Review: 2021 Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay Dutton Ranch
Fans of California chardonnays won’t have much to complain about with this new release from Sonoma-Cutrer, a Russian River Valley offering that hits all the high points of the wine: rich vanilla, gooseberry, and lemon curd, all filtered through elements of saline and minerals. There’s something of a greatest hits of California chardonnay going on…
At NYC’s Sakagura, Shochu Is Poised to Explode in the U.S.
While sake has long been more familiar to American palates, shochu is finally ready for its moment in the sun. Unlike sake, which is a brewed rice wine, shochu is Japan’s native distilled spirit, with remarkable utility for consumption neat, on the rocks, in cocktails, and beyond. And at a proof point normally hovering between…
Review: Rums of Rolling Fork: Fortuitous Union and Single Cask Barbados 9 Years Old
Started in 2017 by Turner Wathen and Jordan Morris, independent bottler Rolling Fork is named for a famous, but now shuttered, Kentucky bourbon distillery. But Rolling Fork isn’t making whiskey and doesn’t plan to. Instead, the label sources additive-free rums from around the world and finishes them in whiskey casks. They appear to be doing…
Review: 2020 Ancient Peaks Renegade Santa Margarita Ranch
A blend of 67% syrah, 27% petit verdot, and 6% malbec. The syrah dominates, for better or worse, giving the wine a smoky, meaty texture, becoming a bit chalky in body as it builds in glass and on the tongue. Both bitter and a bit sour, there’s a heavy intensity here that isn’t always agreeable,…
Review: Griffo Distillery Still Waldos Single Malt Whiskey with Hops
Griffo Distillery can be found in Petaluma, California. Around the corner lies Lagunitas Brewing, one of the kings of the craft beer scene, especially on the west coast. Lagunitas’s most prized brew is The Waldos, a triple IPA that is released as a highly limited one-off each April. (I’ve had it once. It was delicious.)…
Tasting Report: Virginia Spirits Expo 2023
Now in its second year, the Virginia Spirits Expo is expanding to include four different events across the state. I attended the first of these in Charlottesville over the summer where more than two dozen Virginia distillers were on hand to share their labors of love. It was unseasonably warm at Ix Art Park that…
Review: Ports of Kopke, 2023 Colheitas
We seem to write about Kopke’s Port collection quite a bit, led by Robert Lublin’s coverage of multiple bottlings over the years. Today we’re taking a deeper dive into Kope’s Colheita Port wines. Colheita traditionally refers to vintage tawny Ports, but Kopke also uses it to refer to its vintage white Port. I recently received a…
Review: Rhum J.M Terroir Volcanique
Martinique’s Rhum J.M is out with a doozy of a new rum, “an homage to the distillery’s micro-climatic tropical milieu and breezy volcanic sugarcane fields” called Terroir Volcanique. The product is a blend of rums of at least 3 years aged in new American oak barrels with “two unique custom heavy toasts charred in the…
