
Stone Crab, in Chicago,
was the first name out of
the hat in our Restaurant
Poll Sweepstakes. He won a trip to Australia, this
coming October, with Wine Australia.
Dustin Mars, Bar Manager at Carrollton Market in New Orleans, was up next, and chose to
head to Roussillon in June, to visit wine regions
around Perpignan.
Congratulations to both of our winners, and
thanks to all the sommeliers and wine directors
who filled out the 29th Annual Restaurant Poll.
The Institute of
Masters of Wine
announced four
new Masters of
Wine early this year,
bringing the total to
370. The new MWs
are Martin Reyes,
Chief Wine Officer
at Peter Paul Wines
in San Francisco;
Cassidy Dart, UKbased Director of Wine for the Pol Roger Portfolio; Caroline Hermann, the import-export
program manager for wine, beer and spirits at
the US Department of the Treasury's Alcohol
and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau in Washington, DC, and Simon Milroy of Domaine Direct
in London.
Henkell & Co., Germany's leading exported wine
brand, has acquired 50.67 percent of Freixenet
S.A.'s shares. The Cava producer, founded in
1914, joins a portfolio that includes Alfred Gratien Champagne and Mionetto Prosecco.
Oregon's King Estate sold its Acrobat brand to
Foley Family Wines of Santa Rosa, California.
The 150,000-case brand, based on purchased

The Master of Masters
Jean-Claude Berrouet is the 2018 recipient of the Winemaker's
Winemaker Award from the Institute of Masters of Wine. Berrouet
is best known for his work at Château Pétrus, in Pomerol, and for
the large portfolio of Right Bank wines he made for the négociant
business JP Moueix. In addition, many of the MW winemakers
and past winners of the award voted for him in recognition of his mentoring role to many
young winemakers: Berrouet estimates that close to 500 came to intern with him during his
long career in Bordeaux. Many of them-including Alvaro Palacios, Peter Sisseck, Michael
Brajkovich and Daniel Baron, to name a few-went on to create some of the most famous
wines in the world. -FIONA MORRISON, MW

fruit, is among the largest in Oregon. The purchase represents Foley's first entry into the Pacific
Northwest, where many other California wine
companies, including Jackson Family Wines and
Huneeus Vintners, have recently invested. For
King, the sale will take some of the production
pressure off the staff and facility, says Ed King,
III. "For us it means putting the focus back on the
things that have our name on them," specifically
the wines from his 1,000-plus acre biodynamically
farmed estate vineyard.
Domaine Serene founders Grace and Ken Evenstad have pledged six million dollars to Linfield
College, the largest gift on record in Oregon to
support wine education. The college will use the
funds to develop a stand-alone major, lab and a
Center for Wine Education.
In September, the Burgundy School of Business
will launch a 16-month MBA program taught in
English. Students with at least three years of professional experience in wine can apply.
"Cellared in Canada" will no longer be allowed
on Canadian bottles filled with imported wines.
These wines, which made up nearly two-thirds
of the wines sold in the country, will now be
labelled "International blend from domestic and
imported wines."
Precept Wine has hired
Haydn Mouat as head
winemaker at Canoe
Ridge Vineyard in Washington State's Horse
Heaven Hills. The New
Zealand native had
worked at Washington's
Seven Hills and Waterbrook wineries before moving to California to work for Gallo.
Carla and Richard Betts, of An Approach to
Relaxation, have purchased their first vineyard,
a 12.5-acre patch ogrenache in the Barossa Valley. Locals estimate the vineyard, which had been
abandoned, was likely planted around 1860.

Geyser Peak Winery in Healdsburg has
appointed Randy Meyer as its winemaker. A
graduate of UC Davis, Meyer worked for 23
years with Korbel and seven years with Draxton.
Braiden Albrecht has
been promoted to winemaker at Mayacamas,
a historic property on
the slopes of Mount
Veeder. Albrecht has
been part of the team
since the 2013 harvest.
Gabriel Mustakis will take over winemaking
for the top-end wines of Chile's Viña San Pedro,
including Sideral, Cabo de Hornos and Altaïr.
David Galzignato, former winemaker for Jada
in Paso Robles, has moved to Napa to take on
the positions of senior winemaker and general
manager of Provenance Vineyards.
Martin Sinkoff, who began his career working for the celebrated wine writer and château
owner Alexis Lichine, has been named Education Director for Frederick Wildman & Sons in
New York.
Robert Haas passed
away in March at his
home in Paso Robles.
He was 90 years old.
Haas established the
import company Vineyard Brands in 1973,
cofounded Tablas Creek
Vineyard with the Perrin family of Château Beaucastel and was a
major player in the American Rhône movement.

CORRECTIONS:
In the April issue, we mistakenly listed Broadbent Port
rather than Broadbent Madeira as the 11th Most Popular Fortified & Dessert Brand (p. 76); in the pinot grigio
section, we misspelled Ray Gazdzinski's name (p. 68).

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2018