School of Wine & Spirits
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1654 curated reviews
Domaine Marcel Richaud Cairanne Rouge 2021
Domaine Marcel Richaud
Marcel Richaud is one of the Southern Rhône's most important vignerons, farming organically and biodynamically for decades before it was fashionable. This Cairanne delivers a transparent window into the limestone and clay terroir of the appellation with a purity that belies its modest price. One of the great values in French wine.
Savanna Rhum Vieux Traditionnel 5 Year Old
Savanna
A quietly commanding rum that rewards patient sipping — Savanna's traditionnel style bridges the fruit-forward warmth of the Caribbean with an Indian Ocean earthiness that feels wholly its own.
Kentucky Owl The Wiseman Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Kentucky Owl
The Wiseman delivers a well-constructed bourbon that punches above its price point. It balances sweetness and structure in a way that rewards both neat sipping and cocktail use. A reliable daily pour with enough depth to hold your attention.
Ardmore 20 Year Old 1996 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Ardmore
Ardmore is the Highland's quiet peater, and at twenty years the smoke has integrated beautifully into a complex, honeyed framework. This is a thinking dram — one that rewards patience and reveals new dimensions across the session. An underappreciated distillery showing its full potential.
Espolòn Añejo Tequila
Espolòn
Espolòn's añejo over-delivers for its price. The oak influence adds depth without masking the agave, and the balance between sweet and spice makes it versatile across neat sipping and cocktail work. A smart entry point for anyone exploring aged tequilas.
Cotswolds Dry Gin
Cotswolds
Cotswolds delivers a classically structured gin with enough personality to stand on its own. The lavender is present but never perfumed, and the juniper backbone keeps everything anchored. It's a gin that makes a strong Martini and an even better Negroni.
Domaine Valette Mâcon-Chaintré Vieilles Vignes 2022
Domaine Valette
Domaine Valette's old-vine Chardonnay from Chaintré is one of the Mâconnais' best-kept secrets. The 2022 captures ripe fruit and textural richness while maintaining the nervous energy that separates great white Burgundy from merely good. At this price, it embarrasses bottles costing three times as much.
Boann The Whistler Marsala Cask Finish Single Pot Still
The Whistler
A confident, characterful pot still that uses Marsala not as makeup but as memory — the cask's sun-baked history bleeds into every sip. Among the most distinctive independent Irish releases of recent years.
Telmo Rodríguez Lanzaga Rioja 2019
Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez
Telmo Rodríguez applies a Burgundian sensibility to old-vine Rioja, and Lanzaga is the proof of concept. The 2019 is both modern and deeply traditional — fruit-forward enough to enjoy young, structured enough to cellar for a decade. This is Rioja as terroir statement.
Domaine Hauvette Amethyste Les Baux de Provence Rouge 2021
Domaine Hauvette
Dominique Hauvette farms biodynamically on the limestone slopes of the Alpilles in Provence, and her Amethyste cuvée — a blend anchored by Grenache, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon — captures the wild, herbal intensity of the garrigue landscape. This is Provence red at its most compelling: sun-drenched but never heavy, aromatic but structured. A wine of place.
Dictador 12 Year Old Solera System Rum
Dictador
Dictador's solera system, which blends rums of various ages up to twelve years, produces a remarkably smooth and complex spirit at a price that borders on absurd. The Colombian sugar cane and tropical aging conditions create a rum that drinks well above its weight class. Best enjoyed neat or over a single cube.
Hyde No. 8 Heritage Cask 1640 Stout Cask Matured Single Grain Irish Whiskey
Hyde Irish Whiskey
A quietly confident single grain that uses its stout-cask finish for definition rather than novelty — the sweetness of the grain and the roast bitterness of the cask meet in genuine equilibrium.
Glen Grant 15 Year Old Batch Strength First Edition
Glen Grant
Glen Grant has historically been underappreciated outside Italy, where it has long been a bestseller. This batch-strength release shows the distillery's light, fruity house style at full volume — the higher proof amplifies rather than overwhelms. A Speyside essential that demonstrates restraint can coexist with power.
Domaine Schoffit Riesling Harth Cuvée Tradition 2023
Domaine Schoffit
Bernard Schoffit's Harth vineyard sits on alluvial soils near Colmar, producing Riesling with a focus on freshness rather than power. The 2023 vintage delivers textbook Alsace Riesling — aromatic, bone-dry, mineral-driven — at a price that should be criminal. An ideal aperitif wine or partner for seafood. Drink within the next three years to enjoy its youthful energy.
Tobermory Hebridean Gin
Tobermory
Tobermory is better known for its whisky, but this gin — distilled using botanicals foraged on Mull — deserves attention on its own terms. The juniper-forward profile places it firmly in the classic dry tradition, while the Hebridean botanicals add a wild, windswept character you won't find elsewhere. Excellent in a martini or G&T with a good tonic.
Minor Case Straight Rye Whiskey Sherry Cask Finished
Minor Case
Limestone Branch, founded by descendants of the Beam family, has crafted a rye that punches well above its price point. The sherry finish adds a dimension that many more expensive bottles lack. An ideal introduction to cask-finished rye or a reliable daily pour for experienced drinkers.
Cascahuin Extra Añejo Gran Reserva
Cascahuin
Cascahuin is a family distillery that has operated in El Arenal since 1904, and this extra añejo shows generations of knowledge in how long to let agave and oak converse. Five years in barrel is the threshold where tequila can lose its identity to wood, but here the agave remains the protagonist. A serious sipping tequila that rewards contemplation.
Copperhead London Dry Gin
Copperhead
Named after the copper alembic stills used in production — not the snake — Copperhead delivers a gin that prioritizes balance and integration over botanical fireworks. The angelica root gives it an earthy backbone that many contemporary gins lack, while the juniper stays classic without being nostalgic. An excellent all-purpose gin.
Wilderness Trail Wheated Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Wilderness Trail
Wilderness Trail's scientific approach to fermentation pays clear dividends here. This wheated single barrel delivers a remarkably balanced pour that rewards patience and attention. It's a textbook example of how grain selection can shape personality without relying on extreme age or proof.
Glen Scotia Victoriana Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Glen Scotia
Victoriana showcases what deep-charred casks can achieve at cask strength. Glen Scotia's Campbeltown character — that briny, slightly industrial edge — weaves through the rich sherry and charred oak influence to produce something unmistakably place-driven. This is bold whisky with a clear sense of origin.
Siete Leguas D'Antaño Extra Añejo
Siete Leguas
Siete Leguas has produced tequila since the 1950s, and D'Antaño demonstrates what happens when traditional methods meet extended aging without losing the agave's voice. Where many extra añejos taste more like brandy than tequila, this one remembers exactly what it is. The tahona and brick oven foundation keeps the cooked agave front and center.
Waterford Micro Cuvée Lomhar Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Waterford
Waterford's obsession with terroir reaches its most concentrated expression in the Micro Cuvée range. Lomhar gathers whiskey from their most expressive single farm origins into a blend that amplifies rather than averages their character. It's Irish whiskey for people who care about where grain is grown, not just where it's distilled.
Clairin Communal Le Rocher Ansyen 24 Mois
Clairin
Clairin represents rum's most transparent tradition — wild fermentation, native sugarcane, and minimal intervention. This 24-month aged expression shows how even brief cask contact can add dimension without erasing character. It's raw, honest, and completely unlike anything else in the rum world. For drinkers tired of caramel-flavored spirits, this is a reset button.
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 2021
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Vogüé's village-level Chambolle routinely outperforms many producers' premier crus. The 2021 vintage delivered freshness and definition, and this estate's old-vine fruit — much of it declassified from grand cru parcels — gives this wine a depth that belies its appellation. It's the kind of Burgundy that makes the whole category make sense.