Courtney Humiston

Sommelier, Journalist

Jenner, California

Courtney is a professional writer and sommelier based in Northern California. She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America's Advanced Wine and Beverage Program, a Certified Sommelier and has worked multiple harvests in both viticulture and winemaking and has traveled extensively. She has written about wine, the wine industry and wine country for Decanter, The World of Fine Wine, 7x7 magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Wine & Spirits and Sommelier Journal, among other publications.

Courtney Humiston

Sommelier, Journalist

Jenner, California

Rosé Wines to Drink This Spring | 7x7
The Brangelina rosé may have sold out faster than any rosé ever in the history of rosé, but don't worry, we've got a few good ones in the Bay Area being released just in time for the Vernal Equinox on March 20th - which marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere or, as we like to think of it, the season for rosé.
7x7
Wine
Chardonnay Makes Its Comeback in California, Plus Local Picks | 7x7
On Monday in Livermore, a celebration was held in the honor of a noble lady. Hailing from Burgundy, she is now the most popular of her kind in the United States.* Her name is Chardonnay.
7x7
Wine
Featured
Primordial Clusters, From Galaxies to Grapevines
Growers lost in space during bud dissection In January, 2012 NASA researchers made a very important discovery. The furthest protocluster of galaxies ever seen. Thirteen billion light years from Earth, scientists, with the help of a little guy named Hubble, saw a cluster of five galaxies just beginning to form.
Table To Grave
Wine
Moon Mountain on course for AVA status | decanter.com
Winemakers on the mountainous eastern slopes of Sonoma Valley may soon be part of California's newest American Viticultural Area (AVA), which contains some of America's most historic vineyards.
Decanter
Wine
Shaken, Stirred Carbonated | 7x7
Spoonbar in Healdsburg may have lost Scott Beattie to the dark side of the Mayacamas, but the new Bar Manager, Cappy Sorentino, has a few of his own tricks up his carefully rolled sleeves.
7x7
Bars and Restaurants
Spilling Gin in the Halls of the New York Public Library
Philip Anema If heaven were a cocktail party, the closest most of us will ever get is the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. That is, if the Classic's gala, which kicked off the five-day long celebration of the art and history of the cocktail Friday night -- is any indication.
NBC New York
Bars and Restaurants
Shepard Fairey Calls 'Mayday'
Courtney Humiston Shepard Fairey is fully aware of the criticism his work has received since his Obama "Hope" posters brought his art from the street to the world stage (and now the courtroom, but that's another story).
NBC New York
Interview: Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena
Wine
Complex Wines for When "It's Complicated"
Ditch the port, anything pink, and don't even think about pairing something with tuxedo-clad strawberries. Because if "it's complicated" - and it always is - you'll need something a little more complex than sweet and simple sap. Chinato is an aromatized wine traditionally made in Piedmont, Italy with the Nebbiolo grape.
7x7
Wine
US imports: Argentina drops for first time in 11 years | decanter.com
We'd like to let you know that this site uses cookies. Without them you may find this site does not work properly and many features may be unavailable. More information on what cookies are and the types of cookies we use can be found here Bottled imports from Argentina were down in 2012 after 11 years of consistent growth.
Decanter
Wine
Truffle Growing in Napa Valley | 7x7
At the third-annual Truffle Festival held over the long weekend in Napa Valley, the American Truffle Company, an international research and for-profit cultivation company based in San Mateo, proposed that Napa isn't just a great place to grow grapes, it's good for truffles as well.
7x7
Bars and Restaurants
The Rusty Knot Brings the Party "All the Way to the West Side"
At the Rusty Knot last night at 8 p.m., two young ladies wearing faux croccodile skin pants and otherwise looking like they got lost somewhere between the Christopher Street PATH stop and the MePa, were perched on red leather barstools waiting for a storm to arrive.
NBC New York
Bars and Restaurants
California Mushroom Foraging | 7x7
Don't be scared if, on a recent hike, you come across fleece and wool cap-clad folks armed with knives and hand-woven baskets wandering about seemingly aimlessly and staring at the ground. They're not hippie zombies, they are mushroom hunters. And wet conditions along the North Coast are bringing them out in droves.
7x7
Bars and Restaurants
Grape Harvest in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux Officially Begins | 7x7
In most parts of the northern hemisphere, harvest is well underway (with some fresh-drinking whites ready to be enjoyed here in California), but in the region of Saint-Emilion on the right bank of the Dordogne River in Bordeaux, harvest doesn't begin until a group of men and women draped in red says it does.
7x7
Wine
Turley Zinfandel Lightens Up
A blushing beauty steps back onto center stage On September 5, the first zinfandel grapes of the 2012 vintage arrived at the crush pad of Turley Wine Cellars. But these weren't just any grapes. Oh no, these grapes are not destined to become a burly Turley Zinfandel.
Table To Grave
Wine
Revamped The Thomas and Fagiani's Bar Usher in New Era for Downtown Napa | 7x7
When the doors at 813 Main Street in downtown Napa open for business on Wednesday, August 8, it will be for the first time in nearly 40 years. The Thomas restaurant and its street-level Fagiani's Bar are closing the circle on a piece of Napa history and ushering in a new era for the town.
7x7
Bars and Restaurants

About

Courtney Humiston

Writing and editing

Serving wine

Tasting wine

Creating cocktails

Tending bar

Pruning vineyards

Picking grapes

Racking wine

Courtney moved to Napa Valley from New York City — where she was covering food and wine as a reporter for NBC New York — in 2010 to study under the direction of Karen MacNeil at the Culinary Institute of America, where she also earned the designation as a Certified Sommelier through The Court of Master Sommeliers. She has worked at PRESS restaurant, which has the largest and deepest collection of California wines in the world, in the cellar of The Scholium Project for the 2011 harvest and as a viticulture technician for Boisset Family Estates. She has been honored as a fellowship recipient at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers and was selected to be a Wine Specialist for the Concourse Mondial in Slovakia. She currently serves as the Wine Director at Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen.