Wine + Spirits
PORT PORT PORT. Friday January 27, 2012 is International Port Day. Have a bottle somewhere in the cellar? Always wanted to try port? Here’s your big opportunity. Sip and tweet #PortDay And yes, you CAN have it with chocolate.
Stay Away: that was the first message I got from Chateau La Nerthe in the Southern Rhone area of France — in Chateauneuf du Pape, to be precise. On a wine trip there some years ago, it was clearly painful for them to have a few journalists admitted to this prestige domaine. We were supposed [...]
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Seriously beautiful countryside in Armagnac. This is the little alembic room at Chateau de Bordeneuve, tucked right up next to the vineyards. Spent the last week in the Armagnac region of France – in the Southwest region of Gascony, home of the swashbuckling Musketeers. It’s also home to all things duck, like foie gras – [...]
Venerable Hospices de Beaune is the oldest charitable auction in the world, founded in 1859 – though the hospital it benefits dates from 1443. The event is also important because the auction prices are said to set market levels for the new vintage of top-tier Burgundy wines, each year. I do love the walled, old [...]
If I was a Bordeaux chateau owner, I’d probably do the same thing: concentrate on China right now. Still, it’s a bit unnerving when you see it happening right in front of you. Like at the recent Chateau Palmer lunch, with the Commanderie de Bordeaux in Boston. Charming Palmer marketing manager Bernard de Laage played [...]
Chocolate, chocolate, I’ll try anything chocolate. Sometimes I’m surprised. Like with Van Gogh Vodka’s new Rich Dark Chocolate. I’ve tried quite a few of their flavors before, and I’m not always convinced. This one was very convincing. First of all, it actually is a dark chocolate flavor. If you were expecting creamy sweetness, this was [...]
I’ve had some of the the Exclusiv Vodcas for some time now, and I’m glad I waited and sampled them over the course of several weeks, in different ways. Exclusiv is a wheat vodka made in Moldova, a tiny country tucked between Romania and Ukraine. First, I want to mention that the bottles’ design is [...]
Continue reading about Exclusiv name, not price, for this vodka
I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before that this was lacking. Well, problem solved: the new Guide to the Wines of France is out in English. It’s by top wine critics Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve, who have both been prominent in their field for several decades. They have published this volume [...]
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The Macallan. Why does “the” sound so pretentious at first? And now it just rolls of my tongue. Actually, I haven’t had any tonight. Recently I sampled several (again), from ten- to 25-year-old. My favorite? The 17-year-old, which was elegant, smooth, with good body. I’d prefer to sip that one in the evening with its [...]
Continue reading about 17-year-old+ ice balls = The Macallan
