Review: Casa Sauza XA Extra Anejo Edicion Limitada
Sauza may be best known for making inexpensive yet perfectly drinkable 100% agave tequila, but now it’s raising the bar with an extra anejo called Casa Sauza XA. This fancy-pants bottling is indeed extra-old, 100% aged three years in a combination of new and used American oak barrels. The bottle is something like I’ve never…
Tasting Report: Wines of Italy’s Morellino di Scansano DOCG, 2012
Morellino di Scansano is located in the southernmost part of Tuscany (Grosseto is the nearest major town), an area made a DOCG in 2007. Until now I’d never heard of it. At well-known sommelier David Lynch’s new wine bar, St. Vincent, in San Francisco, Lynch talked about what makes this region different, and six producers…
Review: Tomatin 15 Years Old Tempranillo Cask Finish
I’ve sampled Tomatin’s whiskys on numerous occasions, but this is oddly the first time we’ve covered the distillery in a formal capacity. Tomatin, based in the mountains south of Inverness in the northern Highlands region of Scotland, is less frequently seen on our shores, but the distillery makes a wide range of whiskies stretching to…
Review: Ransom Old Tom Gin
A reader recently turned me on to Ransom’s Old Tom Gin, asking (nay, begging) for a review. I’m obliging. Ransom Old Tom Gin is different than most gins. For starters, it’s yellow, not clear. That’s a characteristic of the rarely-seen Old Tom style, which was popular in the mid-1800s and faded into obscurity when the…
Tasting Report: Wines of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, SF Roadshow 2012
A few months ago I got the chance to visit some of Oregon’s best wineries. Recently, they brought the wineries to me. In a presentation of several dozen of Willamette Valley’s most notable wine producers, “Pinot in the City” saw over 200 wines being poured for attendees hot for both Pinots — Noir and Gris.…
Review: 2011 Makara Sauvignon Blanc and 2011 Mountain Door Malbec
Vintage Point imports small production wines and sells them for cheap. Turns out they’re not doing a bad job of it. Here’s a look at two of the company’s new U.S. releases. 2011 Makara Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough – Distinct mango and pineapple notes, with a juicy, fruit-heavy body. Reasonably acidic, but could use a little…
Review: Wemyss Single Cask Single Malts, 2012 Releases
Wemyss (“weems”) Malts, based in Edinburgh, has become well known for its blended malt whiskys in a small number of years (it was founded in 2005). But Wemyss also releases a periodic series of single malt whiskys, all bottled from single casks, following a number of prior, limited-edition releases along these lines and in keeping…
Review: Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water
Fever-Tree has a richly deserved reputation as the producer of some of the finest artisanal mixers in the business. Its Indian Tonic Water, Ginger Beer, and Ginger Ale are all top notch. Now Fever-Tree is expanding its tonic water portfolio with a new spin: Mediterranean Tonic Water, which is made “using the most authentic strain…
