Review: 2020 Stags’ Leap Winery The Leap Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
At the top of Stags’ Leap Winery’s mountain of Cabernet Sauvignon releases sits The Leap, a heavy-duty wine that, in this incarnation, is composed of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petite Sirah, 3% Malbec, and 1% Merlot. The wine showcases Stags’ Leap at the top of its game: rich, seductive fruit touches on the expected blackcurrants…
Review: Chateau de Lacquy Armagnac 21 Years Old
There are a couple of theories regarding how bourbon came to be aged in charred oak barrels. Perhaps the most plausible theory lies in the fact that the French mature brandy in toasted wood barrels. In the era of bourbon infancy, Cognac was a known luxury French spirit. Did Americans begin using charred or toasted…
Review: Oddbird Non-Alcoholic Presence and Addiction
Oddbird is the producer of some of my favorite non-alcoholic wines, and the brand recently sent two new expressions that we hadn’t yet seen, the white blend Presence and the red Addiction. We tasted them on a recent “day off” from the hard sauce. Oddbird Presence – A blend of riesling, gewurztraminer, sylvaner, viognier, and…
Meili Founders Jason Momoa and Blaine Halvorson Think Vodka Is Underestimated (and Far from Flavorless)
At this point, the celebrity spirits market is undeniably crowded, with enough whiskey and agave-based brands to make the average consumer’s head spin. And given the space’s maturity, a giant social media following likely isn’t enough to guarantee success. Some—truly a handful—of A-lister backed brands do manage to stand out on partnerships with major distilleries,…
Review: 2020 Muse Vineyards Petit Verdot Shenandoah Valley
This bottle slipped through the cracks in our most recent roundup of top Virginia wines, so we’re making up for the oversight and covering it solo. Rich and enveloping, this 100% petit verdot pours on some brooding charm with its dense notes of anise, graphite, and dried blackberries — heavy and almost oily at first…
Review: The Calistoga Star California Brandy 7 Years Old
Calistoga Depot Distillery is a new spirits brand from the Boisset Collection, which has of late been making a major push into harder alcohol, most notably tequila. The Calistoga Star is a more expected offering from the notable winemaker — a brandy made from California wine grapes, named in honor of San Francisco’s first newspaper,…
Sicilian Wine Review: 2022 Corvo Irmana Nero d’Avola and 2017 Florio Marsala
An odd little combination for you today: Two wines from Sicily, one table wine and a vintage bottle of Marsala. 2022 Corvo Irmana Nero d’Avola Sicilia DOC – A surprisingly fruit-forward expression of Nero d’Avola, this 2022 features a tart attack of rhubarb and black cherry, fading slowly to sweeter strawberry and raspberry notes. Moderately…
Review: The Gardener Gin
Most gins don’t usually debut at film festivals. Then again, most gins aren’t made in collaboration with Brad Pitt, the elder-hunk movie star and infamous figment of Ed Norton’s imagination (sorry, spoilers). His new gin, The Gardener, walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last year and just recently came to the U.S.…
