Monthly Archives: February 2010

Review: Knappogue Castle 1994 Master Distiller’s Private Selection Irish Whiskey

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

We were lucky enough to land one of just 1,100 bottles of Knappogue Castle’s 1994 Master Distiller’s Private Selection Irish whiskey, a single malt Irish — hand numbered and signed by the son of the distillery’s founder, Mark Anders III.

Aged 16 years, it’s hard to imagine this whiskey spent that much time in cask. Very light in body, it’s a pale straw color with just a minimal hint of wood on the nose. Shockingly, the biggest flavor component here is apple — fresh apples, with a touch of banana and bubble gum, both traditional notes for Irish whiskeys.

The finish is light and moderately sweet, with a cane sugar character. Altogether it’s a classic Irish in keeping with Knappogue’s house style, and one that’s well worth seeking out if you can find it. 80 proof.

A- / $99 / knappoguewhiskey.com

knappogue castle 1994 Review: Knappogue Castle 1994 Master Distillers Private Selection Irish Whiskey

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Posted in Irish Whiskey, Rated A-, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: 2005 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Best known for its Alexander Valley release, Silver Oak has lately been toying with a broader — and more expensive — Napa Valley Cabernet bottling from the other end of the California wine country. With a distinctively different bottle, it’s got a distinctly different character, too. We tried it out the 2005 on the week of its release.

Far softer than you’d think for a wine just off the shelf, credit Silver Oak for keeping this wine for 20 months in bottle (after 25 months in oak) to help get things harmonized and into balance. Composed of 80% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 7% cabernet franc, and 3% petit verdot, this is an extremely well-balanced wine that has plenty of fruit up front, with a plum and black cherry core, then gives way to some subtleties that include chocolate, leather, and spice. The tannins are already plenty light here… not sure this wine will hold up until 2032, as Silver Oak offers, but I’d certainly give it another seven or eight years.

A- / $100 / silveroak.com

silver oak 2005 napa valley cab Review: 2005 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

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Posted in Rated A-, Reviews, Wine

Tasting Blackstone Reserve Wines with Winemaker Gary Sitton

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Blackstone is known for its supermarket brand — the company sells over 16 million bottles of budget wines each year — but you may not know about its Reserve lineup, which comprises less than 10 percent of its sales.

Recently I tasted through the Reserve lineup with winemaker Gary Sitton, a veteran of Ravenswood and a devotee of Sonoma County, where Blackstone sources all of its fruit for the Reserve series.

All priced at $22 or less, these aren’t budget-breaking wines, but for the most part they’re perfectly drinkable. Comments on each of the five follow.

2008 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Chardonnay – Not overly oaked, intriguing with the addition of 3% muscat, from which you can actually taste the citrusy/spicy character. B / $17

2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Pinot Noir - Adds 7% syrah, a traditional Burgundy trick. Not too complicated, with good enough fruit and an earthiness that isn’t overdone. B / $19

2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot - Surprisingly tart, includes 7% cabernet sauvignon, 6% ruby cabernet, and 2% petit verdot. Cherry body isn’t terribly inspiring, but it’s easygoing. B- / $19

2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - Includes 7% cab franc, 4% petit verdot, and 2% malbec. Big and plummy, with minimal tannin. Young and fresh. B+ / $19

2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Rubric - A big mutt of a wine: 55% cabernet sauvignon, 14% malbec, 8% cabernet franc, 8% petit verdot, 7% tannat, 5% merlot. Surprisingly, it’s pretty good, similar in structure to the cabernet but with more nuance and intrigue. A- / $22

blackstonewinery.com

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Posted in Rated A-, Rated B, Rated B+, Rated B-, Reviews, Wine

Samovar’s Valentine’s Day Romance Tea Set

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

I like tea. I would like to drink more tea. Maybe a loved one should give me something like this for Valentine’s Day to encourage said tea drinking.*

Samovar Tea Lounge bundles three of its most “seductive and sensuous” teas into one box, offering four-ounce cans of each along with a mesh infuser that fits in your mug. The three teas are all pretty good: Maiden’s Ecstasy, a Pu-erh tea, is perhaps my favorite of the trio, rich and earthy but lightly sweet. The green tea, Jasmine Pearl, is traditional in flavor but comes packed into little balled-up leaves that unfold as they steep. Finally there’s Wild Rose Bai Mudan, which includes wild grasses and rose petals — not my favorite as it’s overly perfumy, but not a bad change of pace vs. chamomile.

*Loved ones please do not give me this. I already have it.

$79 / samovarlife.com

Samovar Gift Box Samovars Valentines Day Romance Tea Set

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Posted in Mixers

Review: 2008 Bivio Pinot Grigio

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

With fruit sourced from various regions around Venice, Bivio’s budget Pinot Grigio delle Venezie IGT is a very simple wine. Perhaps the palest shade of yellow I’ve ever seen in a wine, it’s clear (no pun intended) from the start that there’s not a whole lot to this white. Crisp and with some floral notes in the nose and minerals in the body, it would be fine as an everyday “keep it in the fridge” wine were it not for a slightly harsh finish, uncharacteristic for an otherwise pleasant experience.

B- / $13 / bivioitalia.com

Bivio Pinot Grigio Review: 2008 Bivio Pinot Grigio

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Posted in Rated B-, Reviews, Wine

The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza Rolls Across the Country

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Hey folks — turns out there’s a third whisky show in town in addition to WhiskyFest and Whiskies of the World. The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza actually hits 13 cities this year, beginning with Atlanta in March and winding its way to San Francisco in November. The itinerary is a familiar one… in the words of the event planners:

Ladies and Gentlemen are cordially invited to enjoy a connoisseur’s evening featuring over 100 rare & exceptional single malt and Scotch whiskies. The evening includes a delicious dinner buffet as well as a selection of premium imported cigars for our guests’ later enjoyment. The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza brings the discerning enthusiast the opportunity to sample the participating whiskies in a sophisticated and elegant environment with genuine camaraderie and knowledgeable representatives from each participating distillery.

A full schedule can be found here.

Want to attend? Drinkhacker readers can get a break on the price of a ticket — your first two can be had at the “member price,” which is $15 off the cost for non-members. Just visit this page to purchase tix and use promotional code TDH2010. Remember you only get two at the discounted price, so get your thirsty friends to buy their own.

Hope to see you at the SF event!

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Posted in Scotch, Upcoming Events, Whiskey

Review: 6 Sparkling Wines for Valentine’s

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Run out and buy your special someone a bottle of Moet or Veuve… or look off the beaten path at a different sparkling wine.

Here’s a look at six recently released sparklers from literally all over the world (six wines from six countries) — tasted blind, just for the fun of it — featuring three standard sparklers and three rose versions.

Happy early Valentine’s Day!

Sparkling Wines

NV Trapiche Extra Brut – Mendoza, Argentina – Lightly sparkling, with fresh apple flavors. Simple, but refreshing. Would work well in a cocktail or as a house sparkler. B+ / $12

2007 Bagratoni 1882 Reserve (pictured) – Tbilisi, Georgia (yes, the country) – Fruity, with orange aromas, but with an oddly vegetal finish. Very bright color. Would go better with food. B- / $25

NV Pongracz Brut – Western Cape, Stellenbosch, South Africa -  Very dry, and extremely fizzy. Not bad at all, but nothing special. B / $NA

Sparkling Rose Wines

NV Elyssia Cava Pinot Noir Brut – Spain – Extremely fruity, with blatant raspberry character. Almost tastes doctored. Somewhat sour finish. From Freixenet. C+/ $22

NV Amorosa Bella Brut Rose – Mendocino, California – The essence of rose petals in a bottle. Perfumy and a little cloying. C+ / available only at the Kenwood Inn & Spa (also available here)

NV Lamberti Vino Spumante Rose – Calmasino, Italy – Sweet, not very fizzy at all. Very flat. Not a lot of character, but I can drink it. In an odd side note, whatever is used to make the wire cage black began to melt, leaving a puddle of black ink all over my hands after opening it. B- / $13

bagratoni 2007 reserve brut Review: 6 Sparkling Wines for Valentines

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Posted in Rated B, Rated B+, Rated B-, Rated C+, Reviews, Wine

Review: Penderyn Single Malt Welsh Whisky

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Christopher Null| 3 Comments

Yes, Virginia, they make whisky in Wales. And as in Scotland, they spell it without the E.

Penderyn is the best known Welsh whisky on the market, probably because it’s the only operating distillery left in the region.

Penderyn makes several bottlings, but this, in the company’s “house style,” is one of its best-known, a single malt which is matured in bourbon barrels and finished in old Madeira wine casks. It bears no age statement but is lightly golden in color and the balance indicates it’s quite young.

Wood and leather notes are surprisingly prominent in the body, which exhibits a buttery, honey-like consistency. The Madeira character is considerably different than in, say, Balvenie’s Madeira-finished Scotch, ending not so much with wine-like notes but with bittersweet chocolate and more cask wood character. I’d like more balance and cohesion in all of these flavors, but I do appreciate this whisky’s moxie.

92 proof.

B+ / $52 / welsh-whisky.co.uk

penderyn welsh whisky Review: Penderyn Single Malt Welsh Whisky

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Posted in Rated B+, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Herbsaint Original

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Christopher Null| 5 Comments

There is one known use for Herbsaint, and it’s a big one: In the classic Sazerac cocktail, in which the glass is washed with Herbsaint before rye, sugar, and Peychaud’s bitters are added.

Now Sazerac (the company) is relaunching the venerable spirit with its original 1934 recipe, called Herbsaint Original.

Neither the standard Herbsaint nor Herbsaint Original contain wormwood, so while they both carry a strong anise/licorice flavor, neither is a real absinthe. Nonetheless the liqueur was caught up in anti-absinthe hysteria in the 1930s, and the company was forced to remove the word “absinthe” from its labeling.

I was expecting minimal difference between Herbsaint Original and standard Herbsaint, but boy was I wrong. Poured neat, these are night and day against each other: Herbsaint is electric green and a little scary in its artificial coloring, while Herbsaint Original is a deeper greenish brown (though it too includes artificial coloring). The flavors are different, too: Herbsaint is known for a sharp licorice character and a heavy alcoholic finish, but Original is deeper and richer, still clearly licorice, but less sweet and, surprisingly, less boozy, despite being 100 proof to the standard version’s 90 proof.

One surprise: Herbsaint standard actually performed better in the Sazerac cocktail. While the tastes were similar, Herbsaint Original just weighed things down too much.

Both versions will continue to be sold.

A- / $35 / sazerac.com

herbsaint original Review: Herbsaint Original

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Posted in Absinthe, Liqueurs, Rated A-, Reviews

Three Ways to Spend 10 Grand and Get Engaged

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Valentine’s Day approaches, and that means bartenders and home mixologists galore will be breaking out the Chambord to create V-Day cocktails.

Or perhaps you’d like to find a way to get drunk and get engaged at the same time. It will cost you, of course — at least $10,000.

The funny thing is this is a bit of a trend. At least three different bars are offering “proposal cocktails” that include jewelry. It’s one-stop shopping for lush lotharios. And here they are.

My favorite recipe (which doesn’t actually include a ring but rather a necklace and some cuff links): Louis XIII Black Pearl cognac, 4 ounces Charles Heidsieck 1981 Champagne Charlie, fresh-squeezed orange juice, apricot puree, Sence rose nectar, two ice cubes, 18-carat gold necklace with Tahitian black pearl, 18-carat gold and stingray-leather Mont Blanc cuff links.

Sounds delish… but after that outlay, we’ll have to elope.

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Posted in Bars