For Ken Gargett, Champagne de Venoge seems more like background music than a headline act. It seems to have been around forever, usually within reach, but not chased after. However, now under new management, Ken thinks it might be worth looking out.
There is one wine producer that has taken on almost mythical status in recent years: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. And one of its wines, Romanée-Conti, stands out above all others. Many wine lovers, perhaps most, consider it to be the very best wine in the world. Ken Gargett is one of them.
The Foradori family believes that It is its duty and privilege to wake up every morning and to be free to work according to the message that the earth conveys in that moment. And according to Ken Gargett, this approach tastes divine!
Top Burgundy has exploded like a firecracker factory set alight. From very much a second fiddle to Bordeaux when it comes to the great wines of France, Burgundy is now the flavor of the month, attracting prices that have skyrocketed into the stratosphere and beyond, both on release and on the secondary market. Everyone wants the great Burgundies. And Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret is one of the crown jewels.
When Ken Gargett first heard mention of a gin called Monkey 47, he assumed it must fall very much in the novelty category. Then he tried it and it has been his favorite gin ever since. Here Ken shares the story, more than likely a mix of fact and the apocryphal, of how Monkey 47 gin came to be. And it involves a watchmaker!
Ken Gargett had intended this article to be a thorough look at Châteauneuf-du-Pape. But he realized that would take a book. So he then thought that he would restrict it to his two all-time favorites, Château Rayas and Henri Bonneau, but even that seemed extreme and surely they each deserve a piece on their own. So Henri Bonneau it is.
Chimay is a Belgian Trappist beer fermented in oak barrels. Whether you drink it soon after purchase or cellar it for extra richness and complexity, this is a cracking beer and definitely one that should be on your radar. And it is a brilliant match if you want a full-flavored cigar, says Ken Gargett.
Ken Gargett suspects that many wine lovers might be wondering just who John Duval is. However, the chances are very good that most wine lovers have indeed enjoyed wines made by John Duval as he was just the third man to be put in charge of Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds Grange. Duval is now making sensational wines under his own name.
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.
Once regarded among Burgundy’s top wine producers, Bouchard Père & Fils’s fall from grace was slow, steady, and irresistible. But as Ken Gargett reports, it is now making great wines again.