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“Sparkling Burgundy,” Spurgles, Cold Duck From Detroit, Rene Pogel (Spell It Backwards), And Other Australian Oddities: If They Are Your Thing You’ll Never Regret It

September 15, 2020 /0 Comments/in , /by

Effervescent red wine in Australia was originally known as “sparkling Burgundy” and is often still affectionately referred to as “Spurgles” in accordance with the country’s national need to shorten every name. Ken Gargett confesses that he is a fan and shares a few of his favorites here alongside the history of this fascinating sub-genre.

Montecristo No. 2 Cigars And A Darker Experience Down An Unmarked, Deserted, Cuban Dirt Track Just Outside Havana

August 25, 2020 /8 Comments/in , /by

It was a love of Montecristo No. 2 cigars that seems to have led Ken Gargett to one of Cuba’s dirty secrets, “At the end of the road, two men stepped out. They were friends of our crew. One called Ivan (I swear I am not making this up) took our birds. We were directed off the road into a makeshift parking area, half of which is filled with Ladas and the rest the wonderful old 1950s cars so prevalent in Havana. More than a few have government number plates.”

Gintastic! The Weird And Wonderful World Of Today’s Oddball Gins (Warning: Some Are Just Mad As A Hatter!)

August 18, 2020 /2 Comments/in , /by

What do truffles, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, trout, elephant dung, and green ants have in common? These items and countless more have all been used to make specialist craft gins. Sure, gin needs juniper. But after that it is open slather. Indeed, it is hard to think of a plant, herb, root, flower, leaf, and much more than has not been used to make gin. And some of them are just batsh*t crazy!

Gincredible! How And Why Gin Went From Murderous Swill To 007-Level Cool

August 11, 2020 /2 Comments/in , /by

In eighteenth-century England, a typical sign outside a gin shop read, “Drunk for a penny. Dead drunk for twopence. Clean straw for nothing.” But by the twentieth century Sir Winston Churchill reported that, “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Ken Gargett fills his glass and takes a look at the evolution of gin. Cheers!

Bond Roberts Cigar Auctions: Avoid The Plethora Of Fake Cigars With This Trustworthy Source

August 4, 2020 /0 Comments/in , /by

Bond Roberts is a joint venture between Rob Fox of James J. Fox and Rob Ayala of Friends of Habanos. They refer to the operation as, “a transparent cigar exchange where technology, oversight, and member participation come together to offer the largest continuous selection of aged, vintage, and rare Cuban cigars to the global market in a secure trading environment.” Ken Gargett weighs in on the trustworthiness of the new operation.

The Massandra Collection Crimean Wine That Screams Place And History. And What A Story It Tells!

July 21, 2020 /2 Comments/in , /by

Somewhere in the disorganized depths of Ken Gargett’s cellar lies his favorite bottle of wine. It is almost certainly not his best bottle, nor even possibly his most valuable. It is a bottle that screams place and history. It tells a story and it links him to an extraordinary moment in time when three of the planet’s most famous leaders met to determine the fate of the world. That wine is the Massandra Collection White Muscat 1945 and here is its story.

Soldera Wines: Sensational Super Tuscans With A Hollywood-Worthy Backstory

July 14, 2020 /0 Comments/in , /by

The rise of Brunello has been recent. And, arguably, the single most convincingly 100 percent Brunello example of fine wine is Soldera at Case Basse according to Ken Gargett and other wine experts. But Soldera and the region have a dramatic background, one that might not be common knowledge outside Tuscany. Read on for a Hollywood script-worthy story and mouthwatering descriptions of Super Tuscan wines you may not (yet) be acquainted with.

Taylors The Visionary: The World’s Best Cabernet Sauvignon Is Australian, And That’s According To The French

July 7, 2020 /7 Comments/in , /by

For the third time in five years, an Australian Cabernet was crowned the World’s Best Cabernet Sauvignon at the International Competition of Cabernets, held bang smack in the middle of France. And, worse, the French have no one to blame but themselves as the award is decided by a panel of top sommeliers from – you guessed it – France. Ken Gargett lets us in on why this happened.