“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.
While H. Upmann usurped the famous British leader’s name for this cigar, Ken Gargett has no doubt Winston Churchill would have loved the tribute. After having smoked two, Ken thinks it a truly glorious cigar (99/100) and one that should be in every serious cigar lover’s rotation.
The release of the thrilling 2012 Cristal heralds the culmination of Louis Roederer’s efforts in biodynamics. The vineyard has released champagnes in the recent past that have been biodynamic, or part thereof, but this is the first time the flagship, the legendary Cristal, is 100 percent biodynamic. And what a vintage for it!
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!
To’ak makes chocolate, but not as you know it. This is manna from heaven, or perhaps chocolate from angels. Ken Gargett takes a deep dive into what is quite possibly the world’s finest chocolate.
It was the wonderful 1975 Pol Roger that first ignited Ken Gargett’s love of great champagne. Here he looks at (and tastes) the 2012 releases and they do not disappoint: the great vintages of this century have been 2002, 2008, and perhaps now 2012!
The Henschke Hill of Grace 2015 Shiraz is a wonderful wine from a very fine vintage. In Ken Gargett’s opinion, it’s a wine with decades ahead of it. A great Hill of Grace and a brilliant example of just how great Australian wines can be. 99/100.
The always perceptive and entertaining American importer Kermit Lynch has described Château Thivin wines as resembling “a country squire who is not afraid to get his boots muddy. Handsome, virile, earthy, and an aristocrat.” And Ken Gargett agrees. The Beaujolais 2018 vintage is already being talked about as legendary, heroic, special, brilliant . . . roll out whichever superlative you like and give it a go.
Beluga vodka hails from Siberia, from the Marlinsk Distillery, which was founded in 1900. The water used is from Siberian artesian wells. Ken Gargett thinks that if James Bond was drinking Beluga’s Gold Line, he would sip it straight rather than tip it into martinis, whether shaken or stirred.
David Shrigley is not your conventional artist. He says what’s on his mind without beating around the bush. Not taking himself seriously while opening our eyes to the bigger picture is why French champagne house Ruinart commissioned the 51-year-old artist to present the champagne house in a new light as its 2020 carte blanche artist,