About Cristaldi & Co.
Welcome to Cristaldi & Co. your trusted source for reviews on wine, spirits, food, and balanced living. Established in 2024, our mission is to help you embrace and elevate your epicurean journey. Simply put: Reviews to Live and Buy By.
Founder Jonathan Cristaldi is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer, storyteller, actor, event host, avant-garde educator, and humorist with over 15 years and 15,000+ hours of journalism, judging, and critic experience covering wine and food.
What we cover
Here, you’ll find detailed ratings and reviews of top wines and spirits from emerging and established regions, gourmet foods, and wellness products, alongside expert itineraries and compelling stories designed to inform and inspire you to lead a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
We deliver all of this with a dose of humor and a commitment to quality you can trust. Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur or just beginning to explore the world of fine tastes, we’re here to be your guide.
Regional focus
Our coverage focuses on emerging regions and producers from places like Texas, Michigan, Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as on established beverage and culinary mavericks throughout California, Washington, Oregon, and New York. As we grow, so will our regional and topical focus.
Since 2022, founder Jonathan Cristaldi has held the post of Napa Valley Correspondent for UK-based Decanter magazine, and his focused coverage of this critical region will appear on Decanter.com. To view his ratings and stories, please visit his author page here.
For all wine-related coverage outside of Napa Valley, check out his latest Cristaldi-scored wines here.
JONATHAN CRISTALDI
founder/lead reviewer
An international man of beverage journalism, Time Out New York's "New Wine Prophet," and Cristaldi's Crush podcast host
Since 2021, Jonathan Cristaldi has served as the Napa Valley correspondent and critic for Decanter, an authoritative UK-based magazine distributed to over 90 countries with a reach of over 2 million subscribers. Cristaldi has produced extensive reports on Napa Valley Cabernet, the California wine scene, and beyond. Cristaldi is also the Editor-at-Large for The SOMM Journal and Tasting Panel Magazine.
Cristaldi’s written work has appeared in Food & Wine, Departures, The SOMM Journal, Tasting Panel Magazine, Liquor (dot) com, Seven Fifty Daily, Los Angeles Magazine, Thrillist, Tasting Table, Time Out LA, First We Feast, Vivino, Psychology Today, Distinct, and The Montecito Journal. Cristaldi also scripts film and documentary projects with award-winning commercial director and photographer Rachid Dahnoun.
In 2011, Time Out New York named him one of the new “Wine Prophets” for his witty and avant-garde approach to wine education. He was the mastermind behind “The L-Train Luncheon,” an experiential New York City subway car event that was covered by The New York Times.
"My rock bottom is still your wildest dreams!"
From New York City to Napa Valley
In 2013, on the day Robert Parker was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame, I was there to interview the world-famous wine critic. Napa-based photographer Alexander Rubin captured the shot.
Just four years prior, in 2009, I wrote my first published article about wine — by accident. Growing up in a rural upstate New York trailer park, my life was simple and modest, though I didn’t quite realize it then. After college, I moved to NYC, grinding it out as a performance artist before landing a job as a publicist in midtown Manhattan.
Wine first intrigued me in college, and my passion for it really took off after a visit to California in 2008. I wanted to bring a slice of that wine country magic back to New York, so I launched avant-garde wine parties with live music and performances under the name The Noble Rot. The concept caught on, even catching the attention of Chris Schonberger, then a writer for Time Out NY.
Schonberger, now co-creator of the hit show Hot Ones, had just launched First We Feast and invited me to write a wine column. Under his guidance, I developed a punchy, irreverent style. I even wrote a piece predicting that the 100-point wine rating system would become obsolete — a claim I’d now rate about 50 points: half right, half nuts.
My writing style has always leaned toward straightforward prose with a twist of humor. Since my First We Feast days, I’ve contributed to numerous publications, often encountering editorial “guardrails” that made me feel like my grandfather stumbling down the hallways of a retirement home.
Now, I’m bringing my experience, love for a good time, and my salty sense of humor (thanks to influences like Mel Brooks, Andy Kaufman, Martin Short, and Christopher Guest) to Cristaldi & Co.
Here, you’ll find my takes on wine, spirits, food, wellness, and more — like The Crush — and you can tune into my ever-evolving podcast Cristaldi’s Crush, which has three great episodes in its nascent form, and is currently being upgraded to on-camera interviews.
Thanks for reading. Thank you to those who subscribe, thanks to all of you for joining me on this journey.
Meet the 'Company' of Cristaldi & Co.
JOE ROBERTS
wine critic
Joe Roberts is the founder of 1WineDude.com, one of the most influential and long-running wine blogs in the U.S. Roberts’ work has appeared in publications as varied as Parade, Decanter, and Playboy.com, and he is a frequent wine competition judge and industry event speaker. Joe has regularly made appearances on TV and radio in the U.S., discussing all aspects of wine from its enjoyment to the challenges facing it as a modern global industry.
Roberts is the author of the books “Wine Taster’s Guide: Drink and Learn with 30 Wine Tastings“, “Wine Taster’s Journal: Drink, Rate, Record, and Remember” and “How to WIN at Wine: A Practical Playbook for Getting Maximum Enjoyment from Every Bottle—Without Spending a Fortune“. He holds the WSET Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Wine & Spirits, as well as the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) qualification from the Society of Wine Educators.
ZACHARY BERNSTEIN
contributor
Zachary Bernstein is managing editor at Montecito Journal Magazine and The Riv. He’s previously written for Alta Journal, X-R-A-Y, and The Rupture. He is The Bicycats and his original musical, Disasteroid!, was published by Stage Rights.
SCOTT BEATTIE
spirits critic
Born and raised in San Francisco, Scott Beattie began bartending at The Blue Light, Azie, and Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio while studying English at UC Berkeley. In 2001, he moved to Napa Valley and joined the opening bar team at Martini House, helping craft a classically rooted, seasonal cocktail program.
Scott’s talent caught the eye of restaurateurs Nick Peyton and Douglas Keane, who brought him on as Bar Manager at the soon-to-open Cyrus in Healdsburg. The restaurant quickly earned a rare 4-star San Francisco Chronicle review and two Michelin stars, setting a new standard for fine dining in Sonoma County. At Cyrus, Scott developed his signature “garden-to-glass” approach—sourcing from local farms and foraging nearby woods to create hyper-seasonal cocktails.
His work garnered national acclaim in Food & Wine, Gourmet, Playboy, Afar, and more, leading to the release of his debut book, Artisanal Cocktails, in 2008. The book earned an IACP nomination and a feature on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, helping to usher in a new era of farm-driven mixology and inspiring bartenders and home enthusiasts alike.
