Drink the Bottles

  Acclaimed California winemaker returns to Toulouse Vineyard with a limited inaugural Pinot Noir available now by allocation   HEALDSBURG, Calif. (September 1, 2026) – After more than thirty harvests crafting acclaimed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay across California's leading coastal wine regions, winemaker James MacPhail is once again making wines under his own family name with the debut of MacPhail Family Wines.   The inaugural release begins with Toulouse Vineyard in Anderson Valley – the first Pinot Noir vineyard James worked with when he launched MacPhail Family Wines in 2002 and the site that helped shape his career. Only 150 cases of the 2024 Toulouse Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir were produced. Priced at $70 per bottle, the wine is available by allocation now, with wine shipping beginning on October 6.   James reacquired the MacPhail Family Wines brand in 2024 with the goal of returning it to its original roots. Beginning again with Toulouse Vineyard reco...

  There are wineries in Napa Valley that have become destinations in their own right, with grand entrances, impressive tasting rooms and carefully constructed hospitality programs designed to introduce visitors to the Napa experience. Then there are wineries where the vineyard remains the center of the story, where the landscape, the farming and the people who have cared for the property for decades are inseparable from what ultimately appears in the bottle. Paloma Vineyard belongs firmly in the second category. High on Spring Mountain, overlooking Napa Valley, Paloma is a small, family-owned estate whose history is rooted in farming, patience and a remarkable commitment to a single piece of land. The Richards family purchased the property in 1983, long before Paloma became known nationally for its wines, and spent years developing what was then a rugged piece of mountain terrain into a vineyard capable of producing wines of extraordinary character. That work eventually paid off in...

  There are plenty of reasons to celebrate white wine. Dry Creek Vineyard gives us two particularly good ones. There are days when a glass of white wine is exactly what the occasion calls for. Maybe it's a warm afternoon on the patio. Maybe dinner is something fresh off the grill. Maybe you're putting together a cheese board and looking for something that won't overpower everything on it. Or maybe, as is the case today, it's simply National White Wine Day .   Whatever the reason, we're happy to have an excuse to open a couple of bottles. For this year's celebration, we turned to a California winery with more than five decades of experience making white wine: Dry Creek Vineyard . Founded in 1972 in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley, the family-owned winery has played an important role in the history of the region—and particularly in the story of Sauvignon Blanc. We recently opened two of its 2025 releases: the 2025 Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley , and the 2...

Five generations. Historic vineyards. A family committed to preserving Napa Valley. And three wines that tell a remarkable story.  But this story is not only about the wines. Some wineries make exceptional wine.  A select few become part of the history of the place they call home.  Ghost Block Estate Wines belongs to that rare group. When three bottles from Ghost Block arrived at Drink The Bottles—the 2019 BW9 Red Blend , the 2022 Ghost Block Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon , and the 2024 Elizabeth Rose Pinot Noir —I knew I was receiving something special.  But what I didn't expect was the story behind the labels. Because before there was a bottle of wine, there was a family. Before there was a vineyard, there was a commitment to the land.  And before Napa Valley became one of the most celebrated wine regions in the world, families like the Pelissas were quietly planting roots, farming the soil, and helping shape the future of California wine.  The wines are...