Category: Review

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Hall Craig’s Red Wine

Hall Craig's Red Wine 2014.
Hall Craig’s Red Wine 2014. Click here for tasting notes.

Hall Craig’s Red Wine 2014

Kathryn Walt Hall has a most impressive curriculum vitae. To touch on just a few of the high points, she is the proprietor of HALL Wines and WALT Wines [family businesses she has been involved with for over thirty years], was assistant city attorney in Berkeley, California, worked as an attorney and businesswoman in Dallas, Texas, and has served on numerous non-profit and institutional boards, with an emphasis on issues related to social care and mental health. From 1997 to July 2001, Ms. Hall served as the United States Ambassador to Austria. In the midst of this, together with her husband Craig she has raised four children.

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Kelt Commodore Cognac

Kelt Commodore Cognac.
Kelt Commodore Cognac. For tasting notes, click here.

Kelt Commodore 

First, let’s talk about brandy vs. Cognac. Brandy is a liquor distilled from wine and aged in wood. (Brandy can be made from fruits other than grapes as well, but that’s a story for another time.) Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. (The one which has the most favorable soil and geographical conditions is Grande Champagne.) So, all Cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are Cognac. For more detail on Cognac, click here.

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Parallel 44 Winery

Parallel 44 Winery
Parallel 44 Winery. Click here for tasting notes.

Parallel 44 Winery

The story of Parallel 44 Vineyard & Winery began in 2005, when husband and wife team Steve Johnson and Maria Milano planted their first grape vines. Steve grew up in Green Bay, where his father Carl experimented early on with growing grapes. Maria grew up in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where her Italian-born father continued his tradition of making wine for friends and family celebrations. Steve and Maria met while in school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and then attended law school together. While working as attorneys, they attended seminars on grape growing in Wisconsin, with an eye towards getting into the wine business. Continue reading “Parallel 44 Winery”

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Casa Silva

Casa Silva Microterroir de Los Lingues Carmenère and Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc.
Casa Silva Microterroir de Los Lingues Carmenère and Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc. Click here for tasting notes.

Casa Silva

Casa Silva traces its roots back to 1892, when Emile Bouchon immigrated from Bordeaux to Chile’s Colchagua Valley. After decades of producing wines for others, in 1997 Bouchon’s great-great-grandson Mario Silva established Casa Silva to produce estate wines under the family’s own name. He had already  dedicated much of his life to recovering the old vineyards and wine cellar, and had acquired a unique understanding of the terroir in the Colchagua Valley, which is divided into the Andean sector,  influenced by the mountains, a central sector on the flatlands, and a coastal sector with significant influence from the Pacific Ocean.

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Allaire Vodka

Allaire Vodka

Allaire Vodka

Allaire vodka is a “premium” vodka that is produced in Poland. The vodka is distilled six times (allegedly in vertical columns) and and then filtered five times, aiming for “outstanding purity, clarity and shine.” according to the producer. The mash bill (grain base) for Allaire is reportedly rye-dominant — meaning a substantial portion of the spirit originates from rye grain rather than wheat or potatoes.

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Catena Wines

Catena Wines.
Catena Wines. Click here for tasting notes.

Catena Wines

In 1902, Italian immigrant Nicola Catena planted his first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina. Domingo, Nicola’s eldest son, took the family winery to the next level, building the Catena business to become one of the largest vineyard holders in Mendoza. Like his father, Domingo Catena fiercely believed that Argentine Malbec could make a wine as worthy as any first-growth Bordeaux.

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FOS Mastiha

FOS Mastiha Liqueur
FOS Mastiha Liqueur

FOS Mastiha  Liqueur

The Mastiha tree is also known as the famous Crying Tree,  since it “cries” teardrops of resin during the harvest period. It only grows and is cultivated on the small Mediterranean island of Chios. Nowhere else in the world has it been able to take root.

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Cecchi Wines

Cecchi Chianti Classico 2012 and Cecchi La Mora Vermentino 2014.
Cecchi Chianti Classico 2012 and Cecchi La Mora Vermentino 2014. Click here for tasting notes.

Cecchi Wines

In 1893, Luigi Cecchi became a professional wine taster. Although widespread in other parts of Europe, the craft of “palatista (taster)” was still unknown in Italy. However, Cecchi believed that by approaching Italian wines with professionalism and organization, people in Italy as well as elsewhere would be able to recognize the quality of the wines produced.

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