Review: 2015 Love & Hope Rose
Here’s a fresh rose from Hope Family Wines production (hence the name) made from grenache, mourvedre, and syrah grapes grown in Paso Robles, California. Immediately a curious note takes hold — orange blossoms in lieu of the usual red berries, along with notes of Meyer lemon and some papaya character. The body could be more acidic and…
The Experts Speak: My Wine Is a Winner
Some eight years ago I received the craziest gadget I’ve yet to review: The WinePod, a giant urn that helps home winemakers craft their own vino. I ended up spending six months fermenting grapes, aging the wine in oak, and bottling it, and chronicled the process in a six-part series for Wired. For years the…
Review: Dark Corner Distillery World’s Best Moonshine and Whiskey Girl Flavored Whiskeys
Dark Corner Distillery in Greenville, South Carolina is the home of a number of youthful whiskey products, including an unaged moonshine and a series of flavored whiskeys bottled under the Whiskey Girl (aka Whiskeygirl) brand. All of this is distilled and bottled at Dark Corner’s Greenville operation. Four reviews — the aforementioned moonshine and three flavored…
Tasting the Pinots of Emeritus Vineyards, 2013 Vintage
Emeritus began in 1999 when the irascible Brice Cutrer Jones, founder of Sonoma-Cutrer, bought a coveted 115-acre apple orchard in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. Apples went out. Pinot noir grapes went in. The goal: Craft an all-estate-grown Burgundy-style wine “from scratch,” its grapes carefully dry-farmed for maximum flavor extraction — and to actually showcase the…
Review: 2014 Treana Blanc
Treana, from Hope Family Wines, is an iconic California red blend. Now comes Treana Blanc, a white blend to follow in its footsteps. Made from 45% viognier, 45% marsanne, and 10% roussanne, it carries a Central Coast appellation. This is the second vintage for the wine, which offers a slightly different blend than the…
Review: Templeton Rye 6 Years Old (2016)
It’s hard to believe that Templeton Rye first arrived on the scene 10 years ago (to generally wide acclaim, including from yours truly) — and it’s taken 10 years for the company to release its second expression, Templeton Rye 6 Years Old. Templeton has been in the news of late, caught up in the backlash…
Review: Creyente Mezcal Joven
This new joven mezcal is a blend of two 100% Espadin agave mezcals from different regions of Oaxaca (Tlacolula and Yautepec). It’s fitting, because the product is a parternship of two longtime mezcaleros – Pedro Mateo and Mijail Zarate – who have tinkered with classical distillation processes to come up with Creyente (Spanish for “believer”). Per…
Review: Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2016
It’s round five for Kilchoman’s Loch Gorm (somehow a fourth release seems to have snuck in between the 2015 and 2016 releases), which continues to show itself as a hit and miss whiskey. This year’s edition has spent six years in Oloroso sherry butts. 2016’s release is not my favorite of the bunch, by a long…
