By Tor Kenward, Forewords by Robert M. Parker Jr. and Thomas Keller, Publisher: Cameron + Company
February 14, 2022; St. Helena, California—A compendium for wine lovers: a prominent vintner shares a lifetime of great wines, famous friends, deep knowledge, and insider insights.
As a winemaker, Kenward has written, taught, and lectured on wine most of his adult life. What he is most often asked about are not facts or numbers about his wines, but the stories behind them. Reflections of a Vintner recounts the lessons learned, relationships forged, and observations made from an insider’s nearly fifty-year journey through the burgeoning wine industry in Napa Valley.
Following the calendar year, each chapter opens with the challenges and opportunities a winemaker faces that month—in the vineyard, winery, tasting room, and out on the road. In addition to the wine knowledge Kenward imparts, the vintner shares stories of his friendships with legends of the modern American food and wine scene, including Julia Child, André Tchelistcheff, Andy Beckstoffer, and Robert Mondavi, among others.
Kenward’s hard work as a vintner was recently acknowledged and celebrated. In the October 2021 Judgment of Napa, TOR Cabernet was judged to be #1, outscoring legendary Bordeaux châteaux, Napa Valley, and international peers by leading critics and sommeliers.
Tor Kenward
After almost half a century on the front lines of Napa Valley’s wine industry, Tor is considered an industry icon by his peers. He founded TOR Wines in 2001, focusing on single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons that are highly prized by wine collectors around the world. From 1977 to 2001, he helped shape Beringer Vineyards’s Private Reserve programs; was mentored by notable winemakers from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Napa Valley; and built wine and food programs with the help of Julia Child and Madeleine Kamman. TOR Wines recently took first place at the 2021 Judgment of Napa Tasting, beating out both domestic and international peers.
Robert M. Parker Jr. is a wine critic and the creator of the Wine Advocate newsletter as well as the revolutionary 100-point wine rating system. He has won countless awards, including two of France’s highest presidential honors. He is the author of many books, including Burgundy and Bordeaux, and lives in Maryland with his family.
Thomas Keller, the first and only American chef to hold multiple Michelin three-star ratings, is the most celebrated chef in the US. Beginning with his legendary French Laundry, Keller has opened restaurants across the country, including Per Se, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, Ad Hoc, the Surf Club Restaurant, and La Calenda. Keller is also a bestselling author, with more than 1.5 million copies of his cookbooks in print.
“Tor Kenward has been one of my heroes since the 1970s. He understands not only the marketing of premium wines but also the growing and making of it. Tor’s book does a wonderful job of explaining his times and the Napa journey.” —Andy Beckstoffer; chairman, Beckstoffer Vineyards
“If ever there were someone with roots planted deep in the terroir of the modern American food and wine movement, it’s Tor Kenward. He was touched, inspired, and befriended seemingly by everyone who attended the revolution, and with Reflections of a Vintner, we are fortunate to have an inside view of this ambassador’s singular life’s journey.” —Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
