England’s ‘Decanter’ magazine’s judges selected the House of Arras E.J. Carr Late Disgorged 2004 as the best sparkling wine of 2020 against top competition including the 2006 Krug champagne. Here Ken Gargett takes a look at just how good this Tasmanian wine producer is.
Ken Gargett thinks that the 2001 Château d’Yquem is the finest young wine he has ever experienced, red or white, and remains convinced that it will go down as one of the greatest Yquems, if not the greatest of all time. But he was also able to experience something else: drinking “twin” vintages of this amazing Sauternes.
“I take a ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink,” James Bond says to Vesper Lynd in Ian Fleming’s first 007 novel, ‘Casino Royale.’ And so starts the adventures, not solely libationary and culinary, of one of the great fictional characters in the world. Rarely has anyone, fictional or not, influenced the eating and drinking habits of humanity to the extent managed by MI6’s finest. Ken Gargett takes a look at a few of Bond’s favorite tipples, and there were quite a few.
Why is it that Chablis never seems to get the love it deserves? Why do so many wine lovers, even those who buy and drink Chablis wine, often dismiss it as merely a little sibling of White Burgundy? Ken Gargett considers that no matter where Chablis sits in your perception, it should not be ignored or treated with the contempt of familiarity. Chablis is one of the world’s great white wines.
What does Tasmania’s Lark Rare Cask Series Para100 Whisky taste like? Ken Gargett reports an immediate impression of an array of nuts, caramel, apricot kernels, quality chocolate, raisins, dark berries, and a hint of a Christmas pudding doused in maple syrup with unabridged power. A wonderful whisky, not for the fainthearted. For him it’s 98. But the price might make your eyes water, even if the whiskey’s rarity precludes it.
Heidsieck Monopole Gout American 1907 is the world’s most expensive champagne. This is the famous “shipwreck champagne” and it has a truly extraordinary story to tell, much more interesting than simply the prices it has achieved.
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!
Cohiba has that mythical aura about it, but is that always a good thing? For many, Cohiba Robustos are the ultimate robusto and among the very best from the Cohiba stable. As with every cigar, this is not necessarily a unanimous opinion, but they have been described as the benchmark against which all other cigars must be judged. Ken Gargett enlists some unexpected help in Cuba to track down a box of the best and shares the story and how they taste here.
At the 2016 World Whiskies Awards, Teeling Whiskey was awarded “World’s Best Irish Single Malt” and then in 2019 “World’s Best Single Malt.” Ken Gargett takes a look at (and a few drams of) a couple of the company’s wonderful whiskeys and explains what makes them so exceptional.
Best Australian wine of all time? There are a few options, but for Ken Gargett there’s a clear winner: Penfolds Bin 60A 1962, a wine that was never commercially released. And whether the Bin 60A 1962 is indeed the GOAT of Australian wine hardly matters. He does suggest, though, that if the opportunity to try it ever comes up, cross oceans to do so. You’ll never regret it.