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- Dejah Overby (147)
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- Gary Westby (541)
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- Keith Mabry (433)
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- Kirk Walker (276)
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Staff Favorites
| If you’re going to have Robert Parker or Stephen Tanzer over for dinner, selecting a wine they’ve rated highly will be a nice choice. However, when you’re buying wines for yourself, we’d love to see you find wines that match up your unique palate and pocketbook. We have a large staff of friendly and knowledgeable wine professionals that taste hundreds of wines each week. They can put you in touch with bottles that you are likely to love, often at a much lower cost than the highly-rated gems that often see a run-up in price and frequent availability issues. Like any great group of opinionated professionals, our staff has varied tastes themselves. Often our customers will find a particular staff member with a style that corresponds to their own. That concept works extremely well in our retail stores, and this section is our effort to bring you the same online. Don’t get us wrong, we love the highly rated wines from the press and will continue to offer them, but we think you’re missing out if you’re not augmenting those selections with picks from our excellent staff. Here are their favorites. (Click on a name to see their other selections - or to drop them a line.) Cheers! |
Reviews
Baron Fuente "Quinconce" Brut Rosé Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Alex Leonardini | Review Date: 6/20/2024 | Send Email
By: Alex Leonardini | Review Date: 6/20/2024 | Send Email
The fan-favorite Baron Fuente "Esprit" Rose is back and better than ever under it's new "Quinconce" name. This 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Meunier still utilizes the Saignee method of making rose to craft a Rose Champagne with richness and texture. Creamy cherry and strawberry fruits are underpinned with crushed, dried rose petals and a subtle suggestion of toast, and the rich texture and hint of tannin structure lend a wonderfully food-friendly nature to the wine. This makes an incredible case for being the best value alternative to Laurent-Perrier Rose.
Price:
$39.99
Launois "Severine" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne
By: Diana Turk | Review Date: 6/17/2024 | Send Email
By: Diana Turk | Review Date: 6/17/2024 | Send Email
Perhaps the most polarizing Champagne at our recent Blanc de blancs in-store tasting, Launois' Séverine is unique in their lineup in that it's aged in oak, and that wood comes through! While the fruit is just as citrusy and bright as Launois fans are accustomed to experiencing from this Grand Cru grower-producer, the all-Mesnil-sourced barrels give the Champagne a more hedonistic feel, with notes of baking spice and a Sherried quality. The texture is rich and layered, but the expected Côte des Blancs snap of acidity remains. This food-friendly release is a must-try for Launois fans (so, pretty much everyone) looking for a different take.
Price:
$59.99
Fallet-Dart "Cuvée de Réserve" Brut Champagne
By: Dejah Overby | Review Date: 6/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Dejah Overby | Review Date: 6/15/2024 | Send Email
I have always been a huge fan of Pinot Meunier heavy Champagnes, this one has a delightful nose of sweet pastry dough caramelized peaches the Pinot Noir aromas come in with wild strawberry and blood orange. The yeasty nose stands out as being aged on the lees for a lengthy four years. This is a food champagne paired with roasted bone in pork chop and herbed farro with lemon zest.
Price:
$34.99
2014 l'Esprit de Chevalier Rouge, Pessac-Léognan
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/13/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/13/2024 | Send Email
I took a flyer on this, knowing that Chevalier made a brilliant Grand Vin in 2014, and their l'Espirit is always sneaky good. Tasting it, I immediately had a smile on my face, as it delivered on all accounts, and then some. Good deep red fruits on the nose, which follows on the palate with cherry, blackberry, and cedar. But what really stands out is how serious this wine is - the texture, flavor, depth, and finish all speak to a wine that far above this price point. At ten years past the vintage, it is drinking perfectly, but I wouldn't hesitate to see how it continues to evolve over the next decade. A sleeper value of the highest order in aged Bordeaux.
Price:
$34.99
Siete Leguas Blanco Tequila (700ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 6/12/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 6/12/2024 | Send Email
Spicy nose with roasted green chili scents. On the palate, lightly peppered with cinnamon and back of the throat black pepper and citrus. Very nice style!
2023 Montrose, St-Estèphe
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/10/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/10/2024 | Send Email
With a high proportion of Cabernet (75%), the structure and tensile nature of a classic vintage of Montrose is very apparent in their 2023. Black fruits, forest floor, and dusty minerality surround the generous aromas, while the palate is all about texture and primary red-to-black fruits. There's a spiciness at the core that mingles with the purity of the fruit, combining in a complex Montrose that has the estate's indelible signature. This will be a long-distance runner and a celebration of Northern Médoc Cabernet that could be from nowhere else.
Launois "Severine" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 6/7/2024 | Send Email
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 6/7/2024 | Send Email
Launois is one of our most sought after Grower-Producer champagnes. Everything about the "Severine" (named for proprietor Severine Launois!) sets it apart from other Launois offerings. It's a "mono-cru" (single village) with 100% of the grapes sourced from the Grand Cru village Le Mensil-sur-Oger, renowned for producing chiseled Chardonnay with racy acidity and chalky minerality. Though it is not indicated on the bottle, it's all from 2010, so it's a vintage champagne that's 14 years old. Lastly, it's barrel fermented and goes through malolactic fermentation, both of which add body and weight. Full bodied, rich, dark toast, lees, with notes of orange, grapefruit, dried apricot, pear, and lemon-lime.
Price:
$59.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
Single vineyard, long aged blanc de blancs for this price is unheard of, and the wine in the bottle is even better than the story. This has the high class toasty brioche that only long ageing (7 full years!) can achieve, balanced by a beautiful citric liveliness and a long mineral finish.
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Brut Nature Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
My favorite zero dosage champagne in the store! I love the fact that this wine would be impossible to pick out as sugar free, such is the perfect balance of this patiently crafted wine. The trick is time- it has been aged for seven years on the lees, and the finished product just doesn't need any added sugar, as the long contact with the lees in the bottle has given it natural richness. If you love a dry style brut, this is one to try for sure, it has great sourdough toast and fine citric zip.
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Brut Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Gary Westby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
After seven years laying "Quinconce" (the champenois term for the sardine like way they stack the bottles to age on the lees) this wine has turned into a gorgeous, brioche filled, classy bottle of tiny bubbles. I have to stop letting it surprise me how good this wine is- it is the only non-vintage in our stock to be systematically aged this long besides Krug! I love the balance between the refreshment of the chardonnay, the subtle savor of the meunier, the power of the pinot and the richness of time in this wine. Don't miss it!
Price:
$39.99
Moncuit-Delos Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne
By: Dejah Overby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Dejah Overby | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
This is a great treat for us to have on our shelves and hands down one of my favorite grower Champagne houses. Since 1977, Nicole Moncuit, mostly involved in the vitculture and vinification side, while her brother Yves runs the commercial side of the business. Today, they are joined by Nicole's daughter Valerie. This all estate bottled-estate grown chardonnay from Grand Cru vineyards in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, smells of granny-smith apples, D'Anjou pears, ginger and yellow tea. The mouthfeel is delightful adding a racy minerality and very fine bubbles in its long and lengthy finish.
2023 Margaux, Margaux
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/6/2024 | Send Email
On the aromas, 2023 Margaux comes off as very primary, with deep red raspberry and floral notes. But on the palate, there is so much depth and range, with an absolutely seamless texture that builds with cassis, blackberry, and a melange of other red and black fruits. It is layered, pure, detailed, and impressive - the entire package that you expect in top renditions of Château Margaux. The tannins are incredibly fine, the finish is long, it just has that First Growth DNA and is a masterful wine on all accounts. Like many other wines of 2023, it loudly carries the signature of the estate and terroir. When the estate and terroir in question is Château Margaux, it doesn't get much better.
2023 Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/5/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/5/2024 | Send Email
This is one of the most exciting wines in Bordeaux, thanks to it's treasured terroir and singular profile. The 2023 is a blend of 50% Cab Franc, 30% Cabernet, and 20% Merlot. Cool blue and red fruits dominate expressive and compelling aromas. On the palate there is notes of clay, cassis, and blackberry. Textured and fresh, it finishes long, with fine mineral-laced tannins and mouthwatering black fruits. Quenching. They have really tuned things in over the last few years, and Carmes 2023 continues to be as compelling as ever.
Price:
$119.99
2023 Rauzan-Ségla, Margaux
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/5/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/5/2024 | Send Email
The highest proportion of Cab ever in Rauzan-Segla at 85%, a symptom of the vintage but it makes for a very complex and structured Grand Vin. Blackberry and leather aromas lead the way to a spicy and layered palate that reveals notes of juicy black fruit. The tannins are intense but fine at the same time, and the wine develops beautifully with more time in the glass. This is a wine that will require patience, but its pedigree is undeniable. Among the best in Margaux, once again.
2023 Pichon-Baron, Pauillac
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/4/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/4/2024 | Send Email
Where the 2022 was a bit more bright and ripe, the 2023 Pichon-Baron is back to the classic house profile that's built around darker fruit that's compact and voluminous on the palate. Still, for all the density and structure, it is beautifully textured with a thread of acid that rebounds on the finish and keeps everything fresh. It is finely made and finely balanced. The 2023 speaks volumes to Pichon-Baron, and is another example of the vintage where the signature of the estate shines. This will age gracefully for a long time to come.
2023 Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/3/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 6/3/2024 | Send Email
There’s no shortage of fans of Branaire in recent years, but who wouldn’t be a fan of a wine that performs at this level and still comes in at an all-too-reasonable price. The acidity and brightness that drives the red fruit flavors keeps this mouthwatering wine fresh, while the soft texture screams St-Julien in all the best ways. There’s a weightlessness to it that pulls everything together, finishing long with fine, dusty tannins. This impressed everyone in the room, and will once again be a go-to wine from the vintage.
Launois "Cuvée Réservée" Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
Quick facts: 100% grand cru estate chardonnay, 100% old vine massal selection, 110% fantastic - the Launois Cuvee Reserve. An opening nose of absolutely classic Mesnil chalk and green apple, padded with expressions of citrus pith, with a delicate kiss of crisp orchard fruit. There are 18 reviews below mine here, and all will echo my thoughts all the way back to 2009 - $34.99 for a bottle of pure grand cru champagne is near lunacy in todays soaring sparkling market. Simply astonishing, complexly rewarding.
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Brut Nature Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
Old fan of the K&L Favorite "Baron Fuente Esprit" line? Welcome back! A new name, Quinconce (a name that references champagne bottles stacked head to toe like sardines in a tin), but the same classic Brut Nature Champagne. So evocative and pretty on the nose, with a bright limestone core holding up crunchy, freshly picked green apples on the palate, and a tingly, acid driven finish lead you back for a second glass. My old friend Esprit is the exact same as I fondly remember it to be, just with a fresh new name. Hello Quinconce!
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
Old fan of the K&L Favorite "Baron Fuente Esprit" line? Welcome back! A new name, Quinconce (a name that references champagne bottles stacked head to toe like sardines in a tin), but the exact same classic Blanc De Blanc Champagne! The scent of almond croissants baked four houses down dances on the wind and out of the glass, with a leesy palate of baked apples and pie crust that almost wont finish - an absolute marathon of an elegant champagne. My old friend Esprit is the exact same as I fondly remember it to be, just with a fresh new name. Hello Quinconce!
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Brut Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
By: Alexandre Tweedie | Review Date: 6/2/2024 | Send Email
Old fan of the K&L Favorite "Baron Fuente Esprit" line? Welcome back! A new name, Quinconce (a name that references champagne bottles stacked head to toe like sardines in a tin), but the exact same classic Brut champagne. Structured, textural, glidingly elegant acid drives this champagne forward, with crisp orchard field fruits and bright pop of candied ginger on the far finish (more of a sensation than a taste). My old friend Esprit is the exact same as I fondly remember it to be, just with a fresh new name. Hello Quinconce!
Price:
$39.99
Baron-Fuenté "Quinconce" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne (formerly Esprit)
By: Michael Benoit | Review Date: 5/30/2024 | Send Email
By: Michael Benoit | Review Date: 5/30/2024 | Send Email
For years, the champagnes we carry from Baron Fuente have been staff and customer favorites, and especially the long-aged bottles under the Esprit label. These outstanding champagnes have a new name and a new label, but the high quality and incredible value of the wine inside the bottle hasn't changed a bit. This blanc de blancs continues to be sourced from a single 9.5 acre vineyard on the western edge of Champagne, and is perfectly refreshing with a generous, creamy texture. Fresh acidity and delicate toastiness combine beautifully with soft flavors of lemon curd and pastry crust, fading out into a long mineral finish. A great aperitif or a stellar bottle for brunch!
Price:
$39.99
2023 Laroque, St-Emilion
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/24/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/24/2024 | Send Email
What Laroque has accomplished in the past half decade deserves any wine lover's attention, and this 2023 is no exception. Engaging aromas of red plum and tobacco lead to a palate with remarkable refinement and detail that speak to a caliber that defies this wine's modest price. A melange of bright red and black fruits carry a palate that is lifted by bright acidity, fine tannins, and a long, limestone-tinged finish. The complete package, this is one that will find fans of traditional Bordeaux, or complex reds from anywhere in the world.
2023 Phélan-Ségur, St-Estèphe
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/24/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/24/2024 | Send Email
Véronique Dausse is on a roll, making some of the best wines of the estate’s storied history in the past half-decade, and some of the better values on the market today. The 2023 picks this up and runs with it, showing a freshness that doesn’t sacrifice depth or complexity. Blackberry and raspberry mingle on a textured palate with fine tannins. This is going to be easy to enjoy on release and will age well.
2023 La Gaffelière, St-Émilion
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/23/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/23/2024 | Send Email
One of the best wines in our first tasting, 2023 La Gaffeliere continued to win the day every time we had the chance to taste, which was at least four times during the week. With red plum, tobacco, and slightly floral aromas, the wine leads to a brilliantly textured palate that is endlessly mouthwatering. It has a long finish that delivers one nuance after another, along with layers of red fruit. So refined yet explosive, it is a wine that I was glad to taste again and again, and it never disappointed. One of the brightest spots of the Right Bank, and once again one of the go-to wines of the vintage for its all-too-reasonable price point.
2023 Brane-Cantenac, Margaux
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/22/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/22/2024 | Send Email
With beautiful, expressive aromatics and astonishing purity, everything is in the right place with Brane Cantenac’s 2023. A thread of black fruit weaves deftly through a textured and fruit-driven, intense palate that relents to fine, pixelated tannins and a mineral touch on the long finish. Complex and impressive, it is another smashing success from a property that seems like it can do no wrong, and is quickly becoming an upper-echelon Margaux that will rival the region’s top releases in any vintage of the past half decade.
2023 Léoville-Poyferré, St-Julien
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/22/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/22/2024 | Send Email
This estate has been on fire, tilting towards the modern side in its approachability, but leaning classic when it comes to texture, structure, and poise. In fact, it is the seamless texture that really struck me each of the three times we tried it, where a mix of black and red fruits, cedar, and spice highlight weave beautifully through this nuanced LP that carries through a long, mineral-tinged finish. On the darker-fruited side of St-Julien, but doesn’t miss a beat. Fans of the estate will adore it, and folks of any serious Left Bank wine will find plenty to appreciate. They also happened to nail the pricing in 2023 - remarkable value for a property of this caliber.
2023 Cos d'Estournel, St-Estèphe
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/17/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/17/2024 | Send Email
This is a wine that speaks loudly to Cos d’Estournel’s modern-era style. Bright, precise, and incredibly fresh, with low alcohol. A mélange of high- and deep-toned red fruits coats the aromas and palate, with a fine-cut texture, and a long, penetrating finish. This is a wine that is full of character and unyieldingly quenching. There’s a density to the fruit that promises a graceful evolution, but no heaviness to speak of (including the sub-13% alcohol). Very, very finessed, in a style that will be hard to resist for many.
2023 Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/17/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/17/2024 | Send Email
Every once in a while, Ducru leaves me staggered by the quality and caliber of their wines En Primeur. 2023 was such a vintage, bringing their luxurious profile font and center, while making sure they keep it balanced and focused. The 2023 is built around a beautiful core of red fruit, mouth coating with pixelated tanning. It still leaves room for subtlety, with floral notes, and fine minerality. Powerful but balanced, luxurious and bright, 2023 Ducru-Beaucaillou hits on all levels.
Franck Bonville Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 5/8/2024 | Send Email
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 5/8/2024 | Send Email
Every year this is one of our most popular Blanc de Blancs Champagnes -- and for good reason! Hailing from the chalky soils of the world-famous Cotes de Blancs, known for its Grand Cru Chardonnay, Olivier Bonville delivers a sumptuous, medium bodied, rich style bursting with peach, pear, cream, vanilla, pineapple, golden apple, lemon-lime, and saline. Based on the ripe 2020 vintage, but with a full 50% of the blend from 2019, characterized by its elevated acidity, the result is a champagne with balance and finesse. Fermented in stainless steel tanks, 100% malolactic conversion, aged for a full 3 years on the lees like a vintage champagne, and a dosage of 8.3g/l round out its pedigree. Disgorged: March 2023. Verdict: outstanding!
Yamazaki 12 Year Old Japanese Single Malt Whisky
By: Andrew Whiteley | Review Date: 5/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Andrew Whiteley | Review Date: 5/6/2024 | Send Email
Yamazaki has undeniably set the standard for Japanese whisky for the past century. While there is no shortage of contenders popping up today, it seems that Suntory, and Yamazaki in particular, are poised to be the standard bearer for the category for the foreseeable future. This latest batch of the 12-year-old single malt pours a solid gold. The nose is a complex array of ripe stone fruits, warm cereals, freshly churned cream, vanilla, tropical fruits, and spices. The Mizunara oak is seamlessly integrated. Candied ginger, lemon grass, and sun-dried raisins are carved in relief against a background of sweet baking spices. On the palate, the fine balance makes it somewhat difficult to pull obvious notes at first. With a little more time in glass and after several sips, the beautiful weight and texture unfold into toasted coconuts, grilled peaches drizzled in honey, lemon curd, and nutty granola. The finish reprises the complex wood profile provided from a mix of cask types, the lovely spices of which linger on the palate for a long time.
2023 Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 5/6/2024 | Send Email
A dense and structured Mouton, this is one that developed one nuance after another in the glass. Cassis, black plum, tobacco, and graphite aromas lead to a concentrated and dense palate full of black cherry, cocoa, and grippy but fine tannin. It has a great Mouton signature and First Growth structure - demanding but refined, with the complexity and length that make it so impressive. Most Cabernet (93%) since the 2010 vintage.
2023 Léoville-Las-Cases, St-Julien
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 4/30/2024 | Send Email
By: Ryan Moses | Review Date: 4/30/2024 | Send Email
Compared to the more flamboyant 2022, this is a more classically sculpted LLC. Either way, it speaks to the refinement, density, and purity that have folks often speaking of the estate in First Growth terms. Very expressive and dynamic red fruit aromas lead to a palate that balances very fine tannin, sweet cherry and plum, and a long, succulent finish that builds around a beam of acidity. This doesn't feel like a big or concentrated LLC, but instead a wine of layers and density that will unfold as it ages.
2020 Garage Wine Company "Bagual Vineyard - Lot 116" Cariñena-Garnacha-Monastrell Valle de Maule
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/18/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/18/2024 | Send Email
I just love the wines from Garage Wine Company. From the funny name to the not funny taste. This Lot 116 has red cassis, black cherries and a nicely chalky finish. As always, an extremely solid and reliable red wine that is both interesting and unique.
2020 Domaine Benedetti "Larmes Papales" Châteauneuf-du-Pape
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/13/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/13/2024 | Send Email
One of the best CNP's that I have tasted so far this year. A dry beginning with tart and dry tannins. With a bit of air, dark red cherries and red cassis flavors flesh out. There is a nice minerality to balance the juiciness. The finish is long and lingering.
Eigashima Shuzo "Kamitaka" Mizumoto Junmai Sake (720ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/6/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 4/6/2024 | Send Email
This nicely tart sake has scents and flavors of green pear, whipping cream, anise (at the back of the throat), clean acidity and light ginger spice. Quite a bit going on here for very little $. Extremely delicious!
Price:
$24.99
Bruichladdich 18 Year Old Unpeated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky (blue wrap) (750ml)
By: Jeffrey Jones | Review Date: 3/18/2024 | Send Email
By: Jeffrey Jones | Review Date: 3/18/2024 | Send Email
This 18 year old single malt is a deal. It has no smoke aromas or flavors because it has not been peated. It is full bodied, concentrated and complex. I liked it best with a splash of water which brought out some sweet notes and a soft mouth feel.
Kanosuke Single Malt Japanese Whisky (700ml)
By: Jeffrey Jones | Review Date: 3/18/2024 | Send Email
By: Jeffrey Jones | Review Date: 3/18/2024 | Send Email
This single malt is easy to enjoy. The nose is pretty with sweet malt notes. In the mouth, it is light and round with sweet malt notes again. I liked it best with a touch of water which opened it up.
Price:
$79.99
Akashi White Oak "Ume" Japanese Whisky (750ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
This one was quite the surprise! So soft and creamy with whipping cream, poached pear, vanilla. I certainly did not expect that from a Japanese whiskey. Ripe apricot, golden raisins and drizzled honey. I see it as an after dinner whiskey and a fantastic alternative to a liqueur or brandy.
Price:
$39.99
Kanosuke Single Malt Japanese Whisky (700ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
The full nose of this malt is alive with orange zest, cocoa powder, oak and light honey. In the mouth, it is full and then spicy with baking spices and lush tropical fruits. The finish is long and spicy and laden with minerals.
Price:
$79.99
Bruichladdich 18 Year Old Unpeated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky (blue wrap) (750ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
I cannot say enough good things about this single malt. It has a stone-fruited nose with butterscotch and light barley malt scents. On the palate, wowza! Light smoke, spice, chamomile tea and butterhorn pastry. Classic Islay finish of smoke, saline and toasty oak. I'll admit that I'm not very fond of heavily peated and smoked single malt. That's why this one is such a treat! It is a magnificently balanced and elegant Islay that really fits the bill for me and should appeal to pretty much everyone.
Ichiro's Malt & Grain (Chichibu) "White Label" Blended Japanese Whisky (700ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
Seeing customers with this bottle in their hands has been very intriguing. I have finally managed to taste it! It does not disappoint. A clean nose with light lanolin, green fruits, lightly roasted caramel. Bigger on the palate with toffee, caramel, baking spices, green apple and apricot. It also has a very long and bright finish. A real treat, this.
Komasa Jyozo Satsuma Japanese Gin (375ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 3/15/2024 | Send Email
Deeeeelightful! Strong scents of orange and cream, very light juniper. In the mouth, spicy oranges, soft pepper, baking spices, (again) light juniper. May prove to be a bit too easy to drink.
Price:
$36.99
2021 Burn Cottage "Sauvage Vineyard" Pinot Noir Bannockburn Central Otago
By: Alex Leonardini | Review Date: 3/14/2024 | Send Email
By: Alex Leonardini | Review Date: 3/14/2024 | Send Email
The 2021 Burn Cottage "Sauvage Vineyard" Pinot Noir is as pretty and elegant and complex as they come. The nose isn't so much explosive as it is pervasively intense and nuanced, with each smell offering a new layer of aromas. First, crushed rose and gardenia petals that are followed by a layer of graphite and pencil shavings. Then, red cherry is followed closely by sea brine until bright, ripe strawberries and a touch of peppercorn take the lead. The palate is magnetic, bringing all the florals and fruits and minerals from the nose together in a seamless and never-ending spiral of complex beauty. This is a wine structured for aging, but with so much happening now and soft enough tannins that it isn't required for optimal enjoyment. This isn't bargain wine, but there are few Pinot Noirs as staggeringly thought provoking as this, and the few there are cost far, far more.
2021 Burn Cottage "Sauvage Vineyard" Pinot Noir Bannockburn Central Otago
By: Lilia McIntosh | Review Date: 3/14/2024 | Send Email
By: Lilia McIntosh | Review Date: 3/14/2024 | Send Email
Being a huge fan of Felton Road wines I am so excited to taste Burn Cottage! It's truly equal in power and complexity of flavors to Felton Road. This Pinot Noir has lovely savory notes of black tea and juicy red cherry at the same time, with layer of very subtle clove and star anise spice mix underneath it all. Finish goes on for ever and ever, it's very impressive! It's a structured wine with firm but light tannins which will help wine age gracefully yet you can certainly enjoy it now with food like duck, game meat and grilled salmon. If you like Pinot Noir, don't miss this opportunity.
Billecart-Salmon "Le Réserve" Champagne
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 3/3/2024 | Send Email
By: Philip Roufail | Review Date: 3/3/2024 | Send Email
When you make internationally renowned champagne for 206 years you don't have to rock the boat, but that's exactly what Grand Marque (Great Brand) Billecart-Salmon has done with the new releases of their flagship non-vintage champagnes. The Brut Reserve NV, soon to be called "Le Brut," remains a blend of 40% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, and 30% Pinot Noir, but now incorporates a perpetual blend (62%, 2006-2018) for the first time, adding depth and complexity, and the dosage has dropped from 8g/l to 3g/l, resulting in a much drier and refined style of champagne. In addition, the base vintage (38%) is from the fantastic 2019 "solar" harvest, which produced ripe grapes with high levels of acidity. The majority of wines (92%) were fermented in stainless steel tanks and a small but consequential amount (8%) were fermented in oak casks. Finally, the Brut Reserve only went through partial malolactic fermentation to preserve the freshness of the 2019 vintage. Disgorged in the spring of 2023. If you're already a fan of Billecart-Salmon prepare to love them even more. If you haven't tried Billecart-Salmon before, it's time to discover this legendary Grand Maison.
Bruichladdich 18 Year Old Unpeated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky (blue wrap) (750ml)
By: Will Blakely | Review Date: 3/1/2024 | Send Email
By: Will Blakely | Review Date: 3/1/2024 | Send Email
This was such a pleasure to taste, and worth the long wait for its release- a golden gift from the gods. Heady aromas of sweet grain, orange oil and peach skin float elegantly out of the glass. The palate delivers glazed peach and apricot, almond pastry and Manuka honey. Though unpeated, it is distinctly Islay with its sea salt and slightly mossy profile. The rich texture and sweet, endlessly lingering finish suggest dessert wine casks played a prominent role in the aging of this exquisite spirit. Any Scotch fan will be instantly smitten, and I think this would make an enticing entry into the category, though anyone who starts here would be spoiled for life.
2021 Tayu 1865 Pinot Noir Malleco Valley
By: Kirk Walker | Review Date: 2/24/2024 | Send Email
By: Kirk Walker | Review Date: 2/24/2024 | Send Email
Typicity. Value. Discovery. This Pinot delivers. It delivers classic Pinot Noir flavors and structure. The quality of this wine way over delivers the price point. And for most people Malleco might as well be Mars, who knows where it is? It just happens to be one of the coolest growing regions in Southern Chile.
When it comes to Pinot Noir, I can be a very hard judge. There are times when I feel very much like an old-timer. A “back in my day” or “when I got started, things were different”, kind of old timer. A lot has changed in the last 25 years. The style of Burgundy that was made back then, is not made anymore. Now there are so many reasons for this, some bad but most for good, but I am not going to get into that. This is a wine that reminds me of that style of Pinot Noir. Cool to cold climate, earthy, old-world Pinot.
There are some wines is something that is just around, on the edges here and there, but not at this price point. This was such an exciting wine to try. Malleco was first planted to Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but they were inspired by the success of New Zealand and experimented with Pinot. Its climate is like Burgundy, cold and continental. It has longer daytime sunshine hours and is on average colder with the influence of not only two mountain ranges but the cold Southern Pacific Ocean.
This is a wine with ripe beautiful fruit, and high acid. This combination is one of the amazing things that Chile, there wines have that old-world structure but new-world fruit. The fruit is high toned; a mix of darker berries with good lift (not quite old school Cote de Nuits, but close). It is light bodied, there are some tannins that give it a little grip, and bright, mouthwatering acidity. You can feel the sunshine in the midpalate, the wine builds and grows with those fruit tones becoming richer. This wine does not finish like a wine at this price point. It is long with the fruit highlighting those savory elements that were on the nose. I love this wine, I love that it is delicious, it's not complicated, just straight forward good tasting. I love that it hits a nostalgic cord for me. I love that it might inspire the curious to take a moment or two to look at the map. This is why wine can be so much fun.
2019 Ramey North Coast Claret
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 2/22/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 2/22/2024 | Send Email
This beautiful (and affordable!) Claret is a real gem1 I tasted it at the winery on 19 February and it was a real treat. It is full of dark red fruits, licorice and cedar wood. There are mildly tart tannins, blackberry, light spic and dusty black cherries. A lot going on here! In a really good way.
Rihaku "Wandering Poet" Junmai Ginjo Sake (720ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 1/27/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 1/27/2024 | Send Email
The Wandering Poet sake has a soft nose of cantaloupe, green banana and minerals/sea salt. In the mouth, dry and almost linear with green melon, savory notes and back of the throat spice and herbs. Extremely interesting and different. A good match for vegetarian tempura.
Price:
$34.99
2011 Suduiraut, Sauternes (375ml)
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 1/27/2024 | Send Email
By: Scott Beckerley | Review Date: 1/27/2024 | Send Email
Frankly, I am not much of a dessert wine guy. I don't actually even particularly like sweets. A basket of pomme frites or a cheese platter are always my downfall. However, this vintage of Suduiraut is the BOMB! It is so, so, so, so, so delicious and not over-the-top sweet. Lush with pineapple fruit, maraschino cherry, honey and nougat, Wonderful background acidity that keeps it from being too sticky sweet. What a marvelous way to end our staff Bordeaux tasting!