Review: Wines of Smith-Madrone, 2015 Releases
Three new winter releases from Smith-Madrone, located at the top of Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain. 2012 Smith-Madrone Chardonnay Napa Valley Spring Mountain District – Buttery, with strong notes of vanilla and nuts. Not much in the way of a surprise here, with modest pear and lemon notes duking it out with that big, brown butter…
Review: Wines of Esporao, 2015 Releases
Three new offerings from Portugal’s Esporao, new releases from the company’s Reserva line as well as its Quinta dos Murcas Reserva offering. Some thoughts follow. 2011 Esporao Reserva Red DOC Alentejo – Made from a blend of traditional Portuguese grapes, including aragonez, trincadeira, cabernet sauvignon, and alicante bouchet. Incredibly dense, this wine starts with licorice notes and…
Review: Glendalough Poitin – Complete Lineup
Poitin (po-cheen) pushers are trying their darnedest to bring this ancient Irish spirit back to the masses. A distillation of malt barley and sugar beets, the finished product is aged in virgin oak (but generally filtered back to white). Ireland’s Glendalough sent us a trilogy of poitins for us to sample. Our thoughts follow. Glendalough Poitin…
Review: Bowen’s Whiskey
Here’s a craft spirit out of Bakersfield, California, a Bourbon-like whiskey that’s not quite Bourbon, a spirit that wears its smoky character on its muscular sleeves. The company describes how it is produced thusly: Bowen’s Whiskey, a true artisan whiskey, is made from 100% corn, cut to proof with a proprietary, structured micro-clustered water to…
Review: Oregon Spirit Vodka and Merrylegs Genever
Two more spirits from Oregon Spirits Distillers in Bend, Oregon — these renditions of those two most classic white spirits, vodka and gin. Let’s taste them together! Oregon Spirit Vodka – Distilled from winter wheat. Very innocuous on the nose, it’s got just some modest hospital notes and a dusting of white grape juice to…
Review: 2012 Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale Old Vine
This grenache hails from McLaren Vale in South Australia. Those expecting the typical, Australian sugar bomb might be pleasantly surprised to find ample restraint here: Touches of strawberry and blueberry up front lead to a silky core that integrates mild notes of spun sugar to the mix. The end result is slightly sweet, but still…
Review: Ripe Bar Juice
Sure, there’s nothing better than fresh-squeezed juices you press yourself. But fresh, cold-pressed, pre-bottled juices run a pretty close second. Ripe makes a line of seven fresh-squeezed juice-based mixers — all refrigerated, natural, unpasteurized, lightly sweetened with agave nectar (all except the Bloody Mary mix), and uncut with preservatives. Essentially Ripe is a juice company,…
Tasting the Wines of Marchesi de’Frescobaldi, 2015 Releases
We previously reviewed two wines (including the first two wines discussed below) in our coverage of Tuscany-based Frescobaldi, one of the royal families of Italian winemaking. In a recent online tasting with the family, we were led through a guided look at four of their current releases. All four are 90% to 100% sangiovese-based wines, but…
