Top Rated
The “Top Rated” category contains our favorite products, all reviewed with an A or A+ rating. If you’re looking for the best of the best, this is the place to be. You can filter your search to find only the top rated reviews in certain product categories by using our Advanced Search feature.
It’s our second year running looking at the sparkling wines of Roederer, perhaps the most iconic sparkling wine producer in the U.S. (not to mention France). Let’s dive back in! NV Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley (2026) – Still a multivintage blend of 40% pinot noir and 60% chardonnay, with 10 to 15% reserve wine…
American whiskey has spent more than a decade experimenting with finishing casks, and the pace hasn’t slowed. Distillers seem locked in a quiet contest to uncover the next captivating angle, whether that means breaking new ground or refining techniques that have already proven their worth. In May 2018, Nelson’s Greenbrier in Nashville introduced Belle Meade…
There’s an active conversation unfolding in American whiskey about what comes next. The bourbon boom had its run. Single barrels had their moment. The sourced whiskey era forced a round of self-reflection. Now producers are asking sharper questions about identity, and more often than not, the answers circle back to wood. Not just how it’s…
X Novo is a small production winery in Oregon’s Eola-Amity Hills AVA, helmed by Craig Williams, who’s been working harvests in California and Oregon since the 1970s, including a 35-year stint at Joseph Phelps. His love of Burgundy translated to making wine in Oregon thanks to its soil and climate similarities. He purchased the 5-acre…
Nancy Fraley first conceived Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend in March 2016, with the first public release arriving later that year. In the years since, a wave of American whiskey producers have introduced their own interpretations of the cigar blend concept, many bearing a striking resemblance to Fraley’s original vision. The category has filled out with…
Terroir is one of whiskey’s most fascinating ideas, and one of the toughest to pin down in any meaningful way. In wine, it’s easy to picture. A grape grown in a specific place can carry the imprint of its surroundings, shaped by soil, climate, elevation, and everything in between. Whiskey rarely offers that kind of…
The name may confuse, but Tenuta Argentiera is not an Argentinian winery. Rather, it’s based in Bolgheri, Italy, one of the bluest of blue chip growing locations in the country. Some basics: Argentiera is located in the southern tip of the Bolgheri DOC, on the hills of Donoratico, whose splendid vineyards overlook the Tuscan archipelago…
Buffalo Trace’s Single Oak Project was one of the most ambitious bourbon experiments in history, a project that took eleven years to complete from start to finish and which involved the creation of 192 different barrels of whiskey, each differing based on seven variables, including the following: • Mashbill (wheat or rye recipe) • Entry…
I recently had the opportunity to meet James Cahill, winemaker at North Valley Vineyards, now in his 30th harvest there in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The fellow University of Texas graduate is one of the most down-to-earth people I’ve met in this business, and over an hour of Zoom we tasted through six of his winery’s…
Chocolate is the most iconic of desserts, yet it’s widely maligned when it comes to cocktails. The chocolate martini? Is that a serious cocktail that anyone would drink outside of a bachelorette party or while enjoying a cover band on a cruise ship? Hey, it’s time to put aside prejudices and embrace the power of…