Wine + Spirits
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 [...]
Continue reading about Finally, a book about French wines by French wine experts – in English!
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
For me, it’s fascinating to see a wineglass, a decanter, a wine bottle that sat on a dining table hundreds of years ago. It might be plain and thick and unevenly shaped. It might be thin and delicate and rimmed with gold. At the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York, I was fascinated [...]
In London they have a Champagne Grand Tasting every year. Why is this the first time it’s come to the US? This year the New York Champagne Grand Tasting was held in a beautifully decorated, small ballroom at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Here’s a snapshot of some of the finest champagnes I sampled: Alfred Gratien [...]
Continue reading about Champagne Grand Tasting: Old Friends and New Discoveries
Sort of a cliché, but on St. Patrick’s Day while waiting for our corned beef and cabbage dinner to finish cooking, I got out the Irish whiskey. In this case, a special bottle: Bushmills 1608, created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the original license to distill in the Bushmills area. It’s a smooth whiskey [...]
One of my favorite things about Bertani, the Amarone producer, is that they make available their vintage Amarones from just about any year in the last half-century. Anyone can order one through the distributor, and the prices are in the $$ hundreds, not $$$ thousands – great for celebrating special occasions. Recently, soft-spoken Bertani winemaker [...]
Continue reading about Amarone from any year? How about 1980!
