By: Wine Enthusiast
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022
This year marks the 23rd anniversary of Wine Enthusiast’s Annual Wine Star Awards, honoring the individuals and companies that make outstanding contributions to the wine and alcohol beverage world. Here are the nominees across 13 categories for the 2022 Awards. The winners of these categories, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award, American Wine Legend and Wine & Culture Honoree, will be announced in the magazine’s Best of Year issue and celebrated at our annual black-tie gala in January 2023. We salute the dedicated beverage professionals who have innovated and flourished this year.
The Process
All full-time and contributing divisions (Sales, Events, Marketing, Editorial) of Wine Enthusiast Media were invited to submit nominees for our Wine Star Awards categories and submitted their nominations anonymously, with explanations of what made the nomination appropriate for consideration. That list of nominees was then sent to the group for anonymous voting to cull the larger nominee lists down. Final winners were chosen from the culled down list by the Executive Media team with selections based on many factors, including impact on consumers and trade in the wine, spirits, or beer space, commercial successes, company/brand vision, and trendsetting. The Wine Star Awards are an overall beverage industry awards program. While the editors are invited to participate, this is a collaborative program incorporating the input of all divisions of our company and is not a solely an editorial franchise.
European Winery of the Year
Vigneti Massa
The iconoclastic winemaker Walter Massa is often referred to as a genius, but in the late 1980s and ’90s many questioned his judgement for working with a nearly forgotten—and almost—extinct white grape known as Timorasso. What may have seemed like a foolhardy pursuit then has become incomparably astute now, as the grape in Massa’s talented hands has proved to be an outstanding signature white for the Piedmont region. Massa has helped save several other subalpine grapes in subsequent decades as well.
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