School of Wine & Spirits
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1638 curated reviews
Domaine du Clos du Fief Juliénas Vieilles Vignes 2022
Domaine du Clos du Fief
Michel Tête's Clos du Fief has been a benchmark for serious Juliénas for decades, and this old-vine cuvée demonstrates why the cru deserves more attention. The concentration and structure here rival wines at three times the price. It's Beaujolais with backbone — a wine that opens a door to the region's potential for age-worthy, terroir-driven reds.
Capreolus Damson Eau de Vie Gin
Capreolus
Barney Wilczak's one-man distillery applies the logic of eau de vie — capture fruit in its purest form — to gin production. The result is a gin with unusual depth and texture, where the base spirit is a feature, not an afterthought. Distinctive without being eccentric.
Waterford Dunbell Edition 1.1 Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Waterford
Waterford's single-farm-origin project is ambitious by design, and Dunbell 1.1 demonstrates why it matters. The barley from this specific farm delivers a flavor profile distinct from neighboring estates, vindicating the distillery's terroir-driven thesis. Approachable yet intellectually engaging.
Glendronach 21 Year Old Parliament
GlenDronach
Parliament earns its name through the gravity and deliberation of two decades in oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. This is GlenDronach at its most authoritative — sherry-forward without sweetness fatigue, and layered enough to reward an hour of slow sipping.
Tierra Noble Blanco Tequila
Tierra Noble
Tierra Noble's blanco delivers a textbook expression of well-cooked lowland agave without any additives muddying the picture. It is pure, approachable, and honest — the kind of tequila that reminds you why blanco can be the most revealing category.
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec 2023
Domaine Huet
Le Clos du Bourg is Huet's most structured vineyard — clay over tuffeau limestone — and in the 2023 vintage the Chenin Blanc delivers both the richness that biodynamic viticulture encourages and the taut acidity that great Vouvray demands. This is a white wine of uncommon balance, equally suited to the cellar or the table tonight.
Chattanooga Whiskey Cask 111 High Malt Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Chattanooga Whiskey
Chattanooga Whiskey has built its identity around experimental mash bills, and Cask 111 is the proof of concept distilled to its essence. The high malt proportion delivers a texture and sweetness profile unlike traditional bourbons, rewarding drinkers who want something genuinely different without sacrificing depth.
Domaine de la Bouïssière Gigondas La Font de Tonin 2020
Domaine de la Bouïssière
The Faravel brothers farm some of Gigondas' highest-altitude plots on the Dentelles de Montmirail, and La Font de Tonin showcases what elevation brings to Grenache — freshness, tension, and a floral lift that distinguishes it from heavier valley-floor wines. The 2020 vintage offered ideal conditions, and this wine captures the vintage's generosity without excess.
Rhum J.M 10 Year Old Rhum Agricole Vieux
Rhum J.M
Distillerie J.M sits on the volcanic slopes of Mont Pelée where sugarcane is pressed fresh and fermented with wild yeasts. At ten years, the raw agricole power has been tempered by tropical aging into something poised and layered — a rhum that never forgets its cane origins but has learned patience.
Corsair Barreled Gin
Corsair Distillery
A gin that blurs categorical lines with confidence — neither trying to mimic whiskey nor abandon its juniper soul. For drinkers who crave the bridge between botanical brightness and barrel warmth, this is essential territory.
Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2020
Domaine de Marcoux
Domaine de Marcoux has practiced biodynamic farming since 1990, and the purity of fruit in this 2020 reflects that commitment. The sun-baked galets roulés stones — heat stored by day, released by night — are the invisible hand in every Châteauneuf, and this bottling captures that thermal exchange beautifully. A wine shaped by the memory of stone and sun.
Deanston 14 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Deanston
Deanston 14 is a Highland malt that earns its place through texture and restraint rather than volume. The unpeated barley, dried in a gentle kiln, lets the distillery's clean spirit character shine. Non-chill filtered and bottled at a sensible strength, it rewards patience.
Cascahuin Tahona Reposado
Cascahuín
Cascahuín's Tahona Reposado showcases the difference that stone milling makes. The texture is weightier than roller-milled equivalents, carrying more of the agave's roasted character into the glass. Brief barrel time adds structure without masking the spirit's origin. A tequila that tastes like where it comes from.
Trois Rivières Cuvée du Moulin Rhum Agricole Vieux
Trois Rivières
Trois Rivières' Cuvée du Moulin honors the heritage of the estate's original sugar mill. The aging in French and American oak rounds the agricole funk into something sophisticated, but the grassy, cane-juice DNA remains intact. It's a contemplative sipper that bridges the gap between fresh agricole and more structured aged expressions.
Hinch Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Hinch
A composed, food-friendly peated Irish that trades the coastal punch of Islay for something more hearth-side and hospitable — proof that heat, applied thoughtfully, can whisper as loudly as it roars.
Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Michter's
Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight delivers the kind of polished warmth that rewards attention without demanding it. The heavy char influence gives it a toasted backbone, but the blend is balanced enough to stay accessible. A benchmark for what well-managed heat can do inside a barrel.
Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina del Sannio DOC 2023
Feudi di San Gregorio
Feudi di San Gregorio's Falanghina is a summer wine with purpose. The volcanic soils of Campania — heat stored in stone and ash — give Falanghina its distinctive mineral edge, while the 2023 vintage delivers the freshness the grape demands. Uncomplicated but never simple, it's a reminder that great value can come from ancient terroir.
Kentucky Peerless Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey
Peerless
Kentucky Peerless represents what happens when a young distillery takes no shortcuts — sweet mash, no chill filtration, barrel proof. The result is a bourbon that's simultaneously bold and disciplined, with enough negative space between its flavors for each to land clearly.
Domaine François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Tuffeaux 2023
Domaine François Chidaine
Chidaine's biodynamic farming and limestone cave aging let this Chenin Blanc speak with uncommon clarity. Les Tuffeaux is about subtraction — no barrel influence, no malolactic richness, just the grape and the tuffeau stone beneath the vines. The hollow between its acidity and its sweetness is narrow and thrilling.
Lote Maestro Extra Añejo
Lote Maestro
Lote Maestro's Extra Añejo demonstrates the tightrope walk of extended aging — three years in oak could easily swallow the agave, but here the spirit and the wood are in conversation, not combat. The hollow between the sweetness and the oak tannin is where this tequila finds its poise.
Dunville's Three Crowns Sherry Cask Irish Whiskey
Dunville's
A masterclass in editorial restraint — a sherried blend that trusts silence between flavors, proving that Irish whiskey's elegance often lives in what's left unsaid.
Capreolus Raspberry Eau de Vie Gin
Capreolus
Barrie Lancaster's eau de vie background shows in every sip — this is a gin that understands distillation as an act of capture, not construction. The space between the floral top notes and the woody juniper base is wide and elegant, each element articulated with rare clarity.
Havana Club Selección de Maestros
Havana Club
A masterclass in editorial restraint. Where many premium rums crowd the glass with sweetness, Selección de Maestros trusts the silences — the negative space between notes is where its sophistication lives. Essential for drinkers who mistake Cuban rum for merely 'light.'
Domaine de la Tournelle Arbois Poulsard de l'Uva Arbosiana 2021
Domaine de la Tournelle
A masterclass in restraint. Poulsard at its most transparent — a red wine that whispers rather than declares, defined as much by what's absent as by what remains.