The Livermore Valley winery achieves the rare feat of making both prestigious Top 100 lists in the same year
November 27, 2024 (LIVERMORE VALLEY, CA) – Wente Vineyards, America’s longest continuously operated family-owned winery, is thrilled to announce that its wines were featured on the 2024 Top 100 lists for both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast magazines – a rare achievement for any winery. This marks an incredible milestone for the 141-year-old Livermore Valley winery to make both lists.
Wente Vineyards’ 2022 Morning Fog Chardonnay landed at the number 40 spot on the Wine Spectator’s highly anticipated Top 100 list last week. That announcement was quickly followed by the release of Wine Enthusiast’s annual The Enthusiast 100: The Best Wines of 2024, which saw Wente Vineyards’ 2021 Charles Wetmore Cabernet Sauvignon achieve number 52 on that coveted list.
Both magazines are benchmark wine publications, read by millions of wine enthusiasts, collectors, and industry professionals, who eagerly await the annual release of these lists. According to Wine Spectator, their editors “survey the wines reviewed over the previous 12 months and select our Top 100, based on quality, value, availability and excitement.” Wine Enthusiast says their blind reviewers tasted 23,000 wines in 2024, and that “boiling this down to The Enthusiast 100 is no mean feat” but that its readers “are left with some of the most exciting wines in the world to discover.”
“We are deeply honored to have two of our flagship wines be included on the two most prestigious Top 100 lists in the wine world in the same year,” said Aly Wente, Senior Vice President and Fifth Generation Winegrower for Wente Vineyards. “At 141 years young, we continue to strive for new heights when it comes to sustainability in the vineyard and innovation in the cellar, so it’s a thrill to see the resulting quality of our wines experience this level of recognition – especially among some of our most distinguished peers in the world of wine. We certainly know which two wines our family will be toasting with all holiday season!”
Both the Wente Vineyards Morning Fog Chardonnay and the Wente Vineyards Charles Wetmore Cabernet Sauvignon are available nationally and via WenteVineyards.com/Shop.
About Wente Vineyards
Founded in 1883, Wente Vineyards is going on its 142nd year. The estate has been celebrated for its industry-wide contributions to innovation as the oldest continuously operated, family-owned winery in the country, now owned and managed by the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family, with women leading the charge from grape to glass. The winery draws from certified sustainable estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay, and Arroyo Seco, Monterey appellations to create an outstanding array of fine wines distributed in all 50 states and over 70 countries worldwide.
In 2010, it joined the top 10% of California wineries that meet all three tiers within the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing codes and designation for both the estate vineyards and winery. In April 2022, the winery won the Wine Institute’s California Green Medal Leader Award. This award is given to one winery each year and recognizing leadership in sustainable practices that span both its vineyards and winery as well as the estate’s socially responsible initiatives that benefit its employees and greater community. Those practices are evident in the quality of the wines, which made both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast Top 100 lists in 2024.
Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards – Wente Family Estates’ flagship estate label – is recognized as one of California’s premier wine country destinations, featuring wine tasting, food and wine experiences, outdoor wine & music events, unparalleled wedding venues and The Course at Wente Vineyards, an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Greg Norman. For more information, visit wentevineyards.com.
