1997 was a legendary year for Napa's wine

One expert said Napa's 2023 vintage was one of its best

Karen MacNeil, author of "The Wine Bible," called it “as perfect as any Napa vintage in living memory,” and suggests the wines will only become more impressive with age.

Experts say 2023 was a welcome year for Napa's wine

Many vintners say Napa’s 2023 vintage was a landmark year due to plentiful rain and a lack of extreme weather events, particularly extreme heat, which can stunt grapevine photosynthesis. The graph below illustrates the town of Calistoga's relatively cooler temperatures in 2023.

Ranking the best of Napa's wine

Want to see how different Napa vintages stack up against one another? This Wine Spectator chart covers every Napa vintage since 1991. It gives each year an overall score, has notes about the conditions that affected the harvest and production, and gives suggestions for some of their top-scoring bottles. If you’re interested in building a long-term wine collection, it also notes which vintages might be best to age.

The Judgment of Paris put Napa on the world stage

Napa wines burst onto the world stage in 1976 when a British wine merchant invited nine French wine experts for a blind tasting of French and Californian wines, meaning that the tasters would not know the origin of the wines as they sampled. Unexpectedly, Napa’s wines dominated the tasting. That tasting, called the Judgment of Paris, was the catalyst for California being taken seriously by the global wine community.

Wildfires have seriously affected Napa's winemaking

If there’s a single thing that has defined the last decade of California winemaking, it’s the effects of climate change, particularly wildfires. To avoid the threats of wildfires, some vineyards have pivoted to more heat-tolerant grapes.

The Gold Rush helped turn Napa into wine country

In the 1830s, the arrival of settlers carrying European rootstock grapevines to Napa kick-started the valley's wine industry. Ten years later, the Gold Rush brought scores of wine-loving Europeans and their descendants to the area. Recognizing an opportunity, Charles Krug opened the valley's first commercial winery in 1861, which produces bottles to this day.

Napa's growing conditions are unique

The French term "terroir" refers to the "sense of place" that growing conditions impart on a wine. Because the Napa Valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the combination of cold air from the Pacific coast and warm air from inland leaves Napa's wine with a distinct terroir.

There are more than three dozen grape varieties in Napa

Cabernet sauvignon is Napa’s most popular grape, accounting for 40% of production, followed by chardonnay.

Santa Barbara County features seven designated wine regions

Grapes are notoriously fickle about where they grow and cannot be cultivated just anywhere. That’s what makes the county’s seven American Viticultural Areas so unique and cool—from the Santa Ynez valley to the Los Olivos District.

Wine explained

Wine is the sublime product of fermentation, the process of breaking down fruit—typically grapes. As the grapes ferment, yeast consumes the natural sugars and converts them to alcohol. With the process first developed and refined thousands of years ago, wine has been a central feature of celebrations throughout modern history. Want to learn more about its origins? Check out 1440's explainer on wine.

The 2007 college football season was one of the wildest in history

In 2007, a record number of top-ranked teams fell, including 41-point underdog Stanford stunning USC. Upsets scrambled the rankings weekly, producing an unpredictable and memorable season.

The best grunge albums of the 1990s

The best way to understand the music is to immerse yourself in it. This list compiles the definitive albums from the subgenre's peak period, featuring records from the big names associated with the scene (such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden) alongside less obvious picks that released grunge-adjacent classics (including Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, and PJ Harvey).

The default wallpaper for Windows XP, 'Bliss,' was taken in Sonoma, California

Captured by National Geographic photographer Charles O'Rear in 1996, the photograph was uploaded to the stock image site Westlight in 1998, before being purchased by Microsoft. As of 2023, the hillside in the image is now home to rows of grapevines.

Nixon's landslide in the 1972 presidential election

Despite the Watergate break-in becoming public in June 1972, voters largely shrugged it off. On Nov. 7, 1972, Richard Nixon still achieved a historic landslide—winning 520 out of 538 electoral votes, carrying 49 states—making it one of the largest Electoral College victories in US history.

Nero's 'Golden House' was the peak of Roman imperial architecture

Constructed on land cleared by the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE, Emperor Nero's large "Golden House" included gilded rooms, multiple gardens, zoo-like enclosures, an artificial lake that housed a boat, and a giant statue of Nero himself. The palace was destroyed after Nero's death in 68 CE.

The Vintage Contemporaries imprint defined the voice of 1980s and 1990s American fiction

The carefully curated line of fiction featured some of the brightest stars in late-20th-century American literature, including Jay McInerney, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, and featured eye-catching covers that looked like nothing else on bookshelves.

What was the longest year in history?

In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar declared the year would last 445 days. This four-minute podcast and accompanying article explain why. Caesar wanted to make the following year start after the winter solstice, an achievement attainable due to his tinkering with the Roman calendar. But to start the year right, Caesar had to stretch the transitional year, leading to the creation of Caesar's Year of Confusion, the longest year in history.

A fact about every best picture Oscar winner

Beginning with “Wings,” the best picture winner from the very first Academy Awards in 1927, discover facts about all 96 of the winning pictures leading up to the “Oppenheimer” win in 2024. Find interesting tidbits about each of these movies, including the troublesome making of “Gone with the Wind” and the landmark achievements of the foreign film “Parasite.”

Time magazine ran a cover story titled 'The End of the World as We Know it?' in January 1999

In January 1999, Time published a dramatic Y2K cover with apocalyptic imagery and dire headlines. The portrayal likely exacerbated public fear and magnified the crisis in the popular imagination, turning a technical issue into a cultural panic.

Coachella's early years were seen as a success story for alternative culture

From 2007, this oral history of Coachella provides an interesting snapshot of the festival before it became an international attraction. There are interesting stories about the festival's chaotic first year and interviews from artists who frame the festival as a success story for alternative art.

The dot-com bubble burst in 2000 when the Nasdaq dropped more than 76% in roughly 2 years

Between 1995 and 2000, the Nasdaq Composite index jumped from roughly 1,000 to 5,000 amid excitement over new internet companies. As venture capitalists dumped money into startups, those same companies struggled to turn a profit, leading to a bubble. The Nasdaq wouldn't reach its former high until 2015.

The 1960s through 1980s is generally considered the ‘Golden Age of Advertising’

This time period spawned some of history’s most well-known ad campaigns, from "I Heart NY" to Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. In this video from the 4As (the American Association of Advertising Agencies), advertising executive Jerry Della Femina reflects on the most creative ads of the era.

The Grammy nomination process is famously complex

To explain in simple terms, NARAS voting members make their recommendations for nominees, which are then reviewed to ensure the nominees are eligible and categorized correctly. After that, those same NARAS members vote a second time, and the winners are revealed live onstage during the ceremony.

The best US states for fall apple-picking

Washington, New York, and Pennsylvania are the top states in the US for everything apples, including classic picking at orchards, but also any apple-themed experience, pro-apple policies, and general public interest. Check out the full list here.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Minnelli's concert with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. was considered 'The Ultimate Event'

Called "The Ultimate Event," the three legendary singers joined for a rare concert tour in the late 1980s. The show was released as a TV special shortly before Davis died from cancer.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.