The Winery Elementary Cellars LLC of Napa Valley of California

Fans of California wine and board games can now pour a glass and spend an afternoon playing the new Monopoly Napa Valley edition, released this week by Top Trumps USA, under licence from brand owner Hasbro. Top vineyard areas St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville are among the properties and places featured, alongside local landmarks and some wineries. Wine lovers who have visited the region may recognise Bounty Hunter, a merchant with a wine bar in downtown Napa. It occupies the high-value ‘Park ...

In the wake of the second destructive wave of the phylloxera bug in California in the 1980s and 1990s, Cabernet Sauvignon rose to such prominence and dominance (especially in Napa Valley) that I, like most people, assumed it must now be the most expensive grape variety in the state. Wrong. That would be Cabernet Franc. Top 20 California Cabernet Franc wines Slowly, steadily and quietly, Cabernet Sauvignon’s father has displaced its son* as the priciest grape to buy and the grape that is generati ...

Last year, Cláudio Martins and Pedro Antunes caused a stir in the Portuguese wine trade when they unveiled a €1,000 talha wine from Alentejo. It was the most expensive non-fortified wine to emerge from Portugal’s shores, retailing at almost double the price of Douro icon Casa Ferreirinha Barca Velha. That wine was named Jupiter. Now Martins and Antunes have followed it up with Uranus, a red produced in Moreira del Montsant in the Catalan region of Priorat. It comprises 85% Garnacha Negra Peluda, ...