Champagne Lallier: Getting into the Ground Floor Early
For champagne lovers, Ken Gargett recommends taking a look at the Lallier range. You might not be getting in right on the ground floor, but awfully close. And you’ll never regret it.
Billecart-Salmon Nicolas François 2008: Absolutely Sensational Champagne!
In Ken Gargett’s opinion, Billecart-Salmon’s Cuvee Nicolas François is a great champagne, whatever the vintage, but from 2008, it is transcendent. The champagne is of a gleaming appearance, like cut crystal. One sniff and it is obvious we are dealing with something that is wonderfully complex, elegant, still fresh and impeccably balanced.
Ken Gargett’s Best of 2023: Best Wines, Best Cigar, Best Meal, Best Event, Most Curious Meal, and Much More
Happy New Year to all and many thanks for your support and comments throughout 2023. Before we head off into 2024, and the chaos that it promises, a few ‘Best Of’ selections from the past 12 months.
Book Review: Oxford Companion to Wine – “The Greatest Wine Book ever Published” Washington Post
There is one wine book that every wine lover, from the most recent beginner to seasoned professional, simply must have. ‘The Oxford Companion to Wine’, edited by Jancis Robinson MW. The first edition came out almost thirty years ago. There was nothing like it. Still isn’t.
Book Review: Modern Caribbean Rum by Matt Pietrek and Carrie Smith
‘Modern Caribbean Rum’. has already been dubbed the bible on the subject. The first thing you are going to notice about this book is its size. It is massive!
Bartolo Mascarello: Not just a Great Italian Winery, but One of the World’s Great Wineries
Mascarello is an Italian wine producer family that adheres to the old ways. Apparently, there is no email nor website (I certainly could not find one), and until 1990 they did not even have a phone. However, there are many who believe that Maria Teresa (granddaughter of founder Giulio Mascarello) has taken the wines to unprecedented heights. After a recent visit to the winery in Italy, Ken Gargett is one of them.
Diplomaticos 30th Anniversary PCC Cigars: Seriously Good to Stunning
Before Ken Gargett smoked a Diplomaticos 30th Anniversary PCC Cigars, he asked for some thoughts. The responses ran the gauntlet from seriously good to stunning.
Champagne Devaux: Seriously Good Wines
Champagne Devaux blends are not predetermined and the non-vintage wines see a high proportion of reserve wines. The majority of the reserve wines are aged in oak vats while they also incorporate the solera process. Time on lees far outstrips many of their competitors.
Old (Very Old) Vintage Bordeaux Tasting: Time Traveling with Decadence
“Time traveling with decadence”. That’s the perfect description of the incredible extravaganza known as the annual tasting in Scandinavia, which saw an absolute deluge of amazing wines, so many of them a century old, give or take.
It’s ‘Champagne Day’ with Krug: Pop the Cork and Cheers!
Held on the fourth Friday of October – in 2023, the 27th of October – Champagne Day was originally established in 2009 by Californian wine educator, Chris Oggenfus, and has taken off, with events around the world. You might be like Ken Gargett and have wondered why we need an official Champagne Day. Surely, every day is perfect for champagne?