Review: 2019 Comboio do Vesuvio Douro
Portugal’s Douro is know for being the home of Port wines, but a number of still wines are also produced here, including this bottling, made on the estates of Port producer Quinta do Vesuvio. It’s blended from four Portuguese grapes: Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Tinta Barroca. Rich with currants and plums, almost…
Review: Tequila Don Julio Ultima Reserva
Don Julio dropped two luxe expressions this year, culmination with a rerelease of Don Julio Ultima Reserva, its top-end bottling which was originally released in 2021. We missed round one but were excited to see a second small release of this 36-month old extra anejo hit the market in time for the 2022 holiday season.…
Visiting the 2022 Kentucky Bourbon Festival: Up Close and Personal with America’s Top Distillers
I’ve been going to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival since the 1990s. Located each year in downtown Bardstown, Kentucky, the Festival is the largest such event actually held in the Bourbon Capital of the World. And allow me to be the umpteenth Bardstown local (or former local) to say: Things have changed, and that’s a lot…
Review: Maddalena 2020 Merlot and 2021 Rose
This wallet-friendly extension of Paso Robles-based San Antonio wines is named after its founder, Maddalena Riboli. Now in her mid-nineties, she remains actively involved as an advisor to day-to-day operations with no signs of slowing down. Here’s a look at two of the more recent bottlings in the company’s extensive portfolio of offerings: 2020 Maddalena…
Review: Gran Duque d’Alba Brandy de Jerez Solera Gran Reserva
Spanish brandy is far less common in the U.S. than its French or American counterparts. Made mostly from the airen grape, most Spanish brandy is aged in a solera style that sees younger stock constantly replenishing barrels of increasingly aged, blended spirit. While Gran Duque d’Alba makes an older, XO bottling of its brandy, this…
Review: Kentucky Owl Bourbons – Confiscated and Takumi Edition
Stoli keeps meddling with its Kentucky Owl brand — releasing both The Wiseman releases (for the masses) as well as a growing number of “Innovation Series” bottlings which nod only to that sub-brand with a tagline reading, “The Wise Man’s Bourbon.” Today we look at two releases from its limited editions, Confiscated and Takumi Edition,…
Review: Peirano 2021 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 2020 Malbec
While Central Valley’s Lodi region may not carry the brand-name luxury clout of other parts of California, it has more than a generous number of winemakers releasing affordable, approachable wines of quality at a healthy pace.  Peirano is a fourth-generation family enterprise from the area, and we gave two of their most recent red releases…
Review: Catedral de Mi Padre Mezcal EspadÃn
Catedral is a California-based brand started by father-daughter duo Jeff and Sydney Block. For each of the six varieties of mezcal they offer, they partner with a different Master Mezcalero. The EspadÃn we are trying today was made by Jorge Octavio Cardaz Cualtamirano in the mountains outside Oaxaca City, Mexico. Let’s give it a try.…