Shanken, the longtime editor and publisher of Wine Spectator magazine who was instrumental in elevating the profile of American wine business, died Thursday in Manhattan. Shanken started his career in 1972 when he bought a small industry newsletter named Impact, which became a key resource for the wine and spirits industries. He purchased the struggling Wine Spectator newspaper in 1979, which he turned into a glossy magazine with more than 100,000 subscribers.
Wine Spectator became a key educational tool to help consumers become more familiar with the beverage, and contributed significantly to raising the status of the Napa Valley wine region. Wine Spectator articles utilized the 100 point wine rating system, which made buying fine bottles much more approachable for the general audience. Shanken also founded the magazine Cigar Aficionado and purchased Food Arts and Malt Advocate, which was renamed Whisky Advocate.
Other publications he founded through his M. Shanken Communications include Market Watch and Shanken News Daily. Among his many milestones were establishing Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Awards program, taking over the long-running Wine Experience weekend to bring producers together with consumers and creating the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation.
Wine Spectator could make wineries halfway around the world change the way they made wine,” W. Blake Gray of the website Wine-Searcher told the New York Times. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Shanken studied business at the U. of Miami, then received an MBA from American U. in Washington.
He started off working in investment banking on Wall Street, during which time he was sent to California to help finance a vineyard purchase. This led to him developing a strong interest in wine and the industry. He pivoted his career to running the Impact newsletter, encouraged by its reception from alcoholic beverage wholesalers.
At the time, there was very little substantial reporting on the wine business. After he bought the struggling Wine Spectator newspaper, he relocated the offices from San Diego to San Francisco and became editor. The magazine expanded to cover travel, cooking, restaurants and collecting, and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
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