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.
Champagne is a lot more robust than people think. While reds and even whites get a fairly rough hand on occasion, there is a feeling that champagne must always be handled with the proverbial kid gloves. When discussing or presenting champagne, Ken Gargett is often asked how long it can be kept. And the answer is far longer than we sometimes suspect. Here he explains why. Cheers!
There is one Australian winemaker who has not only been extraordinarily consistent, but produced world class Pinot (and Chardonnay), vintage after vintage, across the board: Bindi Wines, thanks to owner and winemaker Michael Dhillon. It would be a brave critic to leave Bindi out of any list of great Aussie Pinots and Ken Gargett rates the small winery among the very top.
Basically, sake comprises rice, water, and the fermenting agent called koji, resulting in an alcoholic level that usually sits between 13 and 16 percent. And you might be interested to know that the rice used is different from the standard table rice so popular with Japanese food. Ken Gargett takes a deep dive into what sake is, what types of sake are available, and whether you should drink it warm (like James Bond) or cold. Kampai!
To celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2021, Lustau released a set of three special sherries at the end of last year. These only come as a set, and there are only 2,500 bottles of each of the trio. Beautifully packaged, they have never been seen before, and they represent not only the history and the very DNA of Lustau, but also the three towns of the sherry triangle with one wine from each. Ken Gargett thinks that for sherry lovers these are an absolute must.
“So marvelous, so delicate was the bouquet, it seemed an impertinence to go further and taste this miraculous liquid; and yet, on the palate it almost made one regret the waste of time the moments spent in taking in the perfume.” Ken Gargett didn’t write that, but he feels the same way about the fabulous wines of Burgundy. Find out here why this is the golden age for this region.
In Ken Gargett’s opinion, the Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2006 champagne is still quite exuberant and has a chalky/minerally backing with a little grip on the finish, entwined with a hint of bitter almonds. Ken would happily drink this any time he could as it is undoubtedly one of the best champagnes from the 2006 vintage.
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 Tuscan wines you may not (yet) be acquainted with.
Ken Gargett has tasted several Louis Roederer Cristal vintages over recent years, but how did the recently disgorged wine fare in 2014? Could it match the 2012 or 2013? Read on to discover what Ken thinks of the Cristal 2014 and whether it can stand up to the hype.
Japanese whisky distillery Mars Shinshu is still working to establish its house style. “Searching for its soul,” distillery manager Koki Takehira calls it, and he is off to a wonderful start. At this stage, the whiskies appear to be from the elegant and complex end of the spectrum, and there is a gentle sweetness, more so than found in most Japanese whiskies. Ken Gargett takes us through the history of Mars Shinshu and shares tasting notes of a few of the whiskies.