Review: The Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve (2011)
Most Scotch whiskies are aged in ex-Bourbon barrels for the majority of their lives. Only at the end are they occasionally finished in oddball barrels, like former sherry or Port casks. Dalmore’s Cigar Malt — a brand which has been off the market for years now — is an exception to the rule. It spends…
Tasting Report: Wines of Mendocino, June 2011
Mendocino seems like a sleepy community 100 miles or so away from San Francisco, and once in awhile you might remember a few winemakers are toiling away out there, too. Believe it or not, I learned at this event that over 80 wineries are operating in Mendocino County — most of them open to the…
Review: 2010 Biokult Osterreich Gruner Veltliner
Gruner remains a bit exotic, sure, but this wine is intriguing for its grapes: They’re 100 percent organically grown in Austria, a rarity in Europe presently. The results are less exciting than the grape heritage: Grassy, mild, and a little sour despite the initial flavors of fresh apple and lots of tongue-buzzing lemon. Organic is…
Tasting Report: Winebow’s Wines of Italy, 2011 Releases
Winebow isn’t a name I expect you have ever heard of, but you’ve surely consumed its wines: The company is the largest importer of Italian wines in America, and as such it has the volume to be able to put on an event where it pours its Italian offerings… and nothing else. (Winebow also represents…
Review: Graham’s Texas Tea Flavored Vodka
When absinthe essentially went dark in 2009, it handed over the reins to a replacement in the fad liquor department: Tea-flavored vodkas. These bad boys just keep coming and, thankfully, each is just about as good as the last — a claim which absinthe was never able to make. This sweet tea vodka from Austin,…
Tasting Report: Bonhams Pre-Auction Event, June 2011
Don’t tell anyone but the economy has recovered… or at least it’s recovered enough to allow auction houses like Bonhams to re-institute pre-auction wine tasting events, a great way not just to taste what’s being sold the following weekend, but also to taste some old and rare wines you’d otherwise never see. Bonhams hasn’t had…
Review: Paul-Marie & Fils Pineau des Charentes, Tres Vieux Fut #3
You may be looking at that headline and saying, damn that’s a lot of French. What the hell is Pineau des Charentes, and what is a tres vieux fut? The easy one is the latter part: Tres Vieux Fut is “Very Old Cask,” and this is the third release from Paul-Marie & Fils of this…
Tasting Report: Wines of La Mancha, Spain, 2011 Releases
Thanks to Don Quixote, just about everyone has heard of La Mancha, but where is it? And what about the wines? It’s a wide area that encompasses the dead center of Spain, and as the largest winegrowing region in the nation, it is home to a large variety of wines. 75 percent of the grapes…
