How Critics Have Recorded a Single Wine

Château Lafite Rothschild

Pauillac ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, First Growth (Premier Cru Classé)

First recorded in documents in the thirteenth century, the Lafite vineyard passed through many hands over the generations. Then, in 1868, Baron James de Rothschild acquired the estate at auction in Paris. He died three months later, but his intent passed to his sons, and the family has run the estate ever since. Since 2018 it has been led by Saskia de Rothschild, the youngest head in the family’s history and the first woman to hold the role.

Château Mouton Rothschild

Pauillac ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, First Growth (Premier Cru Classé, promoted 1973)

In the 1855 classification Mouton fell just short of the top tier and was placed in the second. Then, on 21 June 1973, a government decree raised it to First Growth — the only instance in which the order set out in 1855 has itself been altered. The estate’s motto, long a statement of defiance, was rewritten at that moment to say that Mouton does not change. Philippe Sereys de Rothschild has been chairman since 2018, and the family runs the estate still.

Château Latour

Pauillac ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, First Growth (Premier Cru Classé)

In the Middle Ages the site held no vineyard but a stone tower watching the Gironde estuary. The tower was pulled down after the Hundred Years’ War ended in 1453, and in the 1620s a dovecote was raised on the ground where it had stood. That dovecote later gave the estate its name and its emblem, and in 1855 Latour was placed among the First Growths. The estate is now owned by the Artémis group, led by François Pinault, and carries its history as a Pauillac First Growth into the present day.

Château Margaux

Margaux ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, First Growth (Premier Cru Classé)

The name “La Mothe de Margaux” appears in twelfth-century documents, but for a long time the place was no more than a settlement on a rise. Then in 1810 the Marquis de la Colonilla, by then in his seventies, commissioned the architect Louis Combes to build a new house. He died in 1816 without seeing it finished, but the building came to be called the Versailles of the Médoc, and in 1855 Margaux was the only one of the four First Growths to be classified with a perfect mark. The Mentzelopoulos family still runs the estate, and since 2023 the third generation, Alexis and Alexandra, have taken it on.

Château Haut-Brion

Pessac-Léognan ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, First Growth (Premier Cru Classé)

In seventeenth-century Bordeaux most wine was traded under the name of a district and left otherwise anonymous. Then in 1666 François-Auguste de Pontac, the owner’s son, crossed to London and opened a tavern under the family name, the Pontack’s Head. Naming the wine in that way told, and in 1855 Haut-Brion was the only estate outside the Médoc to be classified a First Growth. It is owned today by Domaine Clarence Dillon and appears in both the 1855 classification and the 1959 classification of Graves.

Petrus

Pomerol ／ No official classification (Pomerol)

Unlike the Médoc, Pomerol has no official classification system at all. In 1945 the owner, Madame Loubat, entrusted exclusive distribution to Jean-Pierre Moueix, a merchant in Libourne. That arrangement built the estate’s standing abroad, and it came to be highly regarded within a district that has no ranking to confer. The Moueix family carries on the management today, holding its own particular place in an unclassified Pomerol.

Château d’Yquem

Sauternes ／ 1855 Sauternes and Barsac Classification, Premier Cru Supérieur

At the end of the eighteenth century the vineyard was still one noble holding among many on the eve of the Revolution. Then, in 1788, Françoise-Joséphine lost her husband in a riding accident and took charge of the estate at the age of twenty, holding it through the upheaval that followed. That persistence established the practice of picking late, once noble rot had set in, and four years after her death, in 1855, Yquem was classified the sole Premier Cru Supérieur of Sauternes. Pickers still go through the rows again and again, taking only the berries that have reached the state they want.

Château Cheval Blanc

Saint-Émilion ／ Saint-Émilion Classification, Premier Grand Cru Classé A

Before 1852 the wine from this vineyard was sold under the name of neighbouring Château Figeac and had no name of its own. Then, through the 1860s, the owner Jean Laussac-Fourcaud replanted the vineyard to an unorthodox mix: half Merlot, half Cabernet Franc. The replanting was completed in 1871, and the estate was later classified Premier Grand Cru Classé A in Saint-Émilion. Since 1998 it has been owned by Bernard Arnault and Albert Frère, and the vineyard is tended as one that stands for the right bank.

Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Fifth Growth (Cinquième Cru Classé)

For a long time the vineyards of classified estates were worked by modern means, with mineral fertiliser and herbicide taken as a matter of course. Then in 2004 the owner Alfred Tesseron began converting a fourteen-hectare Merlot parcel to biodynamic farming. The following year he committed the whole property, and by 2010 the estate held both organic and biodynamic certification — the first classified Médoc estate to do so. Horses still work part of the vineyard, and all eighty-one hectares are farmed biodynamically.

Château Cos d’Estournel

Saint-Estèphe ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Second Growth (Deuxième Cru Classé)

The Saint-Estèphe holding was an unremarkable one, growing plot by plot as neighbouring land was bought up. Then the owner Louis-Gaspard d’Estournel, out of his enthusiasm for trade with the East, made the unorthodox decision in the 1830s to raise pagoda towers on the estate building. That piece of foreign styling became the landmark of Saint-Estèphe, and in 1855 Cos d’Estournel was classified a Second Growth. The businessman Michel Reybier has owned it since 2000, and the building with the towers is still used for winemaking.

Château Lynch-Bages

Pauillac ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Fifth Growth (Cinquième Cru Classé)

After the family holding was divided in 1835, this was a small independent plot without even a building on it. Then, in the years after the Crash of 1929, Jean-Charles Cazes bought the estate and from 1934 took its running in hand. The Cazes family went on making technical changes, and the wine that carries the family name recovered its standing while remaining a Fifth Growth of the 1855 classification. A new cellar designed by the architect Chien Chung Pei came into use in 2022.

Château Montrose

Saint-Estèphe ／ 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Second Growth (Deuxième Cru Classé)

Into the early nineteenth century this slope above the Gironde was rough ground carrying nothing but heather and gorse. Then, in 1815, the owner Étienne-Théodore Dumoulin cleared it and began planting vines. In forty years the vineyard grew to ninety-five hectares, and in 1855 Montrose was classified a Second Growth despite how recently the land had been broken. The Bouygues brothers have owned the estate since 2006.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

Vosne-Romanée ／ AOC Romanée-Conti Grand Cru (Monopole)

This parcel in the village of Vosne-Romanée was once called Cros des Cloux and carried no particular name of its own. Then, in 1760, the Prince de Conti, Louis-François de Bourbon, bought the holding and joined his name to Romanée. That is why the vineyard is called Romanée-Conti, and in 1936 it was classified an AOC Grand Cru held by a single owner. Its 1.81 hectares are still farmed solely by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, worked biodynamically.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

La Tâche Grand Cru

Vosne-Romanée ／ AOC La Tâche Grand Cru (Monopole)

The slope at Vosne-Romanée was once split between the Liger-Belair family’s La Tâche and the neighbouring Les Gaudichots. Then, in 1933, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti acquired the holding at the auction that followed the countess’s death. Most of the adjoining Les Gaudichots was joined to it, and in 1936 the whole was classified as the Grand Cru La Tâche, held by a single owner. It is still farmed and made by the same domaine, alongside Romanée-Conti.

Domaine Armand Rousseau

Chambertin Grand Cru

Gevrey-Chambertin ／ AOC Chambertin Grand Cru

In the early twentieth century most Gevrey-Chambertin growers sold their grapes in bulk to négociants, and their names went unrecorded. Then, in the 1930s, Armand Rousseau took the advice of the critic Raymond Baudoin and decided to bottle and sell the wine of his own vineyards. His estate-bottled wine won recognition, and by 1937, when Chambertin was classified a Grand Cru, Rousseau stood among its leading growers. The domaine remains with the Rousseau family, still growing and bottling Chambertin and its other Grands Crus.

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé

Musigny Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes

Chambolle-Musigny ／ AOC Musigny Grand Cru

The vineyard at Chambolle-Musigny had been held by the Vogüé family since 1766, but from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s its wines were noted for falling short. Then, in 1986, François Millet became cellar master. He held the post for thirty-three years, and in that time built the estate’s standing in Musigny, the Grand Cru classified in 1936 of which the domaine holds roughly seven-tenths. Jean Lupatelli has since succeeded him, and the domaine continues to farm and vinify Musigny, including its old-vine cuvée.

Domaine du Clos de Tart

Clos de Tart Grand Cru

Morey-Saint-Denis ／ Grand Cru (Monopole)

This plot in Morey-Saint-Denis was once no more than a parcel called Climat de la Forge. Then, in 1141, nuns of the Cistercian Abbey of Tart opened a vineyard here held by a single owner. Never divided since its founding, it was classified a Grand Cru on 4 January 1939. In 2018 the holding company Artémis Domaines, led by François Pinault, acquired the estate, and single ownership continues under its care.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Montrachet Grand Cru

Puligny/Chassagne-Montrachet ／ Grand Cru

This grower in Vosne-Romanée had long worked only red wine, made from Pinot Noir. Then, in 1963, the co-director Henri Leroy acquired a parcel in Montrachet, and the domaine made a white wine for the first time. The Chardonnay from that plot, classified a Grand Cru back in 1937, went on to earn an international reputation for an estate known for its reds. The holding is now split across three parcels, totalling about 0.68 hectares, still held by the domaine.

Domaine Leflaive

Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Puligny-Montrachet ／ Grand Cru

In the early 1990s the vineyards of Puligny-Montrachet had not broken free of the chemical-dependent farming common in Burgundy at the time. Then, in 1990, Anne-Claude Leflaive took over the estate and decided to convert the vineyards to biodynamic farming. By 1997 the whole property had been converted, and this Grand Cru, classified back in 1937, drew international attention for how it was farmed as well as for the wine itself. The vineyards are still farmed biodynamically, a course maintained after the change of leadership in 2015.

Domaine Coche-Dury

Meursault

Meursault ／ Appellation Meursault Contrôlée (village AOC; no Grand Cru in this commune)

Founded by Léon Coche in the 1920s, this grower sold most of the grapes it harvested to local merchants, a common practice in the village at the time. Then, in 1973, Jean-François, the son of Georges Coche, took over the estate and added his wife’s family name, Dury, to his own. From the 1980s onward international wine critics began writing about the grower, and its way of working became widely known. His son Raphaël Coche has led the winemaking since 2010, keeping the family estate.

Moët & Chandon (Dom Pérignon)

Dom Pérignon Vintage

Champagne ／ Prestige Cuvée

In seventeenth-century Champagne, the quality of a wine varied widely from one plot to the next. Then, in 1668, Pierre Pérignon took up the post of cellar master (procureur) at the Abbey of Hautvillers and established the technique of blending wines from multiple parcels. That is why the appellation body itself still explains blending today as the principle running through the whole of Champagne winemaking. The cuvée that carries his name is now produced by Moët & Chandon as a wine labelled with a single harvest year.

Louis Roederer

Cristal

Champagne ／ Prestige Cuvée

Cristal, the cuvée in its clear, flat-bottomed bottle, was created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II and reserved for the imperial court alone; after the Russian Revolution it lost its market. Then, in 1945, the head of the house, Camille Olry-Roederer, released this cuvée made for the tsar to the general market for the first time as a dry wine (Brut). That is why the clear, flat-bottomed bottle designed for that original gift was carried over unchanged once the wine went on sale. Cristal is still made today in that same clear, flat-bottomed bottle.

Krug

Krug Vintage

Champagne ／ Vintage

In mid-nineteenth-century Champagne, the differences in quality that weather brought from one year to the next were regarded as an unavoidable weakness. Then, in 1843, Joseph Krug, who had just founded his own house, began keeping wines from multiple years separately in reserve, so as to deliver a quality unaffected by the weather every year. That is why the idea of holding reserve wines from many years and building blends around them is passed down as the philosophy that defines the Krug family. The house still makes both its standard cuvée, built from these reserve wines, and a vintage-dated cuvée born only in exceptional years.

Salon

Salon Cuvée S Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger ／ Blanc de Blancs (Grand Cru)

In early-twentieth-century Champagne, blending across several vineyards and grape varieties was the standard method. Then, in 1905, Eugène-Aimé Salon made a wine using only Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, for himself alone. That is why Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the village he chose, later came to be ranked a Grand Cru rated at 100% in the Champagne classification. The house still judges each harvest on its merits before deciding whether to declare a vintage, and makes no standing non-vintage wine.

Taittinger

Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs

Champagne ／ Prestige Cuvée

Thibaut IV, Count of Champagne in the thirteenth century, was also a troubadour, but for a long time nothing connected him to wine. Then, in 1952, François Taittinger named a 100% Chardonnay wine — the grape said to have been brought to the region by Thibaut IV — Comtes de Champagne. That is why the cuvée has since been made under a rule using only Chardonnay from the five Grand Cru villages of the Côte des Blancs. It is still vinified today not every year, but only in years judged of sufficient quality.

Bollinger

La Grande Année

Aÿ ／ Vintage Cuvée

Before 1941, the running of the house of Bollinger had passed down through a line of male heads of the family. Then, in 1941, Lily Bollinger took over the running of the house after the sudden death of her husband, and led it through the difficulties of wartime. That is why the policy of making a vintage wine only in exceptionally fine years was carried on into the generations that followed. The house still makes La Grande Année under that policy today, using traditional methods that include barrel fermentation and hand riddling.

Château Rayas

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réservé

Châteauneuf-du-Pape ／ Rhône

At Châteauneuf-du-Pape, most producers are free to blend up to thirteen varieties. Then, in 1915, Louis Reynaud made the decision to replant his vineyard as Grenache alone. That is why Château Rayas became known as the exceptional estate in the appellation that holds to one hundred per cent Grenache. Today, since 2025, the fourth generation, the brothers Louis-Damien and Benoît, have taken over the growing and winemaking, keeping this philosophy in place.

Tenuta San Guido

Sassicaia

Bolgheri ／ Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC

Tuscany’s red wines had long been made from native grapes such as Sangiovese. Then, in 1944, Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted Cabernet Sauvignon on his land at Bolgheri. That is why, in 1978, when the 1972 vintage was judged at an international blind tasting in London, the wine’s name spread around the world. Since 2013 it has stood on its own, as the Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC created for a wine from a single producer, and the family runs the estate still.

Marchesi Antinori

Tignanello

Chianti Classico area ／ Toscana IGT

Chianti Classico regulations in the 1960s required a blend that included white grapes. Then, in 1971, Piero Antinori and the winemaker Giacomo Tachis made the first Tignanello, leaving white grapes out, adding Cabernet, and ageing it in barrique. That is why the wine, which at the time could only be labelled Vino da Tavola, went on to become one of the wines that led to the later Toscana IGT designation. Marchesi Antinori still produces it today, under that Toscana IGT designation.

Masseto (Frescobaldi)

Masseto

Bolgheri ／ Toscana IGT

In the early 1980s, the vineyards of Ornellaia were being searched for a new parcel suited to Cabernet Sauvignon. Then the consulting winemaker André Tchelistcheff, who had been brought in, identified a hill of blue-grey clay as suited to Merlot instead, and in 1984 the parcel was planted with Merlot alone. That is why the vineyard became a wine in its own right, Masseto, known as a home of Merlot at Bolgheri. Today it is vinified separately from its sister wine Ornellaia, in a dedicated underground winery completed in 2018.

Ornellaia

Ornellaia

Bolgheri ／ Bolgheri Superiore DOC

The Bolgheri land Lodovico Antinori inherited from his mother was, at the time, planted to Sangiovese and other native varieties. Then, in 1981, he planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc there and founded his own winery, Ornellaia. Its first release, in 1985, went on to become the subject of an international partnership, and in 1999 the American firm Robert Mondavi took a stake in it. Since 2005 the estate has been solely owned and run by the Frescobaldi family.

Marchesi Antinori

Solaia

Chianti Classico area ／ Toscana IGT

Each year the vineyards grown for Tignanello were picked to a quantity set by that wine’s blend plan. Then, in 1978, Piero Antinori bottled the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that exceeded what Tignanello needed as a separate wine. It took its name, Solaia, meaning “sunny place,” from the south-west-facing block of the hillside, and in 1982 it became its own blend with the addition of Sangiovese. Marchesi Antinori still grows and vinifies it today, classified as Toscana IGT.

Giacomo Conterno

Barolo Riserva Monfortino

Monforte d’Alba ／ Barolo DOCG

In the early twentieth century Barolo was sold by the ladle from large casks and drunk soon after. Giacomo Conterno, though, set aside a single cask to age for years, and in 1924 released it under the name “Monfortino,” after his home town of Monforte d’Alba. Even after his son Aldo struck out on his own in 1969, his other son Giovanni kept faith with ageing in large casks, and the method came to be told as a traditional way of making Barolo. Monfortino is still made only in good years, and still released after long ageing in large oak.

Gaja

Barbaresco

Barbaresco ／ Barbaresco DOCG

In 1950s Barbaresco it was normal to ferment bought-in grapes blended together, and the character of any one vineyard rarely showed through. Then, in 1961, twenty-one-year-old Angelo Gaja took over the family business, kept yields down on the estate’s own vines alone, and vinified them plot by plot. By 1967 that had grown into the estate’s first single-vineyard wine, and the practice of making wine plot by plot spread from there to other Barbaresco growers. Gaja remains family-run today, still growing its wine on Barbaresco DOCG vineyards.

Biondi Santi

Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Greppo

Montalcino ／ Brunello di Montalcino DOCG

In nineteenth-century Tuscany it was customary to add white grapes, or governo, to red wine. Ferruccio Biondi Santi, though, who succeeded Clemente Santi, left out the white grapes, and in 1888 made a wine built to age for the long term. That vintage became the first wine officially labelled “Brunello di Montalcino,” and it is still kept in the family’s cantina today. Tenuta Greppo still grows its grapes on the same hillside, within the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG.

Montevertine

Le Pergole Torte

Radda in Chianti ／ Toscana IGT

In 1960s Radda in Chianti, red wine was required by regulation to include a share of white grapes. Sergio Manetti, who had bought the hillside in 1967, made “Le Pergole Torte” in 1977, the district’s first wine of 100% Sangiovese. That put it at odds with the rule requiring white grapes, and in 1981 it left Chianti Classico, sold from then on as a “Vino da Tavola” and later as “Toscana IGT.” Montevertine still farms the same hillside today, its vineyards centred on Sangiovese.

Vega Sicilia

Único

Ribera del Duero

For nearly half a century after Bordeaux varieties were planted here in 1864, the red wine of this land carried no name of its own. Then, in 1915, the winemaker Txomin Garramiola blended Tempranillo with Bordeaux varieties, aged it long in cask, and released it as a new label in its own right. Its 1917 and 1918 vintages went on to win gold medals at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, a record still printed on the label today. Único is still released only after roughly ten years’ ageing in wood and bottle.

Dominio de Pingus

Pingus

Ribera del Duero ／ La Horra

In the early 1990s the old vines that smallholders here had kept without chemical inputs had not yet drawn any particular notice. Then, in 1995, Peter Sisseck made a wine of Tempranillo alone from vines over sixty-five years old in the Barroso and San Cristóbal plots. From 2000 these plots were converted to biodynamic farming, and growing without reliance on synthetic inputs took hold there as settled practice. The old vines of Barroso and San Cristóbal are still farmed the same way today, and still supply the vineyards of Dominio de Pingus.

R. López de Heredia

Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva

Rioja Alta ／ Gran Reserva (DOCa Rioja)

Rafael López de Heredia founded his winery in 1877, and for years afterward kept building it without any vineyard of his own. Then, from 1913 into 1914, he planted Viña Tondonia across more than a hundred hectares on the right bank of the Ebro. The winery went on to become one of the few family-run houses registered under DOCa Rioja, passed down since through four generations. Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is still released only after spending, in old American oak casks, longer than DOCa Rioja’s rules require.

Egon Müller

Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese

Scharzhofberg, Mosel ／ VDP.GROSSE LAGE

From around the year 700, the Scharzhofberg vineyard belonged to a monastery in Trier and was worked by its monks. Then, when the monastery was dissolved after being seized in the French Revolution, the former monk Jean Jacques Koch bought part of the vineyard he had once worked, in 1797. From him the land passed, through his daughter Elisabeth, to the Müller family, laying the foundation on which the same family has held the vineyard for more than two hundred years since. Today the estate’s head, Egon Müller IV, still makes Riesling Spätlese from the single vineyard of Scharzhofberg.

Trimbach

Riesling Clos Sainte Hune

Rosacker, Alsace ／ AOC Alsace

Within the Rosacker Grand Cru, this parcel — held by the Trimbach family for more than two hundred years — carried no name of its own. Then, in 1919, Frédéric Théodore Trimbach named the parcel ‘Clos Sainte Hune’ and gave it its own label. That label has continued in use ever since without bearing the Rosacker name, even after the Alsace Grand Cru system was established in 1975. The same 1.67-hectare vineyard still grows 100% Riesling today, farmed organically since 2008.

Weingut Keller

Westhofener Brunnenhäuschen Abts Erde Riesling GG

Westhofen, Rheinhessen ／ VDP.GROSSE LAGE

This vineyard, already recorded under the name ‘Abts Erde’ in documents from 1284, lost the right to carry that name on its label after the 1971 vineyard reorganisation law. Then, in 2006, the winemaker Klaus-Peter Keller acquired the parcel and, for the first time, made it into a wine of its own. Keller therefore created a label under the trademark name ‘Abts E,’ preserving the land’s name even under the regulation. The regulation has since eased, and the vineyard is now officially labelled as the VDP Grosse Lage ‘Abts Erde.’

Opus One

Opus One

Oakville, Napa Valley

Robert Mondavi of Napa and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, owner of the Bordeaux First Growth Château Mouton Rothschild, had made wine separately on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Then, in 1978, the two men hit it off at a meeting at Château Mouton and decided to make a Bordeaux-style wine together from Napa grapes. The first vintage followed in 1979, given the name Opus One, meaning a composer’s first work. It is made today at its own winery in Oakville, continuing as a joint venture bridging two wine cultures.

Screaming Eagle

Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon

Oakville, Napa Valley

In 1986, the Oakville vineyard acquired by the real-estate businesswoman Jean Phillips was a plot that sold most of its harvest to neighbouring wineries. Then she kept just one acre of Cabernet Sauvignon on the property and made her own wine with the winemaker Heidi Barrett in 1992. The first release, in 1995, was highly rated by critics, and the estate became known as a new Napa producer. Following a change of ownership in 2006, it continues to make Cabernet Sauvignon on the same vineyard today.

Harlan Estate

Harlan Estate

Oakville, Napa Valley

Before 1980, Bill Harlan was a resort-development businessman running the Pacific Union Company, not someone who made wine himself. Then, on a 1980 trip to Bordeaux and Burgundy led by Robert Mondavi, he saw first-hand how chateaux were passed down through generations. He therefore bought a stretch of hillside land in Oakville in 1984, made his first vintage in 1987, and set about running a single estate in the Bordeaux manner. Winemaking continues today on the same hillside, under the long-term plan he laid out.

Dominus Estate

Dominus

Yountville, Napa Valley

The Napanook vineyard, where George Yount planted some of Napa’s earliest vines in 1838, was for a long time a grape-growing area with no name of its own. Then, in 1981, Christian Moueix of Château Pétrus in Pomerol discovered the land, and the following year formed the John Daniel Society with the Daniel family. The tannic 1983 grapes were given extended ageing as a result, and the wine came to market in 1989 as Dominus. Moueix has owned it alone since 1995, and continues to make Napanook wine at his own facility.

Joseph Phelps

Insignia

Napa Valley

Joseph Phelps was a businessman with no connection to wine, heading the major construction firm Hensel Phelps. Then, in the mid-1960s, building the Souverain winery on contract drew him into the world of wine. He therefore founded his own winery in Spring Valley in 1973, and the following year created Insignia, California’s first proprietary Bordeaux blend. Insignia remains the flagship wine today, made with a different blend each year.

Penfolds

Grange

South Australia

In the mid-1950s, the dense red wine made by Max Schubert was harshly criticised by his colleagues for its high acidity. Then, at the end of 1956, Schubert received a letter from the board ordering him to stop production; without telling his team what it said, he kept making the wine in secret for three years from 1957. He was vindicated at an in-house tasting in 1960, and in 1962 the 1955 vintage was praised at the Sydney Royal Wine Show. Grange continues to be made every year without interruption, using the same method.

Henschke

Hill of Grace

Eden Valley, South Australia

In 1860, the Shiraz that Nicolaus Stanitzki planted in the Eden Valley was named Hill of Grace, after the nearby church, Gnadenberg. It took nearly a century, though, for the vineyard to come to market as a wine in its own name: in 1958, Cyril Henschke made the first vintage. Hill of Grace has since been made every year without interruption, except in poor vintages, and the vineyard became known for vines now over 160 years old. Wine is still made today from those old vines, known as ‘the Grandfathers.’

Cloudy Bay

Sauvignon Blanc

Marlborough, New Zealand

Before 1983, David Hohnen ran Cape Mentelle, a winemaker with no connection to New Zealand. Then, that year, at a conference in Perth, he learned of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and in 1984 he visited the region and met Kevin Judd. Consequently, in 1985, with no winery yet built in Marlborough, he transported the grapes to Gisborne and made the first vintage on instructions given over the phone. Cloudy Bay continues to be made today as the wine that carried Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to the world.