Christopher Null
Mayacamas is a legendary, blue chip Napa winery perched high on Mt. Veeder — above the fog line, in fact. While the winery is well known for its cabernet and chardonnay releases, it also operates a unique library system that consumers have full access to. Each year, winemaker Braiden Albrecht — who’s been with the…
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Smell that whisky: Sherry, amirite? As a matter of fact, no: This exciting new release from Jura is a 14 year old that is aged in a combination of American bourbon and rye whiskey casks — the latter being a twist that is a rarity in Scotland. The nose immediately threw me for a loop:…
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This year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection release, its 18th edition, is a bit of a mouthful. In fact, what you see in the headline isn’t even the full name. That monster of a name is: Parker’s Heritage Collection Kentucky Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Reconstructed Heavy Toast Cognac Barrels 14 Years Old. Parker’s has done malt…
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Carpineto is a relative newcomer in Tuscan wine production, dating back to “just” 1967. The winery produces all the classics — Chianti, Brunello, and the like — plus a super-affordable Super Tuscan called Dogajolo, which just celebrated its 30th anniversary. We didn’t get any Dogajolo, but we did get three more readily identifiable releases from…
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Our first experience with Siempre Tequila was not wholly memorable — and that fact was perhaps not lost on its Canadian brand owners, which, since that 2019 review, dumped its original distillery and upgraded to a new NOM, the well-regarded but fairly busy NOM 1414, Feliciano Vivanco. The new expressions also carry “vintage” production information…
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Mount Gay launched its Single Estate Series rum last year to great acclaim, the end-product of an eight-year journey that began with acquiring its own 324-acre sugar cane estate in 2015 and using that cane to make its own molasses, ferment its own juice, distill rum from that juice, and age it in barrels —…
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Someone once said that birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake. At Old Forester, they’re nature’s way of telling us to drink more bourbon, I suppose, with Birthday Bourbon now in its 24th iteration. Coverage of this release, celebrating the birth of George Garvin Brown, founder of Old Forester, should come…
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Still Austin‘s 2023 bonded red corn bourbon was such a hit that it spawned a sequel: For 2024, Bottled in Bond Red Corn is back, but at 5 years old instead of 4. The mash remains the same: 36% Jimmy Red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted barley — as does everything…
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Forever Young is a new Côtes de Provence rosé clearly built with summer, parties, and bachelorettes all in mind. It’s a nonvintage offering, blended from 40% cinsault, 55% grenache, and 5% syrah and featuring a trendy glass stopper instead of a cork. Let’s give it a whirl. Brutally floral, with a secondary punch of strawberry.…
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The 2024 halfway mark of Larceny Barrel Proof releases has arrived: B524 coming in at 62.7% abv, but otherwise refusing to mix up this well-worn equation. (Wheated bourbon, cask strength, no age statement.) As a side note, Larceny recently changed up its standard edition, 92-proof label design (see photo, right). Here’s how the brand…
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