James Suckling's Great Wines World
San Francisco
James Suckling’s Great Wines World San Francisco
It’s not every day you get to take a MasterClass with James Suckling in person. The acclaimed international wine critic, celebrated worldwide through JamesSuckling.com and featured instructor for MasterClass.com, brought his signature insight and global perspective to the recent Great Wines World San Francisco event.
The San Francisco edition marked the grand finale of James Suckling’s Great Wines World USA tour, closing the series on a high note with more than 2,500 attendees gathered at Fort Mason. Overlooking the bay, this final stop capped a coast-to-coast celebration of fine wine across three cities including New York, Miami, and San Francisco, drawing a total of 12,500 guests nationwide. Multi-generational family estates, visionary independent producers, and key industry partners came together to taste, discover, and connect over wines.
Two Masterclasses, One Rare Experience
The day opened with Global Cabernet Sauvignon: Climate Change, Yes or No?, a masterclass exploring how benchmark producers are redefining balance in Cabernet as climates shift. Moderated by Suckling, the session featured an all-star lineup including Sebastián Labbé (Santa Rita Casa Real), Paul Hobbs (Viña Cobos), Tony Biagi (Amici), Edgard Kappelhoff-Lançon (Château d’Issan), and Renzo Cotarella (Marchesi Antinori).
Guests tasted six Cabernets from Viña Cobos, Amici, Château d’Issan, and Tenuta di Biserno, along with two vintages of Santa Rita’s Casa Real. The discussion centered on the evolving identity of Cabernet, highlighting wines that favor elegance over aggression and freshness over sheer power. As Cotarella noted, achieving harmony in alcohol levels is key to maintaining both precision and freshness.
The second masterclass, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars: 50 Years After the Judgment of Paris, offered a once-in-a-lifetime vertical tasting that included the legendary 1973 S.L.V.—the very wine that helped redefine Napa Valley’s global reputation. With only 42 bottles of that vintage still in existence, tasting it alongside contemporary releases allowed participants to trace six decades of continuity and evolution within a single flight. The panel featured Tim Mondavi (Robert Mondavi’s son) Juan Muñoz-Oca, Marcus Notaro, and Renzo Cotarella, once again under Suckling’s thoughtful moderation.
The Walk-Around Tasting
Fort Mason transformed into a vibrant global village of wine. More than 400 wines from 200 producers and 35 regions came together for an afternoon of world-class tasting framed by sweeping views of the bay. For both passionate collectors and curious wine lovers, the event captured what Suckling does best: bringing people and producers together through outstanding wine and engaging conversation.
The Suckling Signature
With over four decades of tasting experience and a website featuring more than 250,000 tasting notes, JamesSuckling.com remains one of the most influential voices in wine today. Each year, Suckling and his team taste some 40,000 wines across key regions, distilling that experience into highly sought-after ratings and reports that shape both consumer and trade decisions.
Great Wines events are held each year at leading cities around the world, including New York, Miami, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul. Visit James Suckling’s Events Page to find your event.
