2005 Guigal  Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge 1/2 bottle
I love half bottles- you’ll love them too, especially if you have trouble getting through a whole bottle of wine, on a budget or like to taste several wines at a time.

Here is a real value no matter the reason. The name Guigal has been trusted by The Party Source for years. With this historic vintage now in a half-bottle, I promise all you medium to full bodied red wine lovers you will enjoy this one.   The 2005 vintage is all but drunk from CdR- these half bottles are some of the final remains.

Cheers!

Danny

]]> http://partysourceeq.com/2009/07/09/danny-golds-wine-of-the-week-2005-guigal-rouge/feed/ 1 http://partysourceeq.com/2009/07/02/heres-to-a-great-cause/ http://partysourceeq.com/2009/07/02/heres-to-a-great-cause/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:06:36 +0000 connie http://partysourceeq.com/?p=1032

One year ago on Memorial Day weekend, Mary Claire Schnier was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She is doing great! Mary Claire wanted to raise money and some attention to finding a cure for her disease. Mary Claire’s father, Lou, asked The Party Source if they would host a wine tasting to benefit Mary Claire’s cause and we were happy to do so.

On Tuesday, June 30th the wine tasting was held at EQ.
Mary Claire raised over $700 and all the proceeds from the event are being donated to  Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Diabetes Center!  Keep up the good work Mary Claire – together we can beat this disease!

The EQ Staff

The Lackey 2006 Shiraz
This is one supped up and glossy wine with tons of bells and whistles. The Lackey doesn’t lack anything especially power and intensity. It pours a cross between raspberry jam and midnight in color, blowing off a bouquet of crushed herbs, black pepper, earth, oak, and vanilla and blackberry liquor. This BIG Aussie some how pulls off a pleasant harmony on the finish making it very desirable for either your wine cellar or backyard barbeque.

Cheers!

Danny

See you there!

Connie Volker
EQ Event and Marketing Director

First printed in our Fall 2007 Drinks magazine, this post recounts my trip to Mexico with our tobacconist Eric Brown in May of ‘07. I’ll post future articles on both the El Tequila of Carlos Camarena and the palenqueros of Oaxaca. But the short version is this: there is no more skilled or passionate Tequila producer than Carlos Camarena; and possibly the only Mexican spirits that surpass his El Tesoro Tequila are the single village mezcals of Del Maguey. Visit again next week for a look at our new favorite Tequila.

Our recent tour of Mexico will last forever as one of the great cultural experiences of our lives, filled with warm and friendly people, fantastic food and a colorful aesthetic sensbility everywhere we turned. But for sure the highlights of the trip were the distilleries. From the flat-out best Tequila distillery to mind-bending tours of four single village Mezcal producers, we found the state of this Mexican art to be perhaps the most traditional of all the spirits in the world.

Shortly after meeting Carlos Camarena, I decided he is a really cool guy. The passion he holds for his ultra-traditional El Tesoro 100% Agave Tequila comes burning off him like the steam that fires his old-fashioned agave ovens. Following in his father Don Felipe’s footsteps, Carlos does things with Tequila that other distillers consider insane. Carlos’ estate-grown blue agave plants are the ripest in the industry, and the workers laboriously trim by hand the part of the male plant that creates bitter flavors in the finished product.

He persists in crushing the cooked agave (baked three days in brick ovens) with a giant millstone (as opposed to a modern mechanical shredder). Unlike nearly all other Tequila producers, Señor Camarena ferments his agave totally naturally, with no added chemical fermentation accelerators. He then distills the fermented juice with the agave fibers for added flavor, in pot stills so small they could fit in the back of an SUV. All this obsessive attention to detail leads to the most flavorful Tequila we’ve ever had, bar none.

But Tequila country did not prepare us for the Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal producers in Oaxaca. I was acquainted with the traditional production methods used by such Mezcal masters as Paciano Cruz Nolasco of San Luis del Rio, hand-crafted in a remote mountain village. But to actually see these rustic, pre-industrial distilleries in operation was totally amazing. In the village of Minero, Florencio Sarmiento uses a clay still with a unique design of ancient Chinese origin. Florencio’s distillery is also the only one we saw that used electricity, with a small pump circulating cold water to the internal condenser bowls in his far-out stills. Like El Tesoro, all Del Maguey Mezcals are 100% natural with no added flavors or chemicals used in production. And now having been there, I can better appreciate where the potent, smoky flavor of these Mezcals comes from. If they are drop for drop the most intensely flavored spirits in the store, surely that reflects in part the rugged land—and the hand of the maker—from which they spring.

Local wine blogger and frequent EQ student Michelle Lentz is throwing her ruby slippers in the ring to nab what has got to be one of the all-time greatest internships. Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County, California, is looking for a rare specimen, someone skilled at both social media and wine, for a six month job as a lifestyle reporter. Applicants are to submit a one minute video explaining why they are perfect for the gig. I think Michelle nailed it, but then I am perhaps rooting for the hometown team and a pal of mine. C’mon…she teaches Twitter. Here is Michelle’s Murphy-Goode page, where you can cast your vote–or just click the video below. And check out Michelle’s dedicated website–Oz looks more fun than ever with a bit of wine!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Wines of Merryvale
Napa, California
Recently,  at the Reserve restaurant on the Levee, we had 46 people out to dinner (my 3rd biggest tasting yet). At the dinner we met Paul Cimenero with Merryvale who gave some great stories and history on Merryvale. We poured and paired these wines with a great menu. Here are the results.

Merryvale Chardonnay $17.99 with tempura fried Lobster.
Why? One of the food matches possible is a buttery Chardonnay with Lobster tail. Here the Chard was not overtly buttered or oaked. It was dense but with nice stony and citrus notes. Really a great Chardonnay from California for the price that steps outside the popular norm.

Merryvale Sauvignon Blanc $15.99 with Sicilian flatbread.
Why?  With Asiago cheese, olives and tomatoes we wanted to pour a white that was lively and acidic as well as crisp and clean to let all those flavors shine through. From the response of the crowd we nailed it.

Merryvale Merlot $23.99 with Chicken Diablo over penne pasta
Why? Here matching spice with tannins was the idea hoping they would meet each other half way and play off each other. The Merlot was bold and smooth. Some said it was the pairing of the night a few thought we missed but hey that’s ok.

Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon $24.99 with Prime Rib
This I jokingly called the “Fred Flintstone” course because of the huge portion of beef. This was a no brainer. We took a gorgeous, classic California Cab and paired with one of the best cuts of meat out there. There were lots of smiles and to go boxes.

Cheers!

Danny

It’s not very often that a classic comes along, particularly in the liqueur category. Most of the truly classic liqueurs have been around a long time, came from Europe, and often as not were created by monks–see Chartreuse, Bénédictine, Frangelico, and others. And sadly, too many new entrants in aisle 9B are poseurs, with some or another frou-frou ingredient backed with frenzied marketing. But every once in a while, an artisan with some vision and passion comes along that you just know will still be here in a century or two. The latest, and greatest, of these is Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur. Between its understated Asian lantern-style bottle, harmony of ingredients, and its effortless mixability, Canton is a future liqueur hall of famer.

Canton is a careful blend of Vietnamese baby ginger, peeled by hand and added to VSOP and XO Cognacs in Jarnac, France. Additional seasonings include vanilla beans from Tahiti, ginseng from Tunisia, and a touch of honey from Provence (and not too much of the latter, because Canton is not at all cloying or oversweet). Impressively, there are no added colors or preservatives. The ginger displays a pleasant spicy heat that comes through brilliantly in the cocktail. Gosh it’s good!

Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur $29.99

Considering the wealth of American microdistilleries we carry at The Party Source, I suppose I should not have been surprised when a couple of amazing little bottles showed up on our doorstep from Bowling Green, Kentucky. But I was surprised–probably you heard my jaw when it hit the floor–not only to find an artisan distiller in Kentucky, but the first commercial red abisnthe in America. G0 Kentucky!

Corsair started distilling in December 2008. They have two stills at their Bowling Green facility. One is a modern Holstein-type affair, a 50-gallon pot still topped with an adjustable fractionating column, as well as an optional gin “basket” that does wicked things to the Corsair gin. The other still is an astonishing 240 gallon copper pot still dating from about 1920. This burnished warrior survived Prohibition, and Corsair uses it in the first distillation of their whiskey. (Yes, that’s right, whiskey. Corsair whiskey is only in the developmental stages, but you can expect Bourbon, rye, and a four-grain whiskey to emerge from their hut in the future.)

Red absinthe is a small tradition in historical European absinthe, rather more common in Spain or Czech Republic than France. Sadly, while there are a number of oustanding artisanal green and blanche absinthes from Europe and, increasingly, America, most of the rouges are disappointing to absinthe connoisseurs, tending to artificial color and shrill flavor. But Corsair Red is cut from different cloth. Distiller Andrew Webber packs this cute little bottle full of real wormwood, citrus, and tarragon. After a proper infusion and redistillation of these herbs, there is a final  infusion with hibiscus flowers. Corsair Red can hold its head up as an honest and traditionally crafted absinthe…and hold its own with Bourbon as a soulful product of the Bluegrass State.

Corsair also makes a terrific gin, full of juniper notes but joined with postmodern gin flavors of citrus oil and grains of paradise. In addition to the eventual whiskeys, partners Webber and Darek Bell make a potent spiced rum for the best Coke mixer ever. But really, it’s this Red absinthe that takes the cake, and Corsair has beaten some people to the punch in bringing it to market. Other absinthe producers must be green red with envy.

Update: Andrew Webber of Corsair Artisan will be at The Party Source for an informal tasting Friday June 26 4-7 pm and Saturday June 27 1-5 pm. Stop by for a free taste!

Corsair Red Absinthe 375 ml 32.99

Corsair Gin 375 ml 18.99

The cutest gin ever!

The introduction of vermouth to America in the 1870s was a seminal moment in the development of the cocktail. Bartenders had a new toy to play with, and in short order had invented a host of classic cocktails that are still drunk today. As I’ve noted here before, vermouth is back, baby, with a vengeance. Mixologists amateur and professional alike are rediscovering the supple, mouthwatering glory of dry and sweet vermouth. And happily, we have some new firepower, with new vermouths landing from France, including the new/old Noilly Prat and Dolin, perhaps the best of them all. What to do with this herbaceous wine?

Vermouth de Chambéry is the aristocrat of French Vermouth.

Noilly Prat made waves earlier this year when they reintroduced their original formula dry vermouth to America. It turns out the Noilly dry sold here for so long was different from that sold in Europe, with generally less flavor and a milder character. Many American martini drinkers put a few mere drops of vermouth (or perhaps, following the tradition of Winston Churchill, they glance in the direction of France) in their cocktail, or worse, drink a glass of straight cold gin and call it a martini. I’m sorry, I love gin, and that may be a tasting drink, but that’s no martini. A martini, I believe, should have a touch of vermouth, not too much but a balance between the gin and the wine.  ratio of 6:1 down to maybe 3:1 gin to vermouth gets you in the ballpark. If you could have a martini in 1909, it would have a healthy splash of vermouth, and a dash of bitters as well.

And that’s where this new Noilly shines. It has tons more flavor, more subtle herbal character, more complexity than the old Americn-issue white label. If the new Noilly requires a careful touch with a gin martini, it is also vastly improved for any other cocktail, and especially in a Noilly-on-the-rocks aperitif. Deelish!

But if the new/old Noilly is a breath of fresh air, the other new vermouth in town ranks as a cult classic among cocktailian types. For years our shaker customers have been begging for Dolin Vermouth de Chambéry, and now it is here. Vermouth de Chambéry is the only AOC-status vermouth in France, which means it is honored with and protected by the same legal statutes that watch over Champagne and Bordeaux. Simply put, Chambéry is the best vermouth, bar none, with special access to the alpine herbs that flavor it . The house of Dolin is the last producer in Chambéry, and one of the few independent producers of vermouth. In our tastings of dry Dolin against the new and old Noilly, the Dolin comes out on top with an ineffable balance and clean, pure flavor. The Noilly is a bit more floral, and if you miss the old Noilly in you martini, I think you’ll love the crisp herbaceousness of Dolin.

Dolin Dry, Blanc, and Sweet Vermouth

Here’s an old chestnut of a cocktail, perhaps the precursor to the martini but, moreover, the close cousin to the Manhattan. The Martinez cocktail is a celebration of gin and vermouth, rather like a “perfect” Manhattan (i.e. using equal parts sweet and dry vermouth) made with gin instead of whiskey. Try different bitters, such as Angostura, Fee Brothers, or Regans orange in your Martinez.

The Martinez

1.5 oz dry gin such as Hendrick’s

.25 oz Dolin sweet vermouth

.25 oz Dolin dry vermouth

1-2 dashes bitters

Stir 30 seconds with ice, and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with one Italian marasca cherry such as Luxardo.