Denis has said of the 2015, that it “expresses more of the soul of a Bollinger millésimé than any other year. More opulent, more powerful, it exalts Pinot Noir. Uplifted by maturation in wooden casks, this champagne reveals the characteristics of an exceptional year.”
The Louis Roederer Collection, current release being the 244 is one of the great buys in Champagne today, but it is also so much more. Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon is at the forefront of what can only be seen as a seismic change in the way champagne operates, especially regarding their non-vintage wines.
None of these three champagnes are considered as prestige releases – for Taittinger, that would be their brilliant Comtes de Champagne – and consequently they are priced well below, each coming in at around one-third of the price of Comtes. You can’t go wrong. They are all beautiful champagnes and will reward drinking now or time in the cellar.
One of Australia’s most respected and beloved wineries, Yalumba, has reached the extraordinary milestone of its 175th anniversary. As part of their celebrations, Yalumba hosted one of their famous Museum tastings. Few wine events anywhere are more popular. It’s a tough job, but Ken Gargett takes one for the team.
This is the third of our trio looking at some of the best wines from New Zealand. Ken Gargett confesses that Bell Hill, located in Waipara in the South Island of New Zealand (North Canterbury), is very much a personal favorite.
If you do not know what black pudding is you may be thinking a decadent dessert, perhaps a very dark chocolate cake type of thing. If you do know what it is then you are either suddenly thinking of how delicious it is and how long before you can next enjoy one or you are running for the hills, thinking how utterly disgusting and how on earth could anyone even look at one, let alone eat it. Here is all you ever needed to know about black pudding.
Singleton 40-Year-Old Malt Whisky in Ken Gargett’s opinion is alluringly mellow but with undoubted power, there is amazing length. If a hedonistic malt is your thing, then you will find this a majestic malt.
The gem in the Bilancia wine treasury is six hectares known as Roy’s Hill. This is where the Syrah vineyard known as La Collina is planted. And in Ken Gargett’s opinion, it is sensational!
In Ken Gargett’s opinion, the Chivas Ultis XX exhibits a depth and complexity that puts to rest any argument that blended whiskies cannot sit with the finest malts. We have a burnished orange colour. The aromas move through toffee and cinnamon, vanilla and red apples, caramel, cigar box and more. Balanced, mellow, complex and ever so long, this is a gorgeous whisky.
Ken Gargett recently had an extensive immersion into New Zealand wines for a couple of weeks, including those of Hawkes Bay, so it seemed an ideal time to look at the latest Selection, from the 2021 vintage. The other reason for doing so is that the quality of this latest Selection lifts it above anything else he has seen from this project.