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Luxardo Maraschino Original Liqueur Veneto, Italy 32% ABV This is a spirit of legend for me, in that I’d seen it in a million cocktail recipes before I could ever track it down. Now that it’s finally appeared at my local ABC store, I can explore it. And it’s full of shockers. Per Luxardo’s website, [...]
Napa River Napa County Merlot 2008 Napa Valley, CA I can’t pick anything up from the nose of this merlot, but I’m not complaining. It’s a delicious wine. It’s thin-bodied, very smooth, and just to the right of dry. The prominent berry flavors are present in equal parts of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry like a [...]
Lost Vineyards Tempranillo Calatayud, Spain This medium-bodied and medium dry tempranillo is all you can ask for at $3.99. It smells like dark chocolate and light leather. Cherry comes to mind first when sipping, but that dark chocolate has a stronger presence overall. It’s bitter in a way that ties in nicely to the [...]
Veev is a liqueur made mainly from the acai berry. The back of the bottle waxes poetic on the heart of the Amazon, the adventurous benefits of acai, and the pleasing addition of other exotic (their word, not mine) fruits. I won’t be quite as mysterious as they are—those other fruits are prickly pear and [...]
Middle Sister Rebel Red Santa Rosa, CA This wine is thin bodied, yet it pulls off a great depth in its flavors. Clove dominates the glass, which is usually good for me, and cinnamon is a close second. The spices mingle with nice, ripe, and delicious cherries and some strawberries that fear being overshadowed by [...]
Arrogant Frog 2008 Lily Pad Red Langeoudoc, France The Lily Pad Red is a mix of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, both perfectly good wines for blending but I appreciate best on their own. It smells of beef jerky and cherries. The cherries are more prominent than expected when sipping. There’s not much going on in [...]
McWilliams Hanwood Estates Shiraz 2008 Southeastern Australia Curry leaves and pepper come forward in the nose. The taste is interesting: cherry, not fully ripe, is foremost on the palate, but with a spicy tone that actually reminds me a lot of Trader Joe’s Cherry Cider. I can down a jug of that beverage in no [...]
Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux Rouge 2007 France This Bordeaux smells peppery and tingles my nose. It is dry and tart, with a berry flavor of deep, dark cherries. There’s an extra layer to it that’s like molasses but not sweet . . . rum notes? The wine is very drinkable, especially the more you drink [...]
Dellatorri Chianti 2007 I didn’t pick up much from the smell of this wine, so if I had to offer something, I’d say it smelled of unripened pluot. The taste was more striking, with the first sip making me wonder if I’d bit into a lemon seed. That taste lingers for awhile but mellows after [...]