Tasting the Chenin Blanc Wines of South Africa, 2016 Releases
South Africa is making a name for itself with chenin blanc — or at least it’s trying to, and recently a number of vintners from the region banded together to showcase how chenin blanc was evolving in the country. (More chenin blanc is planted here than in any other country in the world.) During an…
Review: Drinkmate Home Carbonation System
The SodaStream home carbonation system has been around long enough to become a beloved kitchen companion for many — but the device is famous for one very stern rule: It is only to be used to carbonate water. Of course there are myriad other beverages out there that could stand the fizzy treatment. If you…
Review: Fabrizia Limoncello, Blood Orange Liqueur, and Italian Margarita
Inspired by Italy, Fabrizia is a line of liqueurs and ready-to-drink products produced in Salem, New Hampshire. Small batch and all natural, let’s see if Fabrizia can go toe to toe with the real stuff from the Old World. Fabrizia Limoncello – A relatively mild limoncello, cloudy and light in hue, but also fresh and…
Review: Zinfandels of Edmeades, 2013 Vintage
Edmeades is a Mendocino-based part of the Jackson Family Vineyards empire, with a heavy focus on zinfandel. (Nay, an almost exclusive focus on zinfandel.) Today we look at three of Edmeades’ single-vineyard expressions of the grape, all from the 2013 vintage. 2013 Edmeades Zinfandel Mendocino Ridge Perli Vineyards – Heavily fruit forward, this is…
Review: 2015 VieVite Cotes de Provence Rose
Another Provence-sourced rose, in quite a distinctive bottle. There’s not a lot to write home about with this bottling, which muddies its floral aromas with notes of canned vegetables and chlorine. The palate is thin, almost watery at times, offering very mild strawberry notes alongside some notes of perfumed orange blossoms. Again though, the finish…
Review: 2015 Hahn Pinot Gris Monterey County
2015’s pinot gris from Hahn has arrived. It’s a fresh and lively but straightforward white, with notes of mango backed up by a core of apples and pears. A touch of sweet baking spice adds complexity but keeps things from falling into the overly sweet side of the fence — despite a few marshmallow notes on the…
Recipes: 4th of July Cocktail Recipes 2016
Considering our seasonal cocktail submissions, surprisingly this year’s crop of Independence Day cocktails wasn’t as heavy leaning on the red, white and blue aesthetic and focused more on items such as berries, mint, and cucumber. While none of the cocktails represented in this overview have brazenly replaced their brand name with “America”, there are many…
Review: Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky
We’ve seen a number of products from South Africa lately — lots of wine, and even liqueurs and brandy — but this is our first South African whisky review. The bottle won’t tell you much, but Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is single grain whisky made from 100% South African yellow maize (we call it corn!).…
