Grace Family Vineyards redux

Grace Family Vineyards landscape

This Napa cult wine enters a new phase of life. Above, Grace Family's Cornelius Vineyard, photographed by Suzanne Becker Bronk.

As a consumer, I don’t often consider sales of beloved wine brands to be good news. My short-term fear is that the brand may scale disproportionately to the talent and number of high-quality vineyards that are available for its production. My long-term fear is that even if key team members and production levels stay the same, the philosophical direction for a company comes from the top. But one of Napa’s most iconic brands has recently forced me to admit that...