Review: 2012 Pacific Rim Riesling and Vin de Glaciere
Based in Washington’s Columbia Valley, Pacific Rim is obsessively focused on Riesling. In fact, that’s all they make, in nearly a dozen varieties. Today we look at two of the winery’s single vineyard bottlings, both made from organic grapes. 2012 Pacific Rim Riesling Organic – Not your typical, high-acid, new world Riesling! Initially quite sweet, this honeyed…
Review: 2011 Franciscan Estate Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon
The ubiquitous Franciscan’s 2011 general-release red wines are hitting the market now. Thoughts follow on the merlot and cabernet sauvignon. 2011 Franciscan Estate Merlot Napa Valley – Strongly herbal nose, unusual for merlot, with notes of root beer and licorice. The body is fruitier with currants and blackberry notes, but also adds hints of licorice,…
Review: Seven Stills of San Francisco Whipnose Whiskey
The Seven Stills of San Francisco returns with its second beer-based whiskey, this time pot-distilled from 1600 gallons of double IPA from Pacific Brewing Laboratories along with some maple sugar. The beer is then aged in new, five-gallon American oak barrels for six months before bottling. As with Chocosmoke, this is a young and wild…
Review: The Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso
The Glenlivet Nadurra — “natural” in Gaelic — is a member of the Glenlivet’s core range of expressions, named in part because it spends its entire life in ex-bourbon casks (with no finishing), isn’t filtered or colored, and is bottled at its “natural” cask strength. Now, Nadurra is getting its first permanent line extension, with…
Review: 2013 MacMurray Ranch Pinot Gris Russian River Valley
This latest pinot gris from venerable affordable wine producer MacMurray Ranch comes loaded with peachy/tropical notes, but an undercurrant of vegetable character brings some clouds to an otherwise sunny day. The body features more of the same — perhaps apricot jam, plus fresh herbs, vanilla extract, and some baking spice — with just of a…
Tasting the Wines of Charles Krug, 2014
Napa’s Charles Krug — now managed by the Peter Mondavi family — is an icon of California. Krug (the man) was a Prussian journalist who emigrated to the San Francisco area in the 1840s and eventually started dabbling in winemaking before opening his first winery in 1861. In 2011 his namesake company marked its 150th vintage. And…
Review: Cruzan Peach Rum
Fruit-flavored rum day continues with this latest release from Cruzan, which clocks in at a mere 42 proof (about the same as a fortified wine). The St. Croix-based rum operation infuses natural peach flavor into white rum (and lots of water, it seems) to create this light-as-a-feather, gently flavored spirit. Unlike the fruit bomb of…
Review: Bacardi Mango Fusion Rum
Fusion, you say? Turns out all you need are mangos and oranges and they fuse together to power your car. Ahem, well, Bacardi’s latest flavored rum is this, “Mango fused with Orange” and bottled at 70 proof. The nose of this concoction lands in a weird zone among tropical, citrus, and cough syrup, sharp and…
