Rob Theakston
The Hakushu is a whisky at ease in its own lightness, but ends up bearing a bit of weight via metaphors. It has been dragooned into service as a forest in a glass, a meditation, a mountain breeze from the Japanese Alps miraculously bottled and sold at luxury elite prices. However, what arrives is far…
The thing about Catena Zapata and the narrative the winery prefers to tell about itself is that it is both a perfect distillation of Argentina and also incomplete. Yes, there are the high-altitude viticultural breakthroughs, the almost comically idyllic backdrops of Mendoza, and a Malbec portfolio insisting people stop thinking of Argentina as a punchline…
Being one of the iconic Saint Julien Left Bank estates, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou isn’t the least bit shy about its reputation and bona fides. But its Madame de Beaucaillou offering is where the estate can let its hair down for a good time and kick back in the garden, rather than the fifty-foot dining room table.…
Duckhorn. Decoy. Migration. Paraduxx. Canvasback. Calera. Chances are, if your wine preferences migrate toward west coast of the United States, you’ve crossed paths with one or more from this well-known flock of award-winning wines. Now there’s Featherweight, a low-calorie, low-alcohol entry into the Decoy family, looking to keep taste afloat. Christopher reviewed a few Decoys…
The Loire Valley doesn’t present itself in the same manner as Burgundy or Bordeaux. However, it does offer a wide range of affordable wines with a refreshing lack of pretense. Producers are every bit as obsessed with soil, weather and tradition as other regions, but not as much with scores or which varietal is “having…
While Bholsa is named in tribute to the caves on the northwest coast of Islay, it is also the second Ardnahoe release to make the transatlantic journey stateside, arriving non–chill filtered, Oloroso-matured, and free of cosmetic enhancements. Ardnahoe Bholsa Review Much like when one knows they are in the presence of an Ivy League business…
Anniversary editions can be risky propositions. They can arrive on the market with more pomp than substance: slap a nifty label on it, upcharge by a factor of three to five, laugh all the way to the shareholder steak and cigar dinner. True to Nikka form, this 40th anniversary release of Nikka Whisky from the…
For reasons entirely accidental, I nearly became a Dry January participant. A string of family health scares has a way of recalibrating priorities, and when paired with ice storms so aggressive they felt rude and very personal, usual routines fell into a holding pattern. Drinks were skipped, bottles gathered dust, and restraint made an unscheduled…
Returning to Cantoro Market feels less like a sequel and more like checking back in on a place that never stops evolving. The scale is still mildly overwhelming, the shelves still bowing under the weight of Italian specialties you didn’t know existed or needed, and the wine section continues to emanate a low-grade sense of…
Holiday social functions have a special talent for testing the limits of human endurance. Not everyone has the budget or willpower to present a prestige bottle to an event where half the guests can’t distinguish Cabernet from spiced cider, or worse, you are stuck next to a Guy who loudly barks to everyone within earshot…