Donnafugata Contrada Marchesa

Posted on January 2, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I sometimes think that I am the only blogger I know that has not written about this lauded winery.  It is because, I only write about wines that I encounter, which may explain the myriad of wines that I write about. I normally try to write in a somewhat chronological sequence of wines, but for a while, all bets are off, but it should still work.  One of my cast of characters is The Wine Raconteur, Jr. (a name that he gave himself) and he and his family went to the old country for a vacation, as he watched his parents, his wife and children reacquaint themselves with Sicily gave me a bottle of wine that he made sure was not being exported to the States. The name of the winery is a very romantic take on the novel Il Gattopardo, and “Donna in fuga” is basically “woman on the run” about Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, who escaped to Sicily ahead of Napoleon’s army in the early 1800’s and the wineries are basically on what was her estate at one time.

Donnafugata is a wine company based in Sicily, by the Rallo family who have a history of winemaking going back to the 19th Century.  Donnafugata was established in 1983 by Giacomo and Gabriella Rallo and is now in the hand of their children.  They have five different wineries located in different sub-regions of Sicily, including on the neighboring island of Pantelleria.  The wineries use both indigenous varieties and international favorites and they produce both DOC and IGT wines, because of the grapes that they grow.  They have about three-hundred-thirty-eight hectares of vineyards between the islands of Sicily and Pantelleria.

I am going to discuss Donnafugata Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Marchesa 2018 and the first vintage of this wine was 2017. The wine is pure Nerello Mascalese and grows on the northern slope of Mt. Etna at Castiglione di Sicilia at around 750m above sea level on lava soil, rich in minerals.  This vineyard is about two hectares in size, with some vines about eighty-years of age.  The fruit is manually harvested and the fruit goes through further selection on a vibrating table and destemmer to only select ripe berries.  Fermentation and maceration on the skins is for about twelve days in Stainless Steel.  Then aging for fourteen months in French Oak and an additional twenty-two months or so in bottle, before being released for retail.  The label represents a volcano-goddess adorned with jewels, flowers and fruits, as well as the village of Castiglione di Sicilia.  The wine is described as a light-ruby-red with notes of red fruits, balsamic, rosemary and thyme and some cinnamon.  On the palate tones of raspberry and cherry, great balance and a fine tannic texture with finishes with a long count of the volcanic terroir.  The winery feels that it will age for at least ten years.  A wonderful gift, and now I have to figure out a special dinner and occasion to make it totally magical.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

New Year’s Eve Ramblings

Posted on December 31, 2022 by thewineraconteur

When I was young New Year’s Eve was a night to go out with your date to a night club, have dinner, wine and Champagne and dance the night away.  We had people that personified cool for that night on the town.  No body did it better when I was growing up than the ones that had style.  They were there for their enjoyment and for their lady.  They didn’t pose, they actually had a good time.

Somewhere along the road night clubs disappeared, and there might be four different seating times for the same New Year’s Eve.  Dance floors disappeared, well that is expected when music stopped being romantic and so did couples.  All I know, is that that night, became a cash-cow with no revelry.  Service is now expected to be poor on this night, and a guaranteed tip is factored in.  The cool factor is gone, we now have a dinner parties at the house and it has become a tradition.  So far, so good, and we will see how well this tradition continues.  I am glad that I learned from the best.    

My Bride and I wish that the New Year bring you plenty of love, luck, health and happiness.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Christmas Dinner with The Wine Raconteur, Jr. 2022 Part Two

Posted on December 29, 2022 by thewineraconteur

While we were all enjoying our wonderful dinner with our hosts The Wine Raconteur, Jr. and his charming Bride, our host went and opened up another bottle of wine, while we were still nibbling away at all the food that he had made.  A couple of years ago, his Bride bought an existing business, they have done wonders with it, but not everyone can appreciate the retail industry, that is why he has been cooking up a storm for us, as she has discovered that December is not a good month socially, when one has a retail establishment.  TWR, Jr. is no slouch either, as he has a real day job, is now a retail coach and assistant, and he decided that he was not busy enough, along with parenting and got into local government, not in a rubber-stamping position like a school board, but real politics, as in City Council and he is now Mayor Pro-Tem.  He recently had to attend a wine tasting, a tough job, but someone has to do it and he opened up a bottle of wine that he enjoyed from that duty. 

We were going to have a glass of Browne Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2019.  Browne Family Vineyards is part of Precept Wine, which is the largest privately owned wine company in the Northwest.  Unfortunately, there is very little real wine information to garner.  The winery is located in the heart of Walla Walla, Washington and is inspired by the proprietor’s late grandfather.  The fruit is sourced from the estate’s vineyard in the Spring Valley district of Walla Walla and throughout the Columbia Valley.  The wine is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with four percent Petit Verdot. This wine had to open up, because at first it was rather unassuming.  A deep garnet color and when it opened up it offered notes of dark fruits, oak and spices.  On the palate notes of cherry, cassis with medium tannins and finish more of fruit than terroir.  Perhaps we should have had this wine first.

After the dinner table was cleared, we feasted on a selection of cookies, also made by The Wine Raconteur, Jr. and in appearance and taste they could have easily come from a high-end bakery and very reminiscent of my early days when there was an abundance of bakeries.  After the cookies and coffee, we were poured glasses of Casa Cuervo 1800 Melenio Tequila Extra Anejo Jalisco, Mexico.  The 1800 represents the year that Tequila was successfully aged in wood, and this bottle was originally known as Cuervo 1800 Tequila and is known for its trapezoidal shaped bottles which pay homage to the Mayan pyramids.  The brand is owned by the Beckmann family, also the owners of the Jose Cuervo.  This Tequila is “extra-aged” and matured in French Oak Cognac barrels.  It was a pretty dark amber color with notes of vanilla.  On the palate some red fruit, vanilla and cinnamon with a nice finish of some mint and chocolate, which I have to presume that some of these flavors came from the former Cognac barrels.  A delightful glass of Tequila, not even close to the firewater of my youth, that used to be downed in a shot glass after some lime and salt.               

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas Dinner with The Wine Raconteur, Jr. 2022

Posted on December 27, 2022 by thewineraconteur

We always look forward to our time with The Wine Raconteur, Jr. (and that is a sobriquet that he chose).  We had Christmas dinner at their house, though it was a bit touch and go, because their son became ill, and they had to check if he had the dreaded disease that you had to test, to determine if you had it, but he just had a classic bug, that has never had a cure for, so all was good.  This meal was going to be at their house, as we tend to alternate.  We tried to be gracious guests and offer food and we were told that it was all taken care off.  We started with a Triple Cream Brie with a Savory Topping, and then he also made Bacon-wrapped Dates, one of his specialties, and this year I tried them and they were quite tasty.  The evening started off with Domain Chandon Brut California NV a delightful wine, that my Bride and I had a chance to visit, years ago.  It was the first time that a French sparkling house owned a winery in Napa, a joint venture of Moet and Chandon and John Wright, back in 1973.  The fruit is from cooler regions of Napa, and including their own estate in Yountville.  It is a blend of seventy-three percent Chardonnay, twenty-six percent Pinot Noir and one percent Pinot Meunier.  The wine is made in the Methode Traditionelle and a minimum of twelve months is required to make the finished product.  The initial fermentation is done is Stainless Steel and the second fermentation is done in the bottles after riddling, it then corked and aged for at least three months before release.  The wine is a pretty straw color with tiny bubbles and offering notes of stone fruit, toast and vanilla.  On the palate a nice cream texture of fruit, vanilla and bright acidity with a touch of sweetness (how I enjoy my Brut wines) and a nice finish.    

For dinner we were treated to an excellent version of Roasted Leg of Lamb and we were joking, because I said that it really is one meat, that someone would really have to try very hard to over cook it and it was cooked to perfection with just a very simple use of spices.  His pan of Roasted Potatoes was just as outstanding, I eat potatoes, but these potatoes were truly stellar, and my Bride who never says no to potatoes was deeply in love.  And finally, the Haricot Vert were as executed as well as by any restaurant we have ever been to.  A truly special and uncomplicated meal (and he sent us home with enough leftovers that we enjoyed for a following two days). 

Well even though, he didn’t want us to bring anything for the dinner, I just had to find something interesting, while I was down selecting a nice Christmas present for him as well.  I brought to the table a bottle of Chateau L’Eglise -Clinet “La Petite Eglise” Pomerol 2000.  It is a small ten-acre estate formed in the 1950’s from parcels of Clos L’Eglise and Chateau Clinet.  Since 1983, it was owned by the late Denis Durantou and he has been singled out as the man behind the prominence and accolades bestowed upon the estate; his daughters now manage the estate.  They have some of the oldest vines in Pomerol and Merlot is about eighty-five percent of the plantings and the balance is Cabernet Franc.  While this wine is their second label, it gets the same attention as the first label and is typically aged in eighty percent new oak.  This nice deep claret with no browning offered notes of dark red fruit, cassis, mushrooms, cedar and some chocolate.  On the palate there was still tones of cherries and raspberries with elegant soft textured tannins, still excellent acidity and really a bright finish of fruit and terroir.  I would venture to say, that this wine still had some years of potential, but it was a beautiful mature wine and Merlot and Cabernet Franc were so suave with the Roasted Lamb.                

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas 2022

Posted on December 25, 2022 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I wish everyone a very

Merry Christmas

May the Season bring you plenty of

health, happiness, luck and joy

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Two Unicorn Gifts

Posted on December 23, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Some time it is fun, just to walk around my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source, and look at some items that I won’t be tasting, maybe dreaming about, but not tasting.  I mean life would be boring, if there was nothing to dream about, or to aspire for.

Quinto do Vallado ABF Porto Muito Velho 1888 was bottled in 2016 in celebration of the estate’s Three-hundred-year anniversary, a tribute to Antonio Bernardo Ferreira I, who bought Quinta do Vallado in 1818.  A limited edition of 933 bottles of 75cl, all of them numbered and packed in a solid walnut casing with a unique crystal decanter produced by Atlantis in Portugal of a replica of one used by Antonio.  This port wine was in three 650L barrels, since 1888; and after a century the three barrels still had 700L of pre phylloxera wine.   The wine is a blend of Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional and others.  I went to a couple of sources to report on the wine.  The wine is described as having a seductive color of mahogany with hints of green when stirred.  The complex notes offered were of dried fruits, figs and plums, vinegar iodine and spices.  On the palate, a remarkable freshness that agrees with the nose, with perfect balance and a never-ending finish.

The other gift was a six-pack of “600 Points Grands Cru Classes.”  The perfect way to enhance a cellar immediately, as each bottle was rated 100 Points by the Wine Advocate.  The six wines were: Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac 2010, Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint-Julien 2009, Chateau Cos D’Estournel Saint-Estephe 2016, Chateau Montrose Saint-Estephe 2010, Chateau Pape-Clement Pessac-Leognan 2010 and Chateau Pavie Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2010.  All legendary wines with great pedigree.  And they could all be opened that evening with a grand meal and enjoyed.    

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fine Wine Source Wine Club Selections December 2022

Posted on December 21, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Well, I did stop at my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, to pick up the wine selections for the month of December.   As you have noticed, I spend some time at this shop, as they have a great selection of wines not normally encountered, as each is curated by the owner and his staff, and they have a great wine club to boot.  It is not uncommon to keep seeing the same faces, stopping by to taste some wines and take some home; some days it is like a family reunion.  While I was getting my wine club selections, they asked me if I wanted to try some wine, it must have been rhetorical, but those wines are for another time.

The first club selection was representing the Old World was Lini 910 “Labrusca” Bianco NV from Lini Winery of Correggio, in the heart of Emilia-Romagna and minutes away from Carpi, which is considered the Lambrusco Capital.  Founded in 1910 by Oreste Lini, this family-owned and operated winery is now in its fourth generation.  The current generation has maintained the family tradition of creating a benchmark for artisanal Lambrusco and their trademark of a dry Lambrusco.  For some of their wines they use the Metodo Classico, which is the approved name in the EEC for making a sparkling wine similar to Champagne.  The Lini Winery was also the first Lambrusco to get listed in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of Italy.  Labrusca is the ancient Roman name for Lambrusco and is considered by many to be the first grapes used to produce wine in the region; and Bianco means white.  Labrusca originally was meant for the “wild vine” grape varieties and their clones and one of these is Salamino, and this wine is pure Lambrusco Salamino vinified white in a sparkling wine.  The wine is from Emilia and was processed using the Charmat Method, which is the bulk production system used for Prosecco and many other sparkling wines world-wide.  The wine spends about three quarters of a month in large pressurized tanks (the Charmat Method).  The wine is said offer a savory and salinity experience with tones of red fruit and berries and juicy minerality with a clean and lingering finish.

The wine representing the New World is Three Wine Company Gather Red Blend Contra Costa County 2019 and their sentiments are “the dirt, the micro-climate and don’t screw it up.”  Actually, winemaker Matt Cline’s philosophy is that; the dirt, the micro-climate, and sustainable winegrowing form the cornerstone of good winemaking, and he places them in every bottle of wine he produces. He has a passion for preserving and educating on the historic varietals to California, such as Zinfandel, Mataro and Carignane.  The grapes sourced for this wine are from plantings in and around the Bay Area town of Oakley in the north-east corner of Contra Costa County.  All of the grapes come from vineyard blocks with extremely sandy-loam soils called Delhi Loam.  The wine is a blend of sixty-four percent Carignane, twenty-six percent Petite Sirah, four percent Mataro, four percent Black Malvoisie and two percent Alicante Bouschet.  With Carignane as the basis of this wine this deep-dark wine offers notes of black fruits and spices.  On the palate black cherry and pepper (Petite Sirah), balanced with a lingering finish of pepper.  Described as a showstopper.           

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cabernet Franc Day

Posted on December 19, 2022 by thewineraconteur

In the calendar of holidays devoted to wine days, one of the latest to be entered is Cabernet Franc Day, spearheaded by a winemaking couple in California that fell in love with one of the older grape varietals.  Not only that, but they were finally approved to have a tasting room and fortuitously it was announced by them on Cabernet Franc Day.  It is considered the third grape of Bordeaux and science has proven that it is the father of Cabernet Sauvignon and lately to found also to be part of Merlot; which explains why the grape is so often blended with those grapes.  And as a personal aside, it is the grape for my Bride, which I sometimes take advantageous of, when I am selecting a wine.  My own belief is that, I think it displays terroir the best of all the red wines. 

This past Thanksgiving, we were going to have a Cabernet Franc celebration.  One of my Bride’s sisters discovered a Cabernet Franc wine from South America that they poured for my Bride one night and she was ecstatic about the wine and they said that they were going to get another bottle or two for me to try on Thanksgiving.  Her mother-in-law was coming to our house for the American Thanksgiving Day dinner as well, and she went to the Wine Store to get a bottle of Cabernet Franc from a winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake that we totally enjoyed during our trips up there.  In Canada, you basically have to go the Province to buy your wine, beer and liquor, at one time, in Michigan it was the same way, as I can remember as a kid going with my father when he was making a liquor run; it eventually changed to the point where now you can buy alcoholic beverages at grocery stores, corner markets, gas stations and if they could get it cheap enough, even the “Dollar” stores may one day sell the products.  I mean, how can you not like a winery that uses not only my initials, but my Bride’s as well.  We had to take a Kodak moment to memorialize that visit.  Unfortunately, my brother-in-law’s mother slipped and fell at their house and later it was revealed that she broke her pelvis, and understandably none of them came for dinner, but we did send them some food that evening.  So, that evening we only had one bottle of Cabernet Franc from our cellar, along with the other wines we poured. We went to pay a visit to see her, before she made the probably painful return trip to Canada, even with pain medications, but Canada really doesn’t want to pay America for medical services and vice-versa.

While we were visiting, she gave us our Holiday gift of a bottle of Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Reserve Cabernet Franc-Cabernet Sauvignon Niagara Peninsula VQA 2021.  We decided to have Filet Mignon, potatoes and haricot vert for our Cabernet Franc dinner.  Alan Jackson and Don Triggs started the winery in 1993, and they are billed as “Canada’s Most Awarded Winery.” They have vineyards in Ontario and British Columbia.  I am glad that the winery had some information about the wines, because I had to search my articles for any background information, because they only want to tell the world that they are diversified and they must be afraid of the past twenty-nine years, which makes research more difficult.  The grapes were harvested and vinified separately, with cold soaking on the skins for two days. Initial fermentation and malolactic fermentation were done in vats.  Afterwards the juice was aged for six months in oak, and then blended afterwards.  For this wine, it was determined that the Cabernet Franc was the dominate wine.  A nice dark garnet wine with notes of dark fruit, florals and vanilla.  On the palate I thought more red fruit, than dark fruit with some tones of oak, soft tannins and a shorter finish.  While a nice tasting wine, it was by no means a Cabernet Franc wine that we were expecting.        

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Annual Ladies’ Christmas Party 2022

Posted on December 17, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Before she was my Bride, she had her Annual Ladies’ Christmas Party and it has been consistent, except for the year the harridan interfered.  It used to be a pot luck dinner, but since the interference, my Bride now orders the food and tries to come up with a reasonable price per participant, but I think she still subsidizes the night.  This year there were several last-minute no-shows because of illness, but there was still a good crowd and one by the power of the internet.  She has scrapbooks of each year with attendees and a list of their goals professed at the party, and she mentions them the next year, at they announce their new goals.   I think that I would plead the fifth. 

Because all the food was catered in, we had to rearrange the kitchen for all the food and she got fancy with labels for each dish.  There was appetizers of assorted cheese and crackers, Deviled Eggs, baked Brie with Onion Jam and Shrimp Cocktails.  For the entrée orders there was Salad, Hummus, Chicken Tawook, Lamb Sauté, Garlic Sauce and fresh baked Pita.  For dessert there was French and Italian finger cakes and a sheet of assorted Paklavah and of course coffee, both leaded and unleaded.  Of course, I ate, before the guests arrived and then immediately went and hid in my office and only came down, if I had to collect coats from the guests and to return them at the end of the evening.  I also had the dubious job of taking the group photo for the scrap book and I think that I ended up taking about nine shots, until one was approved.

MFor the beverages we went with two of our latest go-to wines to make sure that we had enough, the idea of running out, just sounds terrible.  For the white wine drinkers, we had Cline Family Cellars “Seven Ranchlands” Viognier North Coast 2021.   Cline Family Cellars is a producer based in Carneros and known for Zinfandel and Rhone varieties and established in 1982 in Oakley.  Fred Cline is one of the original Rhone Rangers of California.  The “Seven Ranchlands” is a way of honoring both the seven children of the Cline family, and the seven vineyard ranches.  The fruit for this wine is from the Catapult Ranch Vineyard in the Petaluma Gap, and the balance is from the Diamond Pile Vineyard at the base of the Wild Cat Mountain.  The grapes are handpicked at night, where they are destemmed and pressed, and allowed to settle for forty-eight hours before racking.  The Catapult portion was inoculated with wild yeast, while the Diamond Pile portion was allowed to ferment naturally in barrels.  After fermentation, the wine was aged in neutral French Oak for six months before blending and bottling. The wine offers notes of mango, guava pineapple.  On the palate tones of dried apricots, pears and banana in a full-bodied wine with nice acidity.  And for the red wine drinkers Gran Passione Rosso Veneto 2020 a limited production wine made by Cantine Bertoldi.  Cantine Bertoldi is known for their Valpolicella and Amarone wines.  They were founded in 1932 and several generations later they now own fifty acres of hand-cared vineyards.  They are now part of the larger umbrella wine producer and distributor Casa Vinicola Botter.   They began in 1928 selling local Veneto wines.  After World War II, they moved onto bottled wines and started exporting.  Now in their third generation, ninety percent of their business is done overseas.  The soil of the estate is basically clay, and this wine is a blend of sixty percent Merlot and forty percent Corvina.  The grapes selected for this wine are hand selected and harvested, allowing for the grapes to dry on the vine, reducing the weight by about fifty percent.  This technique is in the tradition of Apassimento (to dry and shrivel), just like how Amarone is made.  After harvest, the over-ripe grapes are destemmed and undergo maceration and fermentation for fifteen days on the skins, and then malolactic fermentation occurs in the barrel aging.  The wine is an intense purple color with notes of black raspberry puree, black cherry, cassis, black tea and dried violet blossoms.  On the palate the wine is a medium-bodied red with intense flavors, medium acidity and medium tannins. 

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whiskey and Whisky

Posted on December 15, 2022 by thewineraconteur

“When it rains, it pours” is a very common slogan heard in Michigan, as it was an advertising slogan for a salt company in Detroit.  Under the city and beyond its border is a huge underground salt mine, that in the old days, they even gave tours down there; definitely not as eerie as the catacombs of Paris.  The meaning of the slogan, is that years ago, when it rained, the salt crystals use to attract each other from the moisture in the air, and they would clump up enough to keep from going through the holes in a salt shaker and they found a way to correct that situation.  Today, the slogan has morphed into, when something happens, even more occurs and that is what happened. 

I periodically talk about the family down in Kentucky, well, it turns out that a winery in Malibu, California also has a bonded distillery in Kentucky for Bourbon.  I have a bottle of Whatever Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Bottled in Bond.  While I usually talk about wines, a little trivia for everyone is that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is in the top ten percent for states making wine in America, and they produce ninety-five percent of all Bourbon in the country as well.  This is a Bourbon made of seventy-eight percent corn, thirteen percent rye and nine percent barley and was issued at 100 Proof.  Made and aged in the Green River Distilling Brickhouses since 2016 and bottled in partnership with Silent Brigade Distillery.  To be labeled as bottled-in bond, Bourbon has to be the product of one distillation season, by one distiller at one distillery. It must have been aged in a Federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 Proof (50% alcohol by volume).  Straight Bourbon whiskey is a “term-of-art” description that it has been sored at least for two years in new charred oak barrels.  This was a true “sippin’ Bourbon” with a lot heft, behind the punch.  A nice caramel color with notes of dried fruits and brownies.  On the palate a full-bodied torrent of baked fruit and spices with a very long finish.  I went with the first glass neat, but the next glass will get one ice cube in a snifter.

I also got a four-pack of Crown Royal Canadian Whisky of the Crown Royal Distillery Company of Toronto, Ontario though I was disappointed that the distinctive purple bags were not included.  My Bride was going over to Ontario with her sister for a weekend, and I asked her to get a bottle, you know for medicinal purposes and she came back with a four-pack special and all I can say is “Saints Preserved.”  Now, before we go any farther, Whiskey is the American spelling of Whisky, which I have never quite understood, because supposedly Noah Webster attempted to simplify the spelling of words e.g., parlor for parlour.  Crown Royal was created by Seagram in 1939 to mark the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Tour of North America; a major event in Canada, and originally it was only available until 1964.  That has now changed as it is the top-selling Canadian whisky in the United States and the world.  They now have a dedicated distillery in Gimli on the shores of Lake Winnipeg of forty-six warehouses holding two-million-barrels of Crown Royal spread over five acres of land (the air must smell remarkable there). The distillery in Ontario was closed in 1992.  Blended whisky is a blend of one or more whiskies, which may be made from any combination of malted and un-malted grains, and one of the true benefits is that a “house style” can be consistent year after year.  Seagram’s was broken up in 2000 and Crown Royal is run by the multinational Diageo drinks group.  This caramel-colored beverage comes in at 80 Proof, and has been made year after year by the nose of the blenders.  It offers notes of fruits, florals and vanilla.  On the palate a smooth blend of butterscotch, pepper and vanilla and a nice finish.  And medicinally, it is the perfect whisky for my hot toddies when the bug seems to get to me.    

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment