Fine wine importer Demeine Estates is pleased to announce their latest import partnership with La Chablisienne of Burgundy. Located in the heart of Chablis, La Chablisienne is a cooperative winery established in 1923 and owned by a collection of 270 winegrowing families.

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Celebrating its 100^th anniversary next year, La Chablisienne remains grower-owned, without the involvement of any financial institution. During World War II, the winery was run by women and flourished under their stewardship. Today, the vineyard holdings total 1200 hectares, and include 82% of Chablis Grand Cru Chateau Genouilles. The winery produces 25% of the wine made in the Chablis AOC.

Carlton McCoy’s favorite ritual is one as old as human memory: Share a meal and a drink to more intimately understand a person or a place. That exercise is the framework of the master sommelier’s latest endeavor — the CNN Original Series “Nomad” — in which McCoy explores what he calls the “pillars of culture” through the lesser-seen sides of different destinations, including Seoul, Paris and his home city of Washington, DC.

A renaissance was already underway. Heitz Cellars, Robert Mondavi, Schramsberg, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and other wineries opened in the 1960s and early 1970s with ambitions of restoring California wine to pre-Prohibition glory and making wines to rival the best of France.

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Other wineries that were founded or produced their first vintage in 1972 in Napa Valley include Clos du Val, Burgess, Mount Veeder, Rutherford Hill, Smith-Madrone and Sullivan Rutherford Estate.

The small Heitz tasting lodge on Highway 29 leading into St. Helena, on the property Joe and Alice Heitz originally purchased in 1961, feels like a fixture here, its old-seeming stones conjuring the history of the valley’s “ghost wineries.” In reality, these stone walls go back only some 20 years, but this year, they have been reimagined by renowned architect Peter Fleming into spaces—inside and out—that add an all-new dimension of luxury and hospitality to an afternoon of discovering the iconic single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons that Joe Heitz pioneered in Napa (whose legacy is being carried on now by new proprietor Gaylon Lawrence, Jr., helmed by CEO and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy, also Jr.).

Brendel Wines, a collection of heritage offerings established by Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy, Jr., and the Lawrence family, began with its inaugural 2019 vintage. The distinct Napa Valley wines offer a wide variety, including Young Leon Frizzante Rosé, Noble One Chardonnay, Chorus Cuvée Blanc, and Cooper’s Reed Cabernet Sauvignon.

These experiences may seem unnecessarily indulgent, but one thing is clear: The demand is there. And as long as visitors are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on tasting experiences, or thousands on a hotel room, operators will be encouraged to maintain their prices.

At Heitz Cellar in St. Helena, up to four guests at a time can enjoy “wine, food, scenic explorations” with the Vineyard to Bottle Experience, priced at $1,000 a person. It includes visits to two of the winery’s vineyards, followed by a tasting in the Salon at Heitz Cellar of current releases and older library wines. Heitz does offer another, “timeless” but more basic tasting at the Salon for $125 a person, with tastings of single-vineyard Cabernet and CHardonnay, Cheese and charcuterie, guided by in-house “wine curators.”

“All of these destinations often come with a marketing identity that is very far from the reality of how locals experience them,” he said of the places that will be profiled in the programs. “We wanted to challenge people to discover a place outside of the usual travel guide.”

“Nomad” is produced by New York City-based Zero Point Zero, which knows its way around the world. They were the production team that collaborated with chef/author/traveler Anthony Bourdain as he made his way through 40 different countries for over 100 different episodes of the acclaimed “Parts Unknown,” which set a new standard for travel documentaries. They also are the production company responsible for the James Beard Award-winning chef profile series “The Mind of a Chef.”

Nomad with Carlton McCoy, which premieres this Sunday, May 1, follows the wine pro on his quest for authentic food, drink and culture, and his travels frequently land him far from the beaten path. It’s an Anthony Bourdain–style adventure into undiscovered neighborhoods, “to celebrate diversity by celebrating what makes us unique and the same,” declares McCoy.

What was originally conceived as a wine-oriented travel show turned into a much deeper and thought-provoking experience for McCoy. “I wanted to show what is relevant now, what is the authentic culture of the place,” McCoy told Wine Spectator. “Wine became a small part of the conversation. [Nomad] became about being able to connect with cultures … throughout the world.”

This Sunday at 10 p.m., CNN will premiere the new travel docu-series Nomad With Carlton McCoy. Produced by Christopher Collins and Lydia Tenaglia, the team behind the network’s much-loved Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, the new six-episode culinary travel show follows McCoy, the president and CEO of Heitz Cellar and a celebrated trailblazer in the wine world, through the banlieues of Paris, the South Korean countryside, Washington, DC, Ghana, Toronto, and the Mississippi Delta on a journey of discovery—connecting the dots between art, music, food, and culture.