Wine Spectator’s Napa Bureau Adds New Roles

James Molesworth will take on added role as the bureau’s editorial director and tasting director

Wine Spectator's James Molesworth
Wine Spectator's James Molesworth has been with the magazine since 1997. (Alina Tyulyu)

America’s West Coast wineries continue to innovate, and Wine Spectator is adding new responsibilities to its Napa bureau to better chronicle that evolution for readers. Marvin R. Shanken, Wine Spectator editor and publisher, is pleased to announce a new expanded role for a veteran editor.

James Molesworth, senior editor and special projects director, is taking on the new positions of Napa editorial director and Napa tasting director. Molesworth joined Wine Spectator in 1997 as a tasting coordinator and was promoted to senior editor in 2004. Since 2022, he has been special projects director, overseeing and hosting the podcast Straight Talk with Wine Spectator. He is lead taster for California Cabernet and Pinot Noir, France’s Bordeaux region and Port. The new positions will allow him to coordinate editorial coverage and tasting beats in the regions overseen by the Napa bureau.

“Since being assigned my first coverage beat in California in 2018, it’s been an invigorating challenge,” says Molesworth. “These additional responsibilities will allow me to help to shape our coverage even more directly as our editorial team continues to educate and entertain our readers with the best wine coverage available anywhere.”


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