What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Is Arizona on your radar as a notable wine region? If not, Asonta Benetti makes the case for <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/arizona-wine-destination">why you should consider wine from this southwestern state</a>.
🥃 Three decades into his career, Jefferson&rsquo;s Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller is still experimenting, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/trey-zoeller-jeffersons-bourbon">and has a lot to say about American whiskey</a>.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
New Riff Silver Grove Bourbon and Rye ($60)
At six years old, these are the oldest expressions in New Riff&rsquo;s Silver Grove lineup to date. The bourbon is bottled at 116.4 proof and made from a mashbill of 65% corn, 30% rye and 5% malted barley; the rye is bottled at bottled at 115 proof and made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye. Proceeds from the sales of these whiskeys goes to benefit the Silver Grove Community Foundation.
Kavalan L&Aacute;N Single Malt Whisky ($80)
Taiwanese distillery Kavalan makes some truly fantastic single malt. This new release is a blend of whiskies aged in port, bourbon, and STR wine casks (shaved, toasted, recharred), bottled at 43 percent ABV. That has given it notes of sweet fruit, jasmine, orange, and cinnamon, making this another notable world whisky in this rapidly growing category.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Oban 15 Year Old Port Cask Finish
Last year, one of the best single malt scotch whiskies came from Oban, the small coastal distillery owned by Diageo that is often outshined by its much better known counterparts like Lagavulin and Talisker. That whisky was the 15 Year Old Cask Strength Sherry Cask Finish, a 55.3 percent ABV single malt that stood out in a crowded field of many new releases. This year, Oban has returned with another new cask-finished expression, and it&rsquo;s also one worth seeking out: Oban 15 Port Cask Finish.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/fc9f2f0a-20e9-478b-9f35-8533be46ee5a.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Oban 15 Hero Image">
As you can tell by the name, this whisky is different from last year's release because it is finished in port instead of sherry casks&mdash;specifically, it spent 15 years in American oak hogsheads and then was given a secondary maturation in American oak ruby port casks from Portugal, and bottled at 52.1 percent ABV. This is the second in this series of 15-year-old whiskies, so presumably there will be more coming down the line.
The whisky at hand is perhaps not quite on the level of last year's sherry cask finish, but if you consider it as a standalone release it&rsquo;s certainly in the conversation about noteworthy new scotch whiskies to try. The exact amount of time it spent finishing in port casks is not revealed, but it's likely less than a year based on the information provided. That has imbued it with rich and syrupy fruit notes, as well as vanilla, maple, black pepper, honey, and baking spice flavors. And the higher proof than normal goes a long way here, leaving some lingering heat on your tongue as it fades.
Oban often talks about the maritime influence on its whisky that comes from the distillery's proximity to the sea, and you may or may not pick that up here (I found the port influence to obscure that for the most part). Regardless, the distillery is a key member of the Diageo portfolio that has put another excellent new whisky into the world, and it's one that is well worth seeking out.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
Cadre 2024 San Luis Obispo Coast Band of Stones Gruner Veltliner ($30)
There have been a number of stabs at growing and making Gruner Veltliner in the U.S. since the late &lsquo;80s, when Austria pulled off its minor putsch on the American market. Talk about anything but Chardonnay. Gruner was fresh and verdant, full of energy and somehow weightless in lighter, federspiel bottlings, more weighty and full-bodied in smaragd styles. It didn&rsquo;t taste like oak, it didn&rsquo;t taste like fruit salad, it was its own racy self.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/b8939904-0304-4593-90a5-b6a0072e5307.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Gruner">
Not surprisingly American winegrowers set down some gruner vines, and did what they could to capture that bolt of green lightning, with plantings in the Finger Lakes, Oregon, and parts of coastal California. Most seemed a little wan, too pale or too one-dimensional to approximate Austrian versions.
In the mid-2000s, John Niven took a portion of his family&rsquo;s pioneering vineyard Paragon in the Central Coast&rsquo;s Edna Valley and planted cool climate whites, including Albarino, Gruner, and Sauvignon Blanc, to found Cadre. The vines are nearing 20 years of age, and the wines are really showing some character, none more than the 2024 Cadre Gruner Band of Stones.
This comes mostly from older vines at Paragon, a relentlessly cool site not five miles from the Pacific. It&rsquo;s aged in steel, and malo is suppressed. Its scent is spot on&mdash;green pea shoots and salted citrus, a hint of ground pepper, and a&nbsp; tropical fruit base, like papaya. Made at a federspiel level of richness, this wine is structured to be bright and racy, less fat, more sun. The acidity and saline tang reminds you of its coastal character and proximity to the sea. Grab a bottle and head to the beach.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 20

Arizona is a Southwestern state known for its varied topography, flora, and fauna, stretching from arid deserts to snowcapped mountains. It's not necessarily known as a prolific wine-producing region in the eyes of many people, but the fact is that there is a long history of viticulture here. Similar in temperature and geography to Spain and Southern France, it should really come as no surprise that the state&rsquo;s winemakers aren&rsquo;t only succeeding&mdash;they are in fact thriving.
There are now approximately 150 wineries in the state across three different regions, a number that has doubled over the past decade. Arizona&rsquo;s intense climate has become its biggest viticultural strength instead of a hindrance. Most of the vineyards are set at high elevations (4,000 to 5,000 feet is common), resulting in some of the most dramatic diurnal temperature shifts in the country. Vintners have used intelligent irrigation strategies to mitigate water scarcity, like capturing the moisture from summer monsoons, and have planted grapes that respond well to the intense sunshine.&nbsp;
The extensive growing season contributes to whites with balanced acidity, such as Viognier, Malvasia Bianca, and Chardonnay, and full-bodied reds that pack a punch made with robust&nbsp; varieties like Syrah, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, and Grenache.
<h3 dir="ltr">The History of Arizona Wine</h3>
There are reports of winegrowing in the Arizona territory as far back as the 16th century, when Spanish missionaries settled in the area&rsquo;s southern regions. By the late 19th century, the territory of Arizona had a burgeoning wine industry, supplying settlers in the Phoenix area and Central Arizona. In particular, the Verde Valley was singled out for its potential to support vineyards after Henry Schuerman founded a successful winery in Oak Creek in the 1880s.&nbsp;
Arizona was on track to become a substantial player in the American wine industry, but Prohibition brought that upward trajectory to a sudden stop. The state&rsquo;s viticulture was left in the dust for almost 70 years, until soil scientist Dr. Gordon Dutt planted experimental grapes in 1972. He recognized the potential in Southeastern Arizona, not far from where the Spanish had planted vineyards hundreds of years before, and created the state&rsquo;s first modern commercial wine vineyard, Vina Sonoita.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">The Three AVAs</h3>
Arizona&rsquo;s three regions are at high elevation, meaning there are significant diurnal temperature swings&mdash;90 degree days are not uncommon, while the temperature can dip into the low &lsquo;50s by nightfall. However, the regional similarities end there.&nbsp;
Sonoita, usually referred to as Sonoita/Elgin, is just a couple of hours south of Phoenix. This was Arizona&rsquo;s first AVA, getting its official designation in 1984. Nestled between four different mountain ranges at an elevation of 5,000 feet, Sonoita has an arid, hilly landscape with soils that are an alluvial mix of limestone and volcanic fragments. Wild grasses mix with flowering Red Yuccas and endless blue skies here, and Arizona&rsquo;s famous sunsets are particularly spectacular set against the vineyards.&nbsp;
A little over an hour northeast of Sonoita is Willcox, Arizona&rsquo;s second AVA established in 2016. The town of Willcox is historic, with several 19th century buildings and museums marking its Old West past. Tasting rooms now occupy the historic brick buildings across from the old Railroad Park, which once housed mercantile centers. Willcox is home to the majority of Arizona&rsquo;s vineyards, a broad basin composed of loamy soils set at approximately 4,500 feet. Miles of flat, scrubby desert landscape extend towards the distant Chiricahua mountains, where nights bring endless stretches of stars.&nbsp;
A couple of hours north of Phoenix in Central Arizona is the Verde Valley AVA, the most recent of the three that was established in 2021. This is high country where Fremont cottonwood trees and Arizona sycamores sway in the wind, with vineyards set at around 3,800 feet. The area is named after the Verde River, so the sedimentary deposits found here are unsurprising. But the soils also contain volcanic remnants. Most visitors don&rsquo;t realize that nearby Hackberry Mountain and House Mountain are just two of hundreds of volcanoes&mdash;most but not all extinct&mdash;that cover Central and Northern Arizona. Look for a heavy basaltic influence here, and clay derived from volcanic ash as well as limestone.
<h3 dir="ltr">The Arizona Wine Community</h3>
&ldquo;Generosity of spirit is the first thing that comes to mind,&rdquo; said Arizona vintner and noted wine writer Pavle Milic about the local community. &ldquo;When my wife and I first moved to Sonoita and Elgin, everyone offered counsel, advice, and a helping hand.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a theme often repeated&mdash;fellow winemakers are here to help because there is a belief that a rising tide raises all ships. Not only that, but they all face the same unique struggles. &ldquo;When you add in the challenges like spring frosts, hail, monsoon rains, or javelinas (wild creatures from the pig family who are perfectly content to eat grape leaves and wreck irrigation lines), it just makes that spirit even more impressive,&rdquo; said Christina Barrueta, contributing editor to The Somm Journal. &ldquo;Winemakers here experiment, they adapt, they persevere, and they do it while supporting and looking out for each other.&rdquo;
There are dozens of worthy wineries all across the state, but start with these Arizona producers that are worth cellaring (that is, unless you choose to drink them now).
Caduceus Cellars + Merkin Vineyards
Known outside of winery circles as the frontman for the progressive metal bands Tool and Puscifer, Maynard James Keenan has spent decades as one of the biggest and most visible advocates for Arizona wines. Keenan owns vineyards across the state, with several in the Verde Valley, which he championed tirelessly to become an AVA. Guests can go to the Merkin Vineyards Trattoria in Cottonwood or a tasting room in the funky town of Jerome to experience what Keenan has been crafting since 2004.&nbsp;
Keenan has two separate labels, Caduceus and Merkin, focused on Spanish and Italian wines. Merkin has more blends, like the Shinola collection that features grapes from the Al Buhl Memorial Vineyard near Willcox and includes Sangiovese, Barbera, and Montepulciano. Caduceus leans more towards single-vineyard grapes. These are powerful, structured wines, so don&rsquo;t be shy about holding them back for a few years. The wait will be worth it.
Los Milics Vineyards
As a restaurateur, magazine columnist, and podcaster, Pavle Milic has spent years educating the locals about the bounty of wines outside their front door. Working the front of the house in California kitchens helped fuse the idea of weaving local wines and food together. Upon returning to Arizona, he and chef Charleen Badman opened Scottsdale&rsquo;s FnB in 2009, focusing on local ingredients and an Arizona-only wine program. In 2014, he created Los Milics, a wine collaboration with Dos Cabezas, before finally planting vineyards of his own in 2018 in Sonoita with partner Mo Garfinkle.&nbsp;
Los Milics specializes in Mediterranean varieties like Syrah, Grenache, and Vermentino. But it also dabbles in more tannic varieties like Tannat, Teroldego, and Vranac for a blend Milic calls Mo&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Three behemoths,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that will need at least a couple of years to hit their stride and allow the tannins to soften.&rdquo;
Callaghan Vineyards
If there&rsquo;s a godfather of Arizona wines, there&rsquo;s a case to be made that Elgin&rsquo;s Kent Callaghan fits the bill. &ldquo;Kent is a stalwart of Arizona juice, a true north star,&rdquo; said Milic. Established in 1990, Callaghan Vineyards has been leading the charge for cultivating grapes in the state&rsquo;s challenging environment, a pursuit born out of trial and error. They found success with varieties like Petit Verdot, Grenache, and Graciano. And by 1992, Callaghan was crafting wine with fruit grown on the estate.&nbsp;
The honors arrived soon after with wins at Missouri&rsquo;s Jefferson Cup Invitational and the San Francisco Chronicle Competition, where last year their 2022 Aglianico took home gold. Their wines have been served at the White House on four different occasions. The winery remains one of the state&rsquo;s standard-bearers. &ldquo;The Estate Graciano and Tannat are particularly age-worthy,&rdquo; wrote Barrueta.
Dos Cabezas WineWorks
Say the names &ldquo;Todd and Kelly&rdquo; in local Arizona wine circles and everyone knows who you&rsquo;re referring to, no last name needed (though, for reference, it&rsquo;s Bostock). Todd joined as winemaker for Al Buhl&rsquo;s Dos Cabezas in 2002. And in 2006, the Bostocks took over the winery and relocated to Sonoita, planting two high-elevation vineyards to varieties that include Tempranillo, Mourv&egrave;dre, and Syrah. They&rsquo;ve also never been afraid to try new things, making sparkling wines, blends inspired by the Rhone Valley and Spanish wines, and co-ferments. They were also the first Arizona winery to produce canned wines, and run the best pizzeria in southern Arizona.
Todd and Kelly have been recognized nationally, including as Winemakers to Watch by the San Francisco Chronicle, and their wines have also been served at the White House. Perhaps what&rsquo;s more impressive is the recognition they receive from heavy hitters in their own backyard. &ldquo;Back in May of last year,&rdquo; said Milic, &ldquo;we hosted a winemaker dinner where Todd wanted to demonstrate how Malvasia Bianca ages. He poured a 2021 that had aromatically morphed from its usual tropical notes into something more savory&mdash;almost spearmint-driven&mdash;and decidedly serious in tone. It was a beautiful reminder that Arizona whites, when given the chance, can evolve in compelling and unexpected ways.&rdquo;

Why Arizona Should Be Your Next Wine Destination

When Trey Zoeller started working in the liquor business in the 1990s, he was surprised to find that, outside of his home state of Kentucky, nobody wanted bourbon. &ldquo;Everybody drank bourbon here and I never thought about it&mdash;I assumed they drank bourbon everywhere,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then I moved to a half dozen different places around the country and nobody was drinking it.&rdquo;
Why, then, did he decide to start a bourbon business in 1999, a year when bourbon sales were, to put it bluntly, in the toilet?
For one thing, he could get good bourbon cheaply. There were just eight distilleries operating in Kentucky, replete with well-aged barrels from the so-called glut era of the 1980s, but &ldquo;we could buy from anyone,&rdquo; Zoeller recalled. He also believed that bourbon had the potential to achieve the same high prices that scotch and Irish whiskeys were starting to command.
&ldquo;Ignorance is bliss,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;There wasn't a high-end [bourbon] market or consumer at the time, but I had confidence that what was out there, some of the great old barrels, were superior to things that were being bottled&mdash;and that there's always room at the top. Maybe that was a little bit before our time because we couldn't give it away in the beginning.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Sales were so poor in the early days that Zoeller had to diversify, so he shilled energy drinks, fortified water, and even a Chardonnay called Pinque. Those products outsold Jefferson&rsquo;s for years, helping to sustain Zoeller&rsquo;s faith that, eventually, whiskey drinkers would come around. &ldquo;I should have concentrated more effort on those products than bourbon, because it wasn't paying the bills at the time,&rdquo; he said.
Eventually his passion project paid off. Early bottlings of Jefferson&rsquo;s Presidential Select, originally priced at $100 and containing Stitzel-Weller bourbon, now command thousands of dollars at auction. Though his initial supply of glut-era barrels has long since been exhausted, Zoeller has been shrewd about laying down new make on contract and buying whiskey from different distilleries, all with an eye toward finishing and blending. It&rsquo;s this post-distillation process that defines Jefferson&rsquo;s rather than what happens in the stillhouse.
Over the years, Zoeller hasn&rsquo;t shied away from aggressive barrel finishes, and he&rsquo;s made waves&mdash;literally&mdash;with products like Jefferson&rsquo;s Ocean, a bourbon aged onboard active container ships that some commentators in the past have dismissed as a gimmick. The brand now has a deep bench of everyday whiskeys, as well as a luxury offering in Marian McClain, a five-bourbon blend named for an early American distiller and ancestor of Zoeller. As part of the Castle Brands portfolio, Jefferson&rsquo;s was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2019. The company is building a distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky that Zoeller says should come on line sometime later this year.&nbsp;
Many in Zoeller&rsquo;s position would have retired at this point, but he&rsquo;s still full of energy and ideas&mdash;and looking at potentially bringing his children, twins who recently turned 21, into the business in the future. Even with bourbon&rsquo;s 21st-century momentum starting to slow, he sees plenty of opportunity ahead. The Unicorn Review sat down with Zoeller to talk about the bourbon community, the roots of his experimental philosophy, and more&mdash;including an as-yet-unreleased collaboration with an A-list rock star.&nbsp;
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Unicorn Review: There are a number of whiskey blenders making a good name for themselves nowadays, but that wasn&rsquo;t the case when you got started. Did you consciously avoid talking about blending?&nbsp;
Trey Zoeller: We didn't beat our chest about it, that's for sure, because you're exactly right: blending was bad. It was a dirty word. People associated it with blended scotch whisky, blended Canadian whiskies. What we were doing was blending Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys&mdash; great products all the way around&mdash;and just trying to put them together to make them better than they were. We started doing it way before most had even thought about it. If there were other distilleries doing it, they weren't talking about it.&nbsp;
Now people are putting more weight and more credit into blending. I think there's a real art to it. It's the hardest product. We&rsquo;ve done 30 expressions, and we've got four blended products now. Those are the ones that are still the most difficult to put together because there's one way to do it&mdash;that's by taste.&nbsp;
You told me once that distilling is not what&rsquo;s interesting to you. It&rsquo;s maturation and what you can do with the whiskey afterwards. Where does that philosophy come from?
When I started, 99% of bourbon was made in Kentucky. If you look at the history, then you understand why they distill and age the way they do, which is all borne out of practicality. So I looked at it as: if you threw practicality out the door, what could you do to enhance bourbon the most?
So Marian McLain, my eighth-generation grandmother, was arrested for not paying taxes. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington had to pay for the war, so he instituted the whiskey tax. A lot of the distillers [from the East] went over the Appalachian Mountains and started distilling in this region. To get the whiskey back to where there were people, they put it in barrels for the first time. They floated it down the river system and then shipped it around Florida, back up to where there were people.&nbsp;
I recreated that [journey] 10, 12 years ago, and the whiskey that we distilled and sent on that voyage was unbelievable. It was as dark as the 16-year-old bourbon that we double-barreled for five years. Completely complex, so much more rounded than the same whiskey distilled on the same day and aged in Kentucky.&nbsp;
Then the railroad made its way down to Kentucky and you could ship barrels of whiskey up to New York in two weeks. Two-week-old whiskey sucks. So what did they do? They built warehouses right next to the distillery, built them high rather than wide, and aged it year over year over year to catch up to what happened on that voyage.&nbsp;
I looked at it and said, what changed on that voyage? It was environment and agitation. If you change the environment and agitation, you can drastically change the outcome of the whiskey. So I started experimenting in those different routes and that really opened up to what I could do.&nbsp;
Jefferson&rsquo;s Ocean is tremendously impacted by its sea voyage, but I still see people casually dismissing it as a gimmick. They don&rsquo;t understand what&rsquo;s happening to the barrel when it gets loaded onto a ship. What do you say to the haters?
It's really interesting that they dismiss that, but they buy into Warehouse J or Warehouse G [as influencing flavor in specific ways due to their location]. You've been to Kentucky&mdash;no microclimates here. It's either blanketed in heat and humidity or it's cold as shit. So is there really a difference between one warehouse and another? Maybe so&mdash;if so, slightly.&nbsp;
But let's say you take a barrel out of that warehouse and you put it on a ship and it's rocking back and forth and you take it down to the Tasmanian Sea and all the way up to the North Sea and cross the equator. If you can't [believe] that that matures bourbon in a different way than it would from one warehouse to another, then you've lost the ability to rationalize.
Your early Presidential Select bottles were $100 at time of release. Now they&rsquo;re selling for thousands at auction. Did you ever expect that?
We had a hard time selling for a hundred bucks. I would&rsquo;ve held a lot more of it back if I knew that was going to be the case. I was just happy to sell what we had.&nbsp;
Most people would say it was a perfect storm of things coming together that finally made bourbon take off, from the economy to Mad Men to cocktail culture. If you ask me, this [holds up phone] is what it was.&nbsp;
Once people could geek out together and to form a community together, that's when bourbon really started to take off. But at the time, the collectability of bourbon wasn't a thing. Nobody anticipated any of that&mdash;I certainly didn't. It's the community of bourbon that has made it proliferate so much, which is such a great, cool thing about it.
Have you ever seen people trying to sell fake Jefferson&rsquo;s, refilled bottles or something like that?
I've seen empty bottles for sale on the internet, so I can only assume.&nbsp;
When I first got into the industry, and I'm talking 1997, I remember being with a distributor in Nashville and seeing people recork wine bottles. It totally blew my mind. I couldn't believe that was going on, and it was going on in the open in front of a number of people. I'd be naive to think it doesn't happen.&nbsp;
I've seen bottles that we've only sold overseas end up in the U.S. I assume that's how they got there, but I'm not positive. So I think unfortunately it happens, but I guess that's just a sign of the success of the category or the brand. When we started doing some releases and seeing how many people were lined up there knowing that 50% of them were buying it only to flip it&mdash;you hate to see that, but it's indicative of the success of the category.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;ve been at this for almost 30 years. In the next 30 years, do you think bourbon can establish itself internationally as a whiskey that&rsquo;s as well known and respected as scotch?
Absolutely. When I first went to the first WhiskyFest in New York [in the late 1990s], us bourbon companies were pushed in the corner. We were the redheaded stepchild. Nobody was there to talk bourbon. It was all about scotch.&nbsp;
It's an education process. I don't think that we have properly pushed bourbon out into the world with as much emphasis as we should. In my mind, it's all about prestige and status that bourbon has not done a good enough job establishing. So I think absolutely it can be and will be more and more accepted. If you go to South America and Asia, scotch is king just as it was here in the &lsquo;90s. There will be a time and a place that shift happens, and it will happen rapidly like it did here. When that happens, I don't know.&nbsp;
Do you ever lose track of your experiments?
We&rsquo;re much better at [keeping track] now that we&rsquo;re part of Pernod Ricard. That said, I've got a number of experiments that I would love to bring to market. It's just how you can only bring so much to market at a time. We've got some unbelievable products that we've done in very small amounts that I would now like to do in commercial bottlings. That&rsquo;s one of the fights that I have with the bigger company all the time. I want to put these out and they're like, hold on, let's have a more planned out release for them and space it out a little bit more.
In 2019, you told me you were shipping bourbon over to <a href="https://tenutailpalagio.com/">Il Palagio</a>, Sting&rsquo;s wine estate in Tuscany. What happened with that?
It wasn&rsquo;t enough for a commercial release. That&rsquo;s one of those products I&rsquo;d love to come out with. It&rsquo;s got all the right components: different climate, a building to age it, which is perfect. We do have one obstacle to overcome, which was the legality of what we were doing. How to get it there. I&rsquo;ve got to figure that out.&nbsp;

After Three Decades in Bourbon, Trey Zoeller Is Still Experimenting

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Vicki Denig <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/hidden-gems-smithereens-nikita-malhotra">spoke to Nikita Malhotra</a> about her journey into the world of wine, and some of her favorite bottles at her NYC restaurant Smithereens.
🥃 It&rsquo;s almost St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day, so Gina Pace <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review">wrote about the category&rsquo;s comeback</a> and picked some of the best and most collectible bottles to consider.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Lux Row Estate Bourbon ($100)
This is the first estate bourbon from Lux Row, a project that master distiller John Rempe has had in mind for some time now. It&rsquo;s a five-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon made from a mashbill that includes #2 yellow corn (78% corn, 12% malted barley, 10% rye) that was actually grown at the Lux Row estate and bottled at 107 proof. Official tasting notes describe honey on the nose and brown sugar, black cherry, and dark chocolate on the palate and finish.
Barrel Cigar Blend ($85)
This is the first cigar blend from Louisville&rsquo;s Barrell Craft Spirits. The whiskeys in the mix were aged from 7.5 to 18 years and finished in three different types of barrels: Madeira, Armagnac, rum, and Hungarian oak. Like any other cigar blend you can certainly enjoy this without smoking, but the flavors of Boston cream pie, grape soda, cedar, and pecan pie on the palate make this a good whiskey to pair with a stogie.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
High West Bourye ($125)
High West&rsquo;s Bourye isn&rsquo;t the only bourbon-rye blend that you can find on liquor store shelves anymore, but it was one of the first to combine these two distinctive styles of whiskey. The 2026 release just arrived, and there have been some changes this year&mdash;most notably, the ABV is higher at 50.5 percent (101 proof, for all you Wild Turkey fans). But that&rsquo;s not the only thing that makes this excellent whiskey stand out.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/e1ac0ed7-f191-473b-8389-16619413cd79.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="260207 Bourye 9">
The blend changes a bit from year to year, and the details for this year&rsquo;s release are as follows. The mashbill combines two different bourbons and two ryes, three of them sourced and one produced in-house. The bourbons were made at MGP in Indiana from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; and 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley. One rye also comes from MGP&rsquo;s classic mashbill of 95% rye, 5% barley malt; the other is made in-house at High West from its mashbill of 80% rye, 20% malted rye. Each whiskey was aged for a minimum of 10 years and up to 19 years, and the final blend has not been chill filtered. &ldquo;We re-evaluated Bourye in 2026 to better showcase the elegance and complexity of its 10+ year‑old whiskeys,&rdquo; said a rep for the distillery in a statement. &ldquo;With the rich, decadent flavor that emerges in whiskey over long maturation, this blend can boldly embrace a higher proof while maintaining balance, depth, and approachability.&rdquo;
I&rsquo;d say the High West team succeeded in that with this release, which is the best Bourye in recent memory. While the exact proportions are not revealed, there is clearly a balance of bourbon and rye present as you sip, and one style does not overtake the other. That means that sweet maple, honey, and vanilla notes are nicely balanced with dried fruit, black pepper, and a cabinet full of baking spices. And at 101 proof, there&rsquo;s a nice warming heat on the finish.
High West recommends that you sip Bourye neat&mdash;preferably &ldquo;around a campfire while looking at the Milky Way.&rdquo; Please do try it that way, it sounds pretty nice especially as the weather starts to warm up a bit. But the whiskey also happens to work very well in a Manhattan, so give that a try too. However you choose to drink the new Bourye, you won&rsquo;t be disappointed.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
R&eacute;my V ($35&mdash;this week&rsquo;s wine pick is a spirit)
Sometimes it&rsquo;s worth it to go against type. Earlier this month, Cognac house R&eacute;my Martin announced the U.S. debut of a new neutral spirit distilled from grapes called Remy V (35% ABV). It&rsquo;s an un-oaked, unadorned eau-de-vie with a Cognac pedigree.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/50f943f5-698a-4737-96be-605e47dbac64.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Remy">
The Grande Marques house of R&eacute;my Martin has moved steadily in the direction of finer and finer bottlings of Cognac, culminating with Louis XIII Black Pearl, an expression that retails for north of $30,000. Compare that to your basic Louis XIII, one of the finer things that&rsquo;s ever landed on my tongue, which goes for a mere $4,000-$5,000. &nbsp;R&eacute;my Martin is a house known for the balance and finesse of its brandies; to my palate, it&rsquo;s always been a house that emphasizes clarity over concentration or depth of flavor.
Cognac, of course, is a white spirit before it becomes a brown spirit. Distilled from grapes in copper pot stills, the R&eacute;my V bottling draws from what the house does best. There is often a raw phenolic (and not unpleasant) bite to the flavors of un-oaked grape brandy, similar to grappa or other eaux-de-vie concoctions that are made, pretty much, wherever grapes are grown. It may be a neutral spirit, but R&eacute;my V is less neutral than vodka, and much closer to grappa in its character.
As such, it has grappa&rsquo;s gorgeous aromatics. Freed of the influence of oak, the nose is lifted and bright, smelling of toasted lees and ripe pear, with a light topnote of white tea. The palate is rich, round, and slightly sweet (they&rsquo;ve added a pinch of sugar to round out the texture), with a pleasing phenolic bite. It feels like an ideal base for citrus cocktails, or sipped over a single sphere of ice.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 13

Wine has always been a part of Nikita Malhotra&rsquo;s life. Born in New York to immigrant parents, Malhotra&rsquo;s family had a rather unique relationship with alcohol. Her great-grandfather was a scotch importer with the British Raj in India, which led her family to embrace the convivial nature of eating and drinking early on. &ldquo;My family was always very open&mdash;even my great-grandmother would ask for a nip of whisky whenever she was sick,&rdquo; she laughed.&nbsp;
Malhotra&rsquo;s father, who had a construction company in India&mdash;along with a bio-physics degree&mdash;sold his company and moved to Cleveland for a lab job, though his dreams of owning something in America held firm. &ldquo;The opportunity to purchase an existing business in New York presented itself, so he grabbed at the chance,&rdquo; she said, and he ended up opening a wine and spirits store on New York&rsquo;s Upper East Side. Using his base knowledge of spirits, Malhotra&rsquo;s father eventually became a self-taught wine connoisseur, taking every opportunity possible to taste and learn&mdash;which eventually trickled down to Malhotra herself.
&ldquo;By the time I was in my teens, my parents were pouring me glasses of wine and teaching me very basic things; wine had become such a big part of their lives,&rdquo; she recalled, adding that a bottle was always present on her family&rsquo;s dinner table. She studied philosophy, but then pivoted to the hospitality industry. After completing wine courses and various gigs, Malhotra eventually became a sommelier at Tribeca Grill, followed by a stint as wine director at Momofuku Ko. However, she craved the opportunity to expand her knowledge. &ldquo;​​I wanted to go back to being a student,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I love being a mentor, but I think to be a good mentor, you have to acknowledge that there's also more to learn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Enter Pressoir, the wine experience-focused company behind La Paul&eacute;e, La Tabl&eacute;e, and La F&ecirc;te du Champagne. Malhotra joined the Pressoir team as head sommelier in 2023 and never looked back. Here, she&rsquo;s been able to greatly expand her knowledge of&mdash;and taste thousands of bottles from&mdash;Champagne, Burgundy, and the Rh&ocirc;ne Valley. Eventually, the hospitality bug pulled her back in. In conjunction with her role at Pressoir, Malhotra opened Smithereens, a New England-inspired, seafood-focused restaurant in the East Village, with her business partner, Nick Tamburo. At Smithereens, Malhotra keeps her list tight, but purposefully so. &ldquo;I always knew it would be a small wine program because of the space constraints, but that was exciting for me,&rdquo; she said, describing the restaurant&rsquo;s list as her personal playground.&nbsp;
In addition to the regular list, Malhotra incorporates a rotating theme, which changes every three to four months. Past themes have focused solely on Grenache, Champagne, and other specific regions/varieties. The end goal is to simply open her guests&rsquo; minds to new things. &ldquo;I want to have a wine program that maybe in some ways gets people to think and engage,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s leading the vision at Smithereens.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Below are few of Malhotra&rsquo;s current favorites (edited for clarity and concision):
<h3 dir="ltr">Champagne Etienne Calsac 2021 Avize Grand Cru &lsquo;Clos des Maladries'&nbsp;</h3>
I've enjoyed watching Etienne Calsac grow and progress through the years, and I have had the pleasure of visiting him and hanging out with him and his wife in Los Angeles (I have a great video of [them] singing and dancing). We have the 'Clos des Maladries' Grand Cru Avize 2021 on our list. The label features the illustration of a doctor during the Plague, a reference to the name of the vineyards. &lsquo;Maladries&rsquo; is a term that comes from the Middle Ages, and the fruit here comes from vines that Etienne's grandfather planted in the &lsquo;70s.
<h3 dir="ltr">Lukas Hammelmann 2023 Pfalz 'Z' Zeikam Aus der Dorfen Chardonnay&nbsp;</h3>
Lukas Hammelmann captured my staff's attention when he came in to dine last year, and his Chardonnays have me believing the many promises people have been claiming about German expressions of the grape. At Smithereens, we can't help but champion German wine. I'm glad to report it is not just me that is aligned on this, as the whole staff fully supports our German producers! We have Hammelmann's Chardonnay 'Z' 2023, a the village-level bottling (the &lsquo;Z&rsquo; stands for Lukas&rsquo; hometown village of Zeiksam on loess and sandstone soils). This bottling is delicious. As with most German wine, be it Riesling, Syvaner, or even Chardonnay, there is a sense of energy that is expected, and this delivers.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Domaine Mie Ikeno 2022 Yamanashi &lsquo;Moonlight Harvest&rsquo; Chardonnay&nbsp;</h3>
Mie Ikeno is considered one of the great winemakers in Japan, so of course I am excited to have any of her wines on the list. However, I am especially excited to have the 'Moonlight Harvest' Chardonnay 2022. As the name implies, the team harvests at night for this bottling. Most of us get into wine because it provides us the opportunity to be life-long students, and I certainly get that chance with wine from Japan, and her story of giving up her journalism career to go learn how to make wine in France reinforces the idea that we are constantly learning in the wine world.
<h3 dir="ltr">Perkins-Harter 2024 Eola-Amity Hills Bracken Vineyard Pinot Meunier&nbsp;</h3>
Shelby is a force, and her wines communicate a bit of that personality. I always love sharing her bottles with guests, and her Pinot Meunier offers such a great way to discuss the cool climate in Bracken Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. The wine is vivacious, balanced, and fun&mdash;and for a seafood restaurant, it is the type of red wine that meets any challenge a dish may present.
<h3 dir="ltr">Quinta dos Pesos 1994 Carcavelos Vinho Generoso Fortified Wine (500ml)</h3>
We like to feature a couple of fortified wines at Smithereens, as an ode to how New Englanders drank many years ago in taverns [with] secret toasts against the British. The wines of Quinta dos Pesos present us with the almost lost wines of Carcavelos, Portugal&rsquo;s smallest appellation, located just west of Lisbon. With the passing of Manoel de Boullosa in 2005, operations ceased and there is almost no production left in this region. We usually have a couple of vintages to pour, and at present we have the 1994.&nbsp;

The Hidden Gems on My Wine List: Smithereens' Nikita Malhotra

The history of Irish whiskey is one of collapse, reinvention, and recalibration. The industry nearly disappeared in the early 20th century, when Prohibition forced one of the category&rsquo;s biggest markets&mdash;America&mdash;to close for business. By the 1960s, just two distilleries remained, Midleton and Bushmills. But the industry roared back in the late 2010s and early 2020s, fueled by new distilleries, ambitious cask programs, and a global audience that was curious about pot still whiskey, single malts, and provenance.
That boom pushed experimentation, leading producers to try things like aging in mizunara barrels and micro‑distilling rye. But it also inflated expectations. The market has since cooled, both globally and in terms of Irish whiskey exports, and this correction has clarified what actually matters to collectors: scarcity based on substance, ideas backed by production, and bottles that tell a story beyond age and price. The whiskeys below reflect that shift. Some are literal endpoints, like the final drops from the Old Midleton distillery or the last of Waterford&rsquo;s terroir‑driven farms. Others show how Irish whiskey continues to evolve through cask choice, mashbills, and small‑scale innovation. Together, they map the category&rsquo;s past, present, and the future it&rsquo;s still trying to define.
<h3><a href="https://www.midletonveryrare.com/en-us/silent-distillery-collection/chapter-six">Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter Six</a> ($60,000)</h3>
Chapter Six is the final release from Old Midleton&mdash;a true &ldquo;last drops&rdquo; whiskey distilled in the 1970s on equipment that no longer exists, including a coal‑fired 140,000‑liter pot still (the largest in the world). After decades in American oak, the whiskey was moved into a one‑of‑a‑kind marrying cask built by master cooper Ger Buckley from staves of the previous five chapters, a symbolic closing of the circle. The result balances antique oak with surprising freshness, but its real power is historical&mdash;this is the end of Old Midleton&rsquo;s distillate style, never to be recreated and finite by definition.
<h3><a href="https://bushmills.com/products/30-year">Bushmills 30</a> ($2,200)</h3>
Bushmills 30 Year Old is one of the most expressive examples of long‑aged Irish single malt, shaped by an unusually patient maturation arc: 14 years in bourbon barrels and sherry butts, followed by 16 years in first‑fill Pedro Xim&eacute;nez sherry casks. That extended PX finish (really more of a double maturation) concentrates the whiskey into an incredibly complex dram, a mix of syrupy fruit, leather, and deep spice that slowly unfurls as you sip.&nbsp;
<h3><a href="https://www.glendaloughdistillery.com/products/glendalough-single-malt-mizunara-cask-finish">Glendalough 7-Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask Finish (</a>$100)</h3>
Glendalough&rsquo;s 7-Year Mizunara Finish was the first Irish whiskey to seriously explore Japan&rsquo;s rare, temperamental mizunara oak, an audacious move for this young, independent distillery in the Wicklow Mountains. The base whiskey is Irish single malt, but the mizunara finish is what makes it special. This type of wood is notoriously porous, expensive, and difficult to cooper, and each cask behaves differently. That unpredictability creates subtle batch‑to‑batch variation and a distinctive incense‑and‑spice signature that no other Irish whiskey quite replicates. It&rsquo;s a cross‑continental oak experiment that helped push Ireland&rsquo;s modern whiskey renaissance forward. The 13- and 17-year-old versions are also great if you can track one down.
<h3><a href="https://www.methodandmadnesswhiskey.com/en/product/rye-malt">Method &amp; Madness Rye and Malt (</a>$80)</h3>
Method &amp; Madness Rye and Malt is one of the most meaningful releases to come out of Irish Distillers&rsquo; Micro Distillery, the experimental operation located at the same distillery where big brands like Redbreast, Powers, and Jameson are made. This whiskey is a true small‑batch experiment made from a mashbill of 60% rye and 40% malted barley that is triple‑distilled and matured in refill bourbon barrels. The point is to show how rye behaves in a pot still rather than a column still, giving it a uniquely Irish texture and delicacy. Only 5,000 bottles were released, which makes this project a standout for collectors.
<h3><a href="https://legacydeforge.com/producers/hawks-rock-distillery">Garavogue 20 Year Old Single Malt (</a>$250)</h3>
Garavogue&rsquo;s inaugural 20 Year Old debuted in 2025, marking a major new entry in Irish single malt. It was crafted by master blender Helen Mulholland, the first woman to hold that title in Irish whiskey, and named for the river that runs through Sligo. Designed as a bridge between tradition and experimentation, the whiskey was aged for 14 years in ex‑bourbon barrels before being divided into an unusually broad set of finishing casks. These include French Muscat, Sauternes, PX sherry, and Barbadian rum barrels. As the first Irish release from Sazerac&mdash;whose American portfolio includes some of the most collectible whiskeys in the world&mdash;Garavogue signals the company&rsquo;s ambition to bring that same limited‑release ethos to Ireland.&nbsp;
<h3><a href="https://www.redbreastwhiskey.com/en-us/whiskey-collections/redbreast-27-year-old-whiskey/">Redbreast 27 Year Old (</a>$1,000)</h3>
Redbreast 27 sits at the top of the single pot still category, built on the classic mash of malted and unmalted barley and triple distillation, but pushed into rarefied territory by its long, layered maturation. The whiskey spends its early life in bourbon and sherry casks before moving into ruby port pipes, where it develops the deep fruit and gentle tannin structure that define the series. Pot still whiskey originated as a style to avoid paying as much tax on malted barley by including unmalted barley in the mashbill. Long‑aged pot still whiskey is in short supply in Ireland, and each small batch of Redbreast 27 shows slight shifts in character&mdash;enough that collectors chase every release.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Waterford Single Farm Origin - Dunbell, Dunmore &amp; Ballykilcavan ($100-$320)</h3>
Waterford&rsquo;s Single Farm Origin series remains one of the most ambitious experiments in Irish whiskey&mdash;treating barley like Burgundy treats vineyards. Each bottling comes from a single farm, a single harvest, and a fully traceable production chain, making them some of the most terroir‑driven whiskeys ever released in Ireland. With the distillery now closed, these bottles have become quietly collectible, especially farms with distinct soil types and microclimates. <a href="https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/waterford+single+farm+origin+dunbell+malt+whisky+ireland/1/usa?utm_source=copilot.com">Dunbell</a> ($100), <a href="https://www.totalwine.com/spirits/irish-whiskey/waterford-dunmore-single-farm-origin-irish-whiskey/p/234743750?utm_source=copilot.com">Dunmore</a> ($121), and <a href="https://caskcartel.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/waterford-single-farm-origin-ballykilcavan-1-2-irish-whiskey-700ml">Ballykilcavan</a> ($320) are still findable online, each showing its own grain‑driven character. Together, they offer a snapshot of what Waterford was trying to prove: that terroir matters in Irish whiskey.
<h3><a href="https://www.teelingwhiskey.com/us/en/teeling-whiskeys/32-year-old-purple-muscat/">Teeling 32 YO Single Malt Purple Muscat Finish (</a>$3,495)</h3>
Teeling&rsquo;s 32 Year Old continues the distillery&rsquo;s run of quietly spectacular older releases&mdash;liquid distilled in 1990, long before Teeling reopened distilling in Dublin and helped kickstart the city&rsquo;s whiskey-production revival. The whiskey spent 28 years in bourbon barrels before getting a rare four‑year finish in a single Portuguese Purple Muscat French oak cask. The result is the ultimate end-of-meal dram, with juicy red berry flavor, spice, and tropical fruit notes.Only 283 bottles were released in the U.S.

The Best Irish Whiskey to Drink This St. Patrick's Day (And All Year Long)

Like many bourbons, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/93ca45eb-0688-473d-b8e1-b1a079808808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Fitzgerald</a> has a long and rather winding history. Originally created in 1870, the brand found its post-Prohibition home at Stitzel-Weller, where it landed in the hands of none other than Pappy Van Winkle himself. It was Pappy who changed the recipe to feature wheat, rather than rye, as the secondary grain. By 1999, Old Fitzgerald was acquired by Heaven Hill, where it languished as a relatively low-end label and even disappeared for a few years.&nbsp;
Then in 2018, Heaven Hill relaunched the brand as a semiannual, bottled-in-bond release, with an age statement that varied from batch to batch. Packaged in an elegant, decanter-style bottle, the new <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/5310277e-882e-479b-9e64-6921d6a9e311" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Fitz</a> became very popular among bourbon drinkers eager for a well-aged wheater, but reluctant to spend big bucks on the likes of Van Winkle or <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/b5fb34e4-e911-4684-bf11-96a1cdef4ebd/lot/6e09032d-bb13-4bad-8029-07bc4c2675de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Larue Weller</a>. The oldest release so far, at 19 years old, was the Fall 2022 edition, though younger offerings&mdash;notably the 8-year-old from Spring 2021&mdash;meet all the same standards of quality and flavor.&nbsp;
Building on the success of the decanter series, Heaven Hill introduced a permanent expression in 2025. Old Fitzgerald 7 Year Old is bottled-in-bond like the other expressions, but it has a consistent age statement, it's packaged in a less ornate bottle, and it's priced to sell at $60. Like its elder siblings, the whiskey has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. As an everyday pour, it&rsquo;s hard to beat&mdash;warm and sweetly bready, with a lush texture and deep but balanced oak.&nbsp;
Across the lineup, Old Fitzgerald gets top marks for consistency, and the decanter lineup is chock-full of standouts. Even when it&rsquo;s constrained by the limitations of the bottled-in-bond designation, which dictates that all barrels must come from a single distilling season, finding exceptional whiskey is easy for Heaven Hill because it has so much to choose from. The company&rsquo;s Louisville distillery is capable of producing 400,000 barrels a year, and the recently opened Bardstown plant adds another 150,000 annual barrels to that capacity.
But there&rsquo;s much to explore beyond Old Fitz. As both wheaters and bonded bourbons have exploded in popularity, excellent options abound, many of them still well under the radar. Keep reading for five of our favorites.
<h3 dir="ltr">Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon</h3>
One of Kentucky&rsquo;s newer distilleries, Wilderness Trail, set itself apart from the get-go by using sweet mash, meaning its fermentations forego the traditional setback and always start with fresh yeast. The process creates a more consistent spirit, according to the distillery team, with a softer mouthfeel&mdash;especially with a mashbill of 64% corn, 24% wheat, and 12% malted barley that emphasizes herbaceous mint and coffee bean notes. After debuting at about four and half years old in 2018, this bourbon&mdash;always bottled-in-bond&mdash;has increased in age and varied in proof.&nbsp; 
<h3 dir="ltr">Bardstown Bourbon Company Bottled-in-Bond</h3>
Using the same 68-20-12 mashbill as Old Fitzgerald, the house wheater of Bardstown Bourbon Co. features Kentucky-grown corn and wheat. It&rsquo;s aged for six years, although it tastes older than that, with a brooding earthiness offset by roasted nuts and Concord grapes. The Bardstown lineup underwent a packaging redesign recently&mdash;this one has the black label that prominently announces its bottled-in-bond status.
<h3 dir="ltr">Holladay Soft Red Wheat</h3>
Another bonded 6-year-old, this bourbon comes from Missouri rather than Kentucky. It&rsquo;s made from a mashbill of 73% Missouri corn, 15% soft red winter wheat, and 12% malted barley. The specific type of wheat isn&rsquo;t just for kicks&mdash;its lower protein levels yield a softer (some might even say smoother) spirit that only gets more nuanced with time in the barrel. In this case, Holladay has crafted a bourbon with mature herbal notes juxtaposed with caramel sweetness and black pepper.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Rebel 10-Year-Old</h3>
Offered as a single barrel release, this bourbon isn&rsquo;t bottled-in-bond, but still comes in at 100 proof like its bonded peers. The brand is owned by Lux Row, which was acquired by MGP in 2021, but the whiskey itself was contract-distilled elsewhere in Kentucky. The familiar mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley should give you a clue as to its origins&mdash;and its quality.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Larceny Barrel Proof</h3>
Call this the Old Fitz booster pack. It comes from the same distillery and is made using the same mashbill, but punches through with a more powerful proof&mdash;anywhere from 111 to 126, or sometimes even higher. It&rsquo;s aged 6 to 8 years, right in line with Old Fitzgerald&rsquo;s core whiskey, and released in batches three times a year. Check the label code, which begins with A, B, or C, to determine when it was bottled&mdash;the first number corresponds to the month, the second two to the year. LBP has many of Old Fitzgerald&rsquo;s familiar flavors, but overall is weightier, more viscous, and more muscular, the kind of whiskey that&rsquo;s both an arm wrestle and a bear hug.

What to Drink Next If You Love Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond

What&rsquo;s happening in wine and whiskey this week:
<h3 dir="ltr">This Week&rsquo;s Unicorn Review Stories</h3>
🍷 Matthew J. Kaner <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/uruguay-wine-collecting">wrote about how Uruguay is becoming just as recognized</a> as its South American neighbors for its high-quality meat and fantastic wines.&nbsp;
🥃 Are you an Old Fitzgerald fan? Susannah Skiver Barton has <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/what-to-drink-next-old-fitzgerald">some other wheated bourbons to recommend</a> if you are interested in trying something that is a little easier to find.
<h3 dir="ltr">New Bottle Releases</h3>
Johnnie Walker Black Cask ($35)&nbsp;
This is the first new release from Johnnie Walker in about 15 years. It&rsquo;s a new blend that is geared towards bourbon drinkers, and to meet that specific flavor profile it&rsquo;s aged exclusively in ex-bourbon casks as opposed to the mix of casks that regular Johnnie Walker Black is matured in. That gives this blend stronger notes of vanilla, maple, and honey, and makes it a good choice to use in cocktails.
Compass Box Hedonism ($165)
This is the oldest version of this whisky to date, an expression that was originally released back in 2000. It&rsquo;s a blended grain whisky (the brand says it was the first of this style when it came out) that is now a limited annual release. Some of the components in the blend are a 30-year-old whisky from Strathclyde Distillery, and whiskies ranging from 20 to 24 years old that were distilled at Port Dundas and Cameronbridge. This latest version features actress Karen Gillan as the muse on the label, continuing the tradition of keeping women at the center of its visual identity.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Whiskey Pick of the Week</h3>
Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey 20th Anniversary Limited Edition ($85)
When&rsquo;s the last time you drank wheat whiskey? The odds are that it&rsquo;s been a while, and that&rsquo;s understandable&mdash;even though some major distilleries produce this category, it&rsquo;s just not nearly as popular as bourbon or rye. One legacy name that has had a wheat whiskey in its lineup for some time now&mdash;two decades, to be precise&mdash;is Heaven Hill, and to celebrate that anniversary it released this new 20th Anniversary Limited Edition.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/045cc555-5027-47cf-bdbb-2ab0d2ecce5d.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Bernheim 20th Anniversary"> 
Bernheim, which first launched in 2005, is made using Heaven Hill&rsquo;s wheat whiskey mashbill: 51% wheat, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley (remember, wheat whiskey must contain at least 51 percent wheat in the mashbill). That makes it a &ldquo;just legal&rdquo; wheat whiskey that still has a lot of sweetness to it due to the large amount of corn in the recipe, so it is something that still appeals to bourbon drinkers (the use of wheat also adds some sweetness, but it doesn't go overboard here). The core expression is a seven-year-old whiskey bottled at 90 proof, but this new 20th Anniversary edition is aged for ten years and bottled at a much higher 115 proof.
Those extra three years in the barrel and that stronger ABV really paid off. The 20th Anniversary expression is a really good whiskey, and one that you should try whether or not you are already a fan of the wheat whiskey category. The higher proof brings some heat to the palate, as you&rsquo;d expect, but there&rsquo;s a lot going on underneath that, with flavors like cherry, dark chocolate, vanilla, almond, oak, and sweet molasses that pop as you sip. Pour this whiskey over a large ice cube and let it dilute a little if you prefer to sip on something less strong&mdash;that brings out some new flavors. Or mix it up in a cocktail like an Old Fashioned&mdash;there's a complexity that will shine through whatever other ingredients you throw at this whiskey.
Some other Heaven Hill releases have come out in the past month that might get more attention, including the new Heritage Collection 22-year-old bourbon. But this is a bottle that will be easier to find (and cheaper when you do), and is definitely worth checking out.
<h3 dir="ltr">Unicorn Wine Pick of the Week</h3>
Big Salt 2024 Oregon White Blend ($25)
This week&rsquo;s wine is a personal favorite. It&rsquo;s one of my wife&rsquo;s wines of spring, and it&rsquo;s a wine I always have in the fridge as the temperatures rise. Big Salt is the love child of John and Ksenija Kostic House of the Oregon wine brand Ovum. I was introduced to the Houses through Ovum, one of those rare wineries in Oregon that for years politely declined to make red wine, least of all Pinot Noir.
<img src="https://directus-11-4sui.onrender.com/assets/ea6647ff-4880-459a-a761-b15d829a7c58.jpg?width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="Big Salt">
Instead, Ovum was responsible for some of the most challenging, complex, and idiosyncratic white wines in the Pacific Northwest. John and Ksenija tracked down and resurrected older vineyards of Riesling and Gewurztraminer, many in Oregon&rsquo;s southern reaches, many planted in the &lsquo;60s and &lsquo;70s. Armed with unique fruit sources, they built a program of exceptional creativity, doing work in the cellar to make their wines as singular as four walls and the odd concrete egg would allow&mdash;Austrian casks, skin contact, late releases, long elevage. They were and remain some of the most challenging and thrilling wines on my tasting table each year.
Then came Big Salt. Established in 2016, Big Salt drew from a similar palette of aromatic varieties, usually Riesling with a healthy dose of Gewurztraminer and Early Muscat, many of which seemed to be hard sells on their own (later vintages included Pinot Blanc, sometimes a bit of Chardonnay). But Big Salt was irresistible&mdash;an unabashedly forward white wine with beautiful aromatics, juicy, mouthwatering fruit, and tangy acidity. It was an unpretentious, thoroughly delicious alternative, and it flew off the shelves. A Big Pink and Big Orange soon followed, and demand far exceeded supply.
Big Salt proved to be irresistible for Jackson Family Wines too, who have been making wine in Oregon for a little over a decade, and whose own creative teams had devoted plenty of research toward wines of a comparable immediacy and deliciousness. One could argue that their original signature success, K-J&rsquo;s Vintner&rsquo;s Reserve Chardonnay, is another version of the same thing, from another era. Big brand or small, the goal is the same&mdash;to give the people something in their glass for spring and summer bashes.
The Houses will continue to make Big Salt, but they now have the resources and fruit sources to increase production and broaden distribution, something they&rsquo;ve been wanting to do for many years. So grab Big Salt whenever you see it.

The Week in Wine and Whiskey: March 6

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There is a filet mignon-shaped South American country so often overshadowed by its neighbors&mdash;both soccer superpowers, both synonymous with beef and bold red wine&mdash;that even seasoned travelers struggle to articulate its pull. And yet, quietly, confidently, Uruguay has been stepping into the spotlight.
I have always rooted for the underdog. My first trip to Uruguay in 2018 dismantled all the half-formed assumptions I&rsquo;d been carrying. Since then, I&rsquo;ve become an evangelist on behalf of this Atlantic outpost&mdash;a country whose agricultural muscle and vinous ambition far exceed its modest scale.
The story begins, as so many New World wine stories do, in the late 19th century. Pascual Harriague and Francisco Vidiella&mdash;Basque and Catalan immigrants, respectively&mdash;brought European vinifera to Uruguayan soil, importing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and, most consequentially, Tannat. Atlantic breezes and temperate climate reflected the conditions of Bordeaux and France&rsquo;s southwest, and the vines responded in kind. What followed was not imitation, but adaptation.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">A Country for Carnivores</h3>
Carnivores know all about anticipation&mdash;a steak resting on the cutting board while juices redistribute; the faint crackle of its charred exterior; the finishing salt dancing across the meaty surface; the first slice. Now imagine that paired with a red wine from Uruguay made for the moment, its tannins softened into silk, humming with acidity, fruit beginning its slow migration from primary exuberance to tertiary intrigue. This is not indulgence, it is alignment.&nbsp;
Argentina, of course, has long owned the global narrative for South American beef and wine, but Uruguay has a stake to claim. For every one person in the country, there are more than three cows. The population hovers around 3.5 million; the cattle population eclipses that many times over. Compare that with California&rsquo;s nearly 40 million residents and roughly 1.7 million cows, and the scale becomes unmistakable. Beef here is not branding&mdash;it is infrastructure.
Tannat is Uruguay&rsquo;s varietal calling-card. As Nikolas Kozik, export manager of Vi&ntilde;a Progreso, explained: &ldquo;Tannat is probably the most tannic grape in the world, with concentrations four times higher than Merlot. Acidity is also high, but you don&rsquo;t feel it, as it&rsquo;s counterbalanced by the tannins and the alcohol. These three attributes are in natural balance. You can drink the wines young, but they can age for five, 10, 20, even 30 years.&rdquo; The variety&rsquo;s architecture is tailor-made to pair with protein, its tannic spine gripping fat and salt with authority. Yet in Uruguay&rsquo;s maritime climate, the grape retains lift and freshness, avoiding the blunt-force density that can plague it elsewhere. The result is power with poise.
<h3 dir="ltr">Varied Cuisine and Cellar-Worthy Wines</h3>
And if you assume Uruguay&rsquo;s culinary identity begins and ends with steak, think again. On my first visit, I traveled as a guest of the National Institute of Viticulture (INAVI) alongside a small group of sommeliers. Among us was a punk rock East Coast restaurateur I had long admired&mdash;Max Kuller, who, as it turned out, was a committed vegetarian. Any concern about his dining prospects evaporated the moment we arrived in Montevideo and discovered a thriving scene of highly-rated vegetarian and vegan restaurants. It felt like being in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. Uruguay&rsquo;s gastronomic identity may be anchored in beef, but its culinary imagination is far broader.
No emerging region ascends without a splash. For Uruguay, a major catalyst has been the behemoth Bodega Garz&oacute;n in the Maldonado department. Alberto Antonini, famed Italian oenologist, was brought in to collaborate with owner and visionary Alejandro Bulgheroni to execute the viticulture for this jewel of a property. &ldquo;We developed the vineyards without changing the environment,&rdquo; said Antonini. &ldquo;We kept all the slopes as mother nature designed them. That resulted in 200 hectares divided into more than 1,000 small lots, many less than an acre. Finding experienced vineyard workers was a challenge&mdash;it required extensive training, time, and resources.&rdquo;
Reds presented fewer unknowns, thanks to Uruguay&rsquo;s existing Tannat tradition and knowledge of Bordeaux varieties in the vineyards. Whites were another matter entirely. Antonini proposed Albari&ntilde;o, drawing parallels to Galicia&rsquo;s granite soils and Atlantic climate. It flourished. &ldquo;From the early days, the results were encouraging,&rdquo; he noted. &ldquo;The enthusiasm was high.&rdquo;
Today, that enthusiasm feels justified. Uruguay is no longer content to be the quiet sibling in South America&rsquo;s wine narrative. For collectors willing to look beyond celebrated wine brands and popular appellations, this small nation offers something rarer than novelty: authenticity forged through scale, climate, and conviction.
The cow capital, it turns out, has been cultivating cellar-worthy secrets.
<h3 dir="ltr">Uruguayan Wines to Watch&nbsp;</h3>
Non-Vintage Bodega Cerro Chapeu Castel Pujol &ldquo;Folklore&rdquo; P&eacute;tillant Naturel &ndash; Rivera ($25)
Rivera sits at the northernmost edge of Uruguay&rsquo;s viticultural frontier, close to the border of Brazil&rsquo;s Campanha region. The Carrau family, Rivera pioneers, first planted here in 1975, and have been methodically expanding the region&rsquo;s quality ceiling ever since. Led by a 10th-generation Carrau, Pia Carrau heads Bodega Cerro Chapeu and makes the wines from fruit that&rsquo;s dry-farmed on sandy soils. Carrau&rsquo;s minimal-intervention winemaking translates into wines of purity and restraint. Case in point, this blend of Trebbiano and Malvasia used to make this P&eacute;t Nat is fermented with native yeasts and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The result preserves texture and aromatic vitality, allowing the site to articulate itself with clarity and energy.
2024 Bodega Bouza Albari&ntilde;o &ndash; Canelones/Montevideo ($30)
In 2000, the Bouza family restored a historic winery just outside Montevideo, originally established in 1942. From that foundation, they&rsquo;ve built one of Uruguay&rsquo;s most respected estates, farming five vineyards across Canelones, Maldonado, and Montevideo.&nbsp;
While Bouza produces benchmark Tannat, their Albari&ntilde;o has become emblematic of Uruguay&rsquo;s maritime expression. The family balances traditional technique with modern precision, crafting wines that are gastronomic without sacrificing tension or freshness. Their estate restaurant reinforces this ethos&mdash;wine conceived with the table in mind.&nbsp;
Fermented primarily in stainless steel, with 10% briefly aged in French oak, the Bouza Albari&ntilde;o starts off bright, while gaining subtle breadth. Four months on the lees build mid-palate texture without diminishing its coastal snap. The clonal material originates from distant family vineyards in R&iacute;as Baixas, preserving a direct genetic link to Albari&ntilde;o&rsquo;s ancestral home.
2011 Vi&ntilde;a Progreso &ldquo;Sue&ntilde;os De Elisa&rdquo; Open Barrel Tannat &ndash; Progreso (Canelones)&nbsp; ($60)
Vi&ntilde;a Progreso is Gabriel Pisano&rsquo;s experimental counterpart to his family&rsquo;s historic estate, Pisano Wines&mdash;an operation rooted in Progreso for over a century. With this second label, Gabriel works with greater latitude, exploring technique and expression beyond inherited convention. The house style leans toward elegance and composure, reframing Tannat through a contemporary lens. Tannat&rsquo;s imposing structure remains, but it is sculpted rather than imposed.&nbsp;
Pisano&rsquo;s open barrel project, &ldquo;Sue&ntilde;os de Elisa&rdquo; is fermented by opening one of the ends of a standing barrel and fermenting the grapes in contact with the wood from the very beginning, an &ldquo;integral vinification,&rdquo; as the bodega explains. After racking, the wine goes back to the barrel and is sealed again. It&rsquo;s a compelling opportunity to experience mature Uruguayan Tannat directly from the source.&nbsp;
2020 Bodega Garz&oacute;n &ldquo;Balasto&rdquo; &ndash; Maldonado ($150)
When Alejandro Bulgheroni first surveyed this sweeping coastal property, he envisioned something ambitious. Today, the 2,200-hectare estate includes Bodega Garz&oacute;n, a Francis Mallmann restaurant, a PGA-level golf course, and an expansive agricultural landscape that reflects the scale of that original vision.
Garz&oacute;n operates at scale, producing around 2.7 million bottles annually, but without sacrificing technical rigor. Over 500 acres of vineyards allow for stylistic range, while the modern, architecturally striking winery underscores the family&rsquo;s global ambition. The approach is expansive, but the execution remains disciplined.&nbsp;
Balasto stands as the estate&rsquo;s flagship expression&mdash;structured, composed, and built for longevity. Managing Director Christian Wylie thinks that the wine&rsquo;s full aging potential is still unfolding. &ldquo;The first vintage dates to 2015,&rdquo; he said. Built on structured varieties such as Tannat, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, it&rsquo;s supported by vibrant natural acidity and refined tannins. &ldquo;The wine has the balance and backbone for long-term evolution,&rdquo; said Wylie, adding that the winery is stocking its library for future vertical tastings. &ldquo;There is strong confidence it will improve for decades.&rdquo;
Non-Vintage Pablo Fallabrino &ldquo;Alcyone&rdquo; &ndash; Atl&aacute;ntida&nbsp; ($38)
Just four kilometers from the Atlantic in Atl&aacute;ntida, Pablo Fallabrino farms vines shaped by salt air and shifting maritime influence. A dedicated surfer and vigneron, he approaches both disciplines with instinct and precision. The ocean is not mere backdrop&mdash;it is the influence.&nbsp;
Sustainable vineyard practices and minimal cellar intervention allow site expression to take precedence. Whites such as Gew&uuml;rztraminer and Moscato Bianco emphasize aromatic purity, while Tannat here reveals both tensile structure and surprising finesse.
The first taste challenges expectations: a dessert wine made from 100% Tannat, rendered in a style inspired by combining both Barolo Chinato and Marsala production techniques. Honeyed in texture, layered with winter florals and dark cherry, the palate moves toward dark chocolate and dried herbs. It is less a reinterpretation than a redefinition&mdash;evidence of Tannat&rsquo;s expansive range within Uruguay&rsquo;s evolving identity.

Uruguay is the Cow Capital Every Serious Wine Collector Is Overlooking

Collecting whiskey can be a tricky hobby, particularly when it comes to figuring out what bottles are worth hunting down and how much to pay for them. Some of the low-hanging fruit&mdash;think <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/fad1bfb2-3ddc-44f4-bcb7-33f525a44888" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blanton&rsquo;s</a>, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/15d44878-40d2-4955-8175-f9a87c92f60a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pappy</a>, or the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection&mdash;are already on most people&rsquo;s radar. And that includes your local retailer, which is sure to be marking these bottles up way past their suggested retail prices. There is so much whiskey out there to choose from, so part of collecting is figuring out how to chart your own course and develop your own blueprint.
This takes time, of course, not to mention browsing experience, but it&rsquo;s not an impossible task. For me, it starts with ruling out the bottles that most collectors are chasing and determining early on what isn&rsquo;t right for me (or within my budget). For example, I remember seeing <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/8f6b4a1b-82d1-4003-baba-88b990292ff5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yamazaki</a> 12 on the shelf for $125 years ago&mdash;too rich for my blood then&mdash;and now it&rsquo;s up to $175 (and sometimes more). Bottles like this have achieved a near mythical status where they will forever be the objects of fascination for many collectors, so I've tried to direct my sights elsewhere.
And that&rsquo;s part of the fun. Collecting should be about finding great bottles at decent prices and, in some cases, getting to them before others do. Which is not to say that all of the bottles on this list will necessarily represent tremendous values or be sleeper finds. Instead, these groupings are meant to help you navigate the new landscape of modern-day whiskey collecting, guideposts to refine your search and bolster your collection. These include special editions from established or rising brands that are available at a relatively low price. And while they may increase in value over time, go ahead and open them on a special occasion (or even a random weeknight)&mdash;after all, whiskey is meant to be enjoyed.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">The New Ten-Year-Olds</h3>
Westland Garryana 10th Edition/Angel's Envy 10 Year Cask Strength Bourbon
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/d435a00a-1b44-49db-b6e3-6c3c48cd41b3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michter&rsquo;s 10 Year</a> Rye and Bourbon have both become collectors&rsquo; favorites, particularly when the brand held stocks back and opted to let a couple of years lapse between releases. Age isn&rsquo;t everything in whiskey, of course, but there is a new class of 10-year-olds from unexpected brands and distilleries.
In October, Seattle-based American single malt producer Westland released the 10th edition of its Garryana whiskey, and for the first time it came with a 10-year age statement. Garryana is partially matured in Quercus garryana oak, a species native to the Pacific Northwest, and is meant to highlight the effects of this particular type of wood on the flavor of the whiskey.
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/828c98e4-0acc-4304-b0ee-a78b9348d2c5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Angel&rsquo;s Envy</a>, meanwhile, has been releasing its limited-edition Cask Strength Bourbon since 2012. In October, the Bacardi-owned brand released a 10-year-old version of this whiskey, marking the first Angel&rsquo;s Envy release to carry an age statement.
Even if you can&rsquo;t nab these particular bottles, the standard editions of Westland Garryana and Angel&rsquo;s Envy Cask Strength are both worth seeking out. At auction, various Garryana releases have gone for between $80 and $110, while Cask Strength usually sells for upwards of $125.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Key takeaway: Take note as brands reach significant milestones. 
<h3 dir="ltr">What's Old Is New Again</h3>
Old Overholt Cask Strength/Old Grand-Dad 16 Year
Suntory Global Spirits and the Jim Beam whiskey team have taken these once-forgotten, historic brands and reframed them with an eye towards more collectible status. Old Overholt and Old Grand-Dad are classic bargain bottles, cost-effective whiskeys that you could stock by the handle&mdash;and both are perfect for cocktails and well pours.&nbsp;
Which makes this turn towards premiumization all the more enticing. In November of 2023, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/54f059ae-825d-43d6-8290-0392a9aada35/lot/96278c3b-5f1c-4441-b831-338a12a270e2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Overholt</a> released a 10-year-old cask-strength rye, and has followed that up with 11 and 12-year expressions. These are part of Suntory&rsquo;s larger effort to revitalize the Old Overholt brand, including an investment in the West Overton Village and Museum which preserves Abraham Overholt&rsquo;s legacy and contributions to American whiskey.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/ab15c623-c3bc-4346-918e-0fbf7ff27e84/lot/f8fd126b-4f0f-45d0-b912-48bfd41dabfc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Old Grand-Dad</a>, meanwhile, released a 16-year-old bourbon in November 2024. A combination of quality and scarcity make this one a fun and high-impact addition to the brand. While vintage dusties of both of these labels often command very high prices at auctions, these new additions are much more attainable. Old Grand-Dad 16 can often be found for around $200, while Old Overholt Cask Strength is going for under $100 in most cases. &nbsp;
Key takeaway: Don&rsquo;t sleep on a brand pivot.&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Wild Cards From Mainstream Favorites</h3>
Jack Single Single Barrel Special Release/Macallan Harmony Collection
These well-known brands might seem too normcore for seasoned collectors&mdash;or in the case of the Macallan, too expensive&mdash;to land on your radar. But that is quickly changing.&nbsp;
In recent years, Jack Daniel&rsquo;s has launched a range of new premium products, including a trio of age statements (the first for the distillery in about a century). Concurrently, Jack has been releasing its Single Barrel Special Releases, typically high-proof variants (sometimes even venturing into hazmat territory) like the cult-ish Coy Hill release which debuted in 2021. More recently, Jack moved its <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/30ee5f1b-3fe2-4f79-8a1a-08fa2b72c319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heritage Barrel</a> expression from a special release to part of its core single barrel lineup, proving that the special release collection is a good testing ground for innovation.
Meanwhile, over at Scottish distillery the Macallan, innovation is on display with the brand&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/f8cf223a-a62a-4f50-aa8a-1d3c147c6104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harmony Collection</a>, which also launched in 2021. The series focuses on evoking specific flavors like coffee, chocolate, and tea through careful cask selection and using different proportions of sherry-seasoned European and American oak. The Harmony Collection can usually be found for about $115 to $150 at auction, while Jack Daniel&rsquo;s single barrels vary based on the release.
Key takeaway: Popular brands can do more than just crowd please. 
<h3 dir="ltr">A Discontinued Series</h3>
Glenmorangie Private Edition/Wild Turkey Master's Keep
From 2009 to 2019, scotch whisky maker <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/c6e4e32b-6dd8-4182-8e12-f0c7ecbd7413" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glenmorangie</a> released an annual Private Edition featuring different innovations cooked up by Dr. Bill Lumsden, director of distilling, whiskey creation, and whiskey stocks. These included special cask finishes, the use of different barley varietals, and even the application of wild yeast during the fermentation process. Glenmorangie has since pivoted to its Tale series&mdash; while fun and enjoyable, it doesn&rsquo;t quite hold the luster of the Private Editions, especially with their now throwback labels.
<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/76c66e24-3c7e-41dc-b154-7d88b2a03750" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wild Turkey&rsquo;s Master&rsquo;s Keep</a> collection ran from 2015 to 2025, and included some exceptional standouts like Voyage, Unforgotten, and the much celebrated 17-year-old Bottled in Bond. These are going for $300 to $500 at auction, but I think there&rsquo;s a larger principle here: no series lasts forever, so if you like what a distillery is putting out now, it&rsquo;s wise to purchase a bottle at the suggested retail price upon release whenever possible.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Glenmorangie&rsquo;s Private Editions can be found at a more reasonable cost, usually around $125 to $200. It can be hard to target a discontinued series once it's ended, but it&rsquo;s not impossible. And with so much variance between releases, it&rsquo;s always smart to do your research and understand which innovation best fits your palate. Sometimes less popular releases can be easier to find (and more affordable when you do).
Key takeaway: Nothing lasts forever, and rarity only increases with time.
<h3 dir="ltr">Worldly Collabs</h3>
Bardstown x Amrut/Starward x Lagavulin
Given the category&rsquo;s expense and rarity, these days for most people it doesn&rsquo;t make sense to chase Japanese whisky. So the next logical question is&mdash;what country will be next? In general, I like to collect whiskeys from India, Australia, or England&mdash;anywhere that isn&rsquo;t a major producing country. These world whiskeys are often rare without being extremely expensive.&nbsp;
If you aren&rsquo;t sure how to tap into the world whiskey market, a few collaborations between well-known producers have surfaced to help guide you. <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/4c434755-299a-4c7f-b6f3-e3f229495891/lot/8dce70e9-3c53-4362-8812-6294bc03628b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardstown Bourbon Company</a> teamed up with Amrut Distilleries in 2024 to create a blend of bourbon and rye finished in Indian single malt whisky barrels. A year earlier, Islay powerhouse Lagavulin provided barrels to Australia&rsquo;s Starward distillery, which finished its red-wine-aged single malt in the peated casks for 18 months.&nbsp;
The Bardstown x Amrut collaboration goes for a minimum of $85 at auction, while the Starward and Lagavulin collab clocks in at around $100.
Key takeaway: Collaboration can unlock exploration, especially on a global stage.

A Modern Guide to Collecting Whiskey: The New Class of Bottles to Seek Out

Serious wine collectors are familiar with the treasures of Burgundy, but the area&rsquo;s go-to regions are beginning to change. While coveted bottles have long hailed from the C&ocirc;te de Nuits and C&ocirc;te de Beaune, collectively known as the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or, the past decade has seen a growing interest in the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes sub-region, both from local producers and consumers alike.&nbsp;
Situated high above the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or, the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes of Burgundy comprise a series of elevated plateaus and soaring hills spanning 275 to 480 meters, planted to Aligot&eacute;, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir vineyards. Significantly cooler than most of the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or, the vineyards of the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes had long been overlooked by local and international professionals alike&mdash;that is, until recently. While the cooler temperatures have long corresponded to a lack of ripeness in grapes, in the wake of climate change these vineyards, once deemed second-rate, are now proving to be wildly advantageous.
New York-based wine consultant and educator Raj Vaidya explained that the cooler temperatures that once made the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes a lower-status region are simply gone. &ldquo;In the age of a warming climate, these vineyards are a wonderful source of fresh, old-fashioned wines from Burgundy,&rdquo; he said. Vaidya also noted that the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes is home to a greater diversity of soil types (clay, Bajocian marls, colluvial deposits of sand and flint), beyond the ubiquitous clay-limestone mix found on the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or. The result is more diverse, and often interesting, flavors.
According to Vaidya, grapes in the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes regularly achieve phenolic ripeness at the same time as sugar ripeness&mdash;a key component to balance and age-worthiness in wines. By contrast, sugar ripeness on the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or now tends to outpace phenolic maturity. &ldquo;This means that there is less acidity and freshness due to higher potential alcohols,&rdquo; he said, noting that Hautes-C&ocirc;tes vineyards now offer more balance and harmony for a fraction of the price of those found in the C&ocirc;te&rsquo;s villages-level and cru-designated appellations.&nbsp;
​​Julia Schwartz, wine director at New York-based Stars, also praised Burgundy wines coming from these higher-elevation areas. &ldquo;Land in the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes that was once difficult to farm is now viable, even thriving and affordable,&rdquo; she said, noting that it's a far cry from the prices demanded by plots on the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or. That's made vineyards here accessible to younger and newer producers alike.&nbsp;
Matt Turner, wine director at New York-based Lei, agreed: &ldquo;You get expert farming and winemaking applied directly to more value-driven land,&rdquo; he said. He pointed to Domaine Dandelion, Elodie Roy, Sylvain Cathiard, and Ch&acirc;ntereves as being four standout producers showcasing great sites for great value. And according to Schwartz, long-standing growers from the Cote d&rsquo;Or are equally finding wins here. &ldquo;Even established producers like Pierre Boisson [from the Cotes de Beaune] recognized this potential and planted vines in 2016 to a site that had never seen viticulture,&rdquo; she said. The wine, his Cuvee 'Le Chemin de Pierre,&rsquo; is often priced well under $100 on a list.&nbsp;
The Hautes-C&ocirc;tes has also become a place for authentic, wine-focused tourism. Milena Berman and Lo&iuml;c Lamy founded their experience-focused company, aptly named Hautes C&ocirc;tes, back in 2021. Lamy noted that the majority of Burgundy-bound wine lovers stick to busy, touristy areas, and that he and Berman sought to change that. &ldquo;We find the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes super interesting, as this is where you&rsquo;ll find local artisans, new-generation winemakers, cool innovative projects, and hidden gems&mdash;that is, if you know where to look,&rdquo; he said. That&rsquo;s not to mention its natural beauty, which is characterized by lush forests, towering oak trees, and a variety of local flora (linden, acacia, and wild peony).
Lamy and Berman note that the majority of their international visitors don&rsquo;t know much about the area, save for the fact that it&rsquo;s off the beaten path. Generally, the pair kick off their tours with Burgundy&rsquo;s more famous villages&mdash;Puligny-Montrachet, Vosne-Roman&eacute;e, and Gevrey-Chambertin&mdash;prior to bringing guests up to the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes. By the end of the journey, the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes is generally the most memorable. &ldquo;Guests remember the tiny restaurant with no tourists, the traditional breadmaker, the young couple starting a new winery project after training with the most famous winemakers,&rdquo; he said, describing the area as a true, authentic picture of Burgundy, where relationships matter more. And that same sense of soul can be found within the region&rsquo;s wines.&nbsp;
Turner stated that anyone looking for high-quality winemaking can easily search for Hautes-C&ocirc;tes bottlings from top producers or old-vine parcels and find incredible quality to value ratio. &ldquo;If you are also looking to experience a producer style and they make an Hautes-C&ocirc;tes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it can be a good example of how pricier sites may drink.&rdquo; Schwartz agreed. &ldquo;Haute-Cotes wines are an exciting entry for young and curious drinkers who would otherwise ignore Burgundy due to its price point,&rdquo; she said.
Julia Schwartz has observed that experienced collectors, noting their similarities to Old School Burgundy, are also flocking to the wines. &ldquo;The price and increased availability means wines from producers they know and love don't have to be limited to special occasions and &lsquo;serious&rsquo; meals,&rdquo; she said. At the end of the day, Lamy summed it up best: &ldquo;Most people look for an appellation name, leaving the Hautes-C&ocirc;tes overlooked; however, there is so much talent up here.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Four Hautes-C&ocirc;tes Wines to Try Now</h3>
Domaine Pierre Boisson Bourgogne Hautes-C&ocirc;tes de Beaune &lsquo;Le Chemin de Pierre&rsquo; Blanc ($43)
Produced from an organically-farmed plot planted in 2016, this 100% Chardonnay from Pierre Boisson is aged for 15 to 19 months in barrels (mostly used). On the palate, the wine is refreshing and mineral-driven with flavors of lush stone fruit and citrus flavors with harmonious undertones of smoke and baking spice.&nbsp;
Maison Chanter&ecirc;ves Bourgogne Hautes-C&ocirc;tes de Beaune &lsquo;Les Monts de Fussey&rsquo; Blanc ($76)
Fruit for Chanter&ecirc;ves&rsquo; Le Mont de Fussey cuv&eacute;e (100% Chardonnay) comes from a southeast-facing vineyard planted at 400 meters altitude above the village of Echevronne. Here, the soils are mostly stony limestone and marl, with all farming done using organic and biodynamic methods. The wine is vinified with native yeasts and aged for 12 months in 228L and 600L barrels. Lively notes of orchard fruit, bright citrus, and crushed stone lead to a long, persistent finish.
Domaine Hudelot-Baillet Bourgogne Hautes-C&ocirc;tes de Nuits Rouge ($45)
From the celebrated Chambolle-Musigny based Hudelot-Baillet, this Hautes-C&ocirc;tes de Nuits Rouge packs a serious punch. Vinified with a low-intervention mentality and entirely destemmed fruit, the wine ages for 12-18 months in barrels prior to release. Notes of dark fruits, plum, and damp earth are balanced by juicy acidity and grippy, well-integrated tannins.
Domaine de Cassiop&eacute;e Bourgogne Hautes-C&ocirc;tes de Beaune &lsquo;Les C&ocirc;tes&rsquo; Rouge ($65)
From up-and-coming duo Hugo Mathurin and Talloulah Dubourg, who formerly trained with Jean-Marc Roulot and Benjamin Leroux, this structured and high-toned Pinot Noir is drawn&nbsp; from 50-year-old vines rooted in granitic bedrock. In the cellar, the wine is fermented with native yeasts and aged for one year in used barrels prior to bottling without fining or filtration. Fragrant and energetic, the wine offers flavors of red cherry, cranberry, rose petal, and wet granite.

Why the Hautes-Côtes Is the Most Exciting Part of Burgundy Right Now

You might not necessarily think of Los Angeles as being a whiskey city. That&rsquo;s because its drinking identity has been shaped more by historical tiki institutions, velvet-roped hotel bars, and precision-focused mixology rooms like The Varnish that helped spur the cocktail revolution here. Whiskey never disappeared, but it often existed in the margins while agave and spritz culture claimed the spotlight.
Still, a thriving whiskey world has grown quietly across the city, including a downtown institution, a 75-seat Eastside bar with a deep bottle collection, a Playa Vista lobby bar pouring Japanese single malts, a Santa Monica cocktail haven, and a Beverly Hills spot with a $20,000 Macallan pour. Spread across neighborhoods rather than clustered in one location, these spots have weathered trend cycles by opening the good stuff and serving regulars who are curious to try something new. If you know where to look, LA reveals itself as a genuine whiskey city.
<h3 dir="ltr">Seven Grand (Downtown)</h3>
Seven Grand, which opened in 2007 in a vibrant corridor of DTLA, is arguably the city&rsquo;s most influential whiskey bar,&nbsp; a place where long-term collectors, service-industry lifers, and curious newcomers all drink from the same list. The bar&rsquo;s lively main area can hold upward of 150 people, with a glorious whiskey wall and a selection routinely floating in the hundreds, depending on what general manager Adam Kloos has opened (right now, rarities include <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/060bf156-236f-4858-92f7-adc19b8c749d/lot/ec24dded-4f72-4ab6-b802-7ce72f42b459">Nikka &lsquo;Miyagikiyo&rsquo; 2019</a> and <a href="https://www.bowmore.com/whiskies/timeless-29-years-old">Bowmore 29</a>).
&ldquo;When we first opened, it was really a bunch of whiskey nerds,&rdquo; Kloos says. &ldquo;They cast a wide net, and their interests were varied, so they never really honed in on being &lsquo;the best bourbon bar.&rsquo; They just wanted everything they could get their hands on.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For even more of a niche experience, wait until Bar Jackalope reopens to the public. The 50-person lounge in the back is currently undergoing renovation, but it still hosts whiskey tastings every other week from brands like <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/213cd6df-c228-4492-b4f3-de260132967b/lot/a0e2996b-b862-4afc-b8ff-50988e9a43ab">Balcones</a>, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/a18a842e-e61d-4a43-9448-b49c3795cb3e/lot/df6d4341-d6de-4bb7-baff-d4784b078ae5">Hatozaki</a>, and <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/6c101ebf-fe15-45cd-9b05-5a36894300da/lot/beb1fbc0-ef60-4abc-9fdb-bd144d841894">Wild Turkey</a>. They even have two working highball machines, in case you&rsquo;re in the mood for something bubbly.
<h3 dir="ltr">Grain Whiskey Bar (Playa Vista)</h3>
On the other side of town, so close to the beach that there&rsquo;s actually sand in the parking lot, you&rsquo;ll find Grain. Top Chef winner Brooke Williamson opened the bar in 2014 as part of a food complex that includes a restaurant, cafe, and ice cream counter.
Bar Manager Liam Odien joined in 2019, right around the time a private collector picked through their list and made off with some choice bottles. Luckily, Odien has restocked the shelves with an emphasis on some lesser known names. &ldquo;Smaller, more regionally defined producers are important to me, and those are sort of what we focus on in terms of rarity,&rdquo; he says, referring to releases from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/242ddcf7-641d-498d-9476-a47e7f71da0e/lot/e7e55e49-1c5a-473c-95c8-6ceb22ebba60">Corbin Cash</a> distillery in Merced County, and grain-to-glass distillery&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/5907df9f-bcea-405f-a7eb-8778a4140f2c/lot/3c6a9d7e-40a3-4253-b025-8881f6fc92fa">Wright &amp; Brown</a> in Oakland.&nbsp;
That said, the bar also has some rarities like <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/8383c038-da4c-4b6c-bb4e-4fa00340f5cf/lot/f9cc736a-070c-4c24-b6c3-26bc1b00173b">Hibiki 21</a>, E.H. Taylor <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/947ecc59-c7ed-4e67-b2a0-26ac6c90d734/lot/e2c38e24-e8ed-45c9-9b4a-823303b0db23">Amaranth &ldquo;Grain of the Gods,&rdquo;</a> and their very own year-and-a-half-old infinity bottle seeded with around 60 whiskeys, including a big helping of different expressions of Pappy Van Winkle&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">The Chestnut Club (Santa Monica)</h3>
The Chestnut Club, which has been around since 2014, is smack dab in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard&mdash;a half-hour walk will land you at the iconic Santa Monica Pier. It&rsquo;s known primarily as a polished cocktail room&mdash;date-friendly, stylish, and designed for long, comfortable evenings.
What&rsquo;s less obvious at first glance is that the bar keeps one of the most balanced whiskey lists on the Westside. Pours from around the world include single malts from Brenne (France) and Kavalan (Taiwan), while American classics like Blanton&rsquo;s and private barrel picks from Elijah Craig are also on rotation.
Unlike many of the other bars on this list, Chestnut Club is on the spacious side, so larger groups can often snag a booth or standing room. The extra breathing room also makes it one of the few Westside whiskey spots where you can linger over multiple pours without feeling rushed or crowded.
<h3 dir="ltr">Thirsty Crow (Silver Lake)</h3>
Back across town on the Eastside, the Thirsty Crow is one of Silver Lake&rsquo;s longest-running neighborhood institutions. Opened in 2010 and seating roughly 75 inside (plus a small sidewalk patio), it&rsquo;s a true dive&mdash;dim, intimate, and always ready with a beer-and-a-shot combo.
The crowd can get a little rowdy on weekends, so if you&rsquo;re in the mood for cocktails, expect a bit of jostling for tiramisu-infused rye, a barrel-aged Old Fashioned, or a Paper Plane made with Angel&rsquo;s Envy.
That said, bar staff have also curated a robust whiskey list of tried and true classics from across Scotland, Ireland, and Japan. And on the American side, BTAC labels like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/8383c038-da4c-4b6c-bb4e-4fa00340f5cf/lot/0992dcba-e23a-45de-837b-d89bce8561fd">Thomas H. Handy</a>, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/8383c038-da4c-4b6c-bb4e-4fa00340f5cf/lot/3d39e24c-1fa3-4907-8f9b-c0512cc05751">George T. Stagg</a>, and <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/8383c038-da4c-4b6c-bb4e-4fa00340f5cf/lot/91a17c37-e4fb-4dfb-bb36-6d5bb729de18">William Larue Weller</a> are all available at humane prices.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Something that's good doesn't mean that it should be limited to only those who can afford it,&rdquo; says bar manager Taylor Johnson. At roughly $70 a pour, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not going to miss rent trying it.&rdquo; Amen to that.
<h3 dir="ltr">Wolf &amp; Crane (Little Tokyo)</h3>
Wolf &amp; Crane opened in 2014 in the heart of the city&rsquo;s historic Little Tokyo, a five minute walk away from the Japanese American National Museum and right next to the very entertaining Japanese Village Plaza.
It should come as no surprise, then, that it remains the city&rsquo;s most committed Japanese whisky bar, with an incredibly deep list including things like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/7510514a-3749-42af-9a58-2a6add5e984f/lot/9546daa5-f0f9-4c4b-8946-ea5687d481de">Hibiki 30 Year Old</a>, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/247cff20-89d4-4343-9bb4-4b90d09b40d2/lot/1ae58d21-6a28-4bcd-b8d8-c928096ce403">Yamazaki 25 Year Old Mizunara Cask</a>, Shinshu Mars <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/9b2247e4-53b5-4dd6-8e17-92650cbc31c6/lot/9576d4fa-9244-4f9a-90b5-147155a49b97">Komagatake 30 Year</a>, <a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/242ddcf7-641d-498d-9476-a47e7f71da0e/lot/ff2a4ff9-6eee-4125-a5bf-367a058c9afd">Ichiro's Malt 15 Year</a>, Nikka 9 Decades, and many others.
&ldquo;Our whisky program philosophy is pretty simple: keep up to date on new Japanese releases, and keep only the best of the best,&rdquo; says GM Jason Valdez. With that in mind, the bar also makes an effort to keep prices at an affordable level. &ldquo;We want people to try these great whiskies, not have them collect dust on the wall,&rdquo; Valdez says.
The bar also offers pours of private barrel picks from Maker&rsquo;s Mark, Komagatake, and Weller, as well as cocktails ranging from classic (a Japanese Old Fashioned with Hibiki) to refreshing (Toki highballs).
<h3 dir="ltr">The Whisky Bar (Beverly Hills)</h3>
Part of Beverly Hills&rsquo; restaurant-and-hotel corridor, The Whisky Bar opened in 2011 as the Ten Pound Bar, named after the ten-pound Scottish note which had the Macallan distillery printed on it. True to its name, the bar was exclusively a Macallan institution, but after the host hotel changed hands during COVID, the lineup expanded.&nbsp;
That doesn&rsquo;t mean the bar has left its roots behind, however. There&rsquo;s a portrait of the Macallan estate on the wall, and their top shelf currently holds Macallan 62,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicornauctions.com/auction/95e1c766-316f-4dfa-8b09-97abfeec5b93/lot/ed966b4b-20c6-437a-baae-b75a56c2f2ae">65</a>, and 72&mdash;their &ldquo;prized possession,&rdquo; according to lead bartender Sean Sugrue. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our most expensive offering right now, which has to be one of the most expensive in the country [at] $20,000 a pour,&rdquo; he says.
Worry not because there are other, more accessible whisky selections. But they all match the upscale vibe of the Maybourne Hotel, which is The Whisky Bar&rsquo;s home base. Low lighting, a cigar bar (guests only), and an outdoor patio overlooking a villa&mdash;it doesn&rsquo;t get more Beverly Hills than this.

Los Angeles Is a Fantastic Whiskey City—If You Know Where To Look

Thomas Kakalios approaches wine in a philosophical way&mdash;by asking better questions. Before he became the beverage director overseeing three of <a href="https://www.eatwellhospitality.com">Eat Well Hospitality</a>&rsquo;s restaurants, he was in fact a philosophy student learning how to examine ideas, trace meaning, and build narratives from a set of facts.
That instinct now shapes everything he does, from constructing wine lists to training his team. In his hands, a bottle isn&rsquo;t just for pairing; it&rsquo;s a story about place and the people behind it. And this clarity of thought has made him one of Chicago&rsquo;s most compelling voices in the beverage world, as well as a recent James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service.
Kakalios started as a barback in a downtown Chicago basement bar before taking his first major step at Daisies, where he helped open the restaurant and build its wine list from the ground up. The role gave him an early window into how a beverage program functions from both the guest and staff perspectives, experience he carried into increasingly demanding positions.
He moved to the Alinea Group&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nextrestaurant.com">NEXT</a>, joining during its French Nouvelle menu period, a meaningful moment for someone who had studied abroad in France and carried a deep affection for the cuisine. At NEXT, he absorbed a level of discipline and attention to detail that still guides his work. &ldquo;Everything is done for a reason,&rdquo; he says.
His next chapter, at the now‑closed Yūgen, expanded his lens even further. Immersing himself in sake added another dimension to his beverage vocabulary, one that would later inform the breadth he brings to Eat Well Hospitality&rsquo;s concepts.
He carried that broadened perspective into <a href="https://www.smythandtheloyalist.com">Smyth and The Loyalist</a>, where his palate sharpened and his sense of narrative deepened. Working closely with chef John Shields and wine director Kevin Goldsmith, he gained a deeper understanding of how wine can carry a narrative through a meal. &ldquo;People connect with stories,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My job is often to translate a list into terms they can understand.&rdquo;
In 2023, he joined Asador Bastian shortly after its opening, helping to shape its systems and build out its wine program under chef Doug Psaltis. Within a year, his role expanded to overseeing beverage operations across all three Eat Well Hospitality restaurants&mdash;Asador Bastian, Andros Taverna, and Mano a Mano. Across all three restaurants, the lists stay anchored in the cuisine&rsquo;s landscape, leaning into regional depth rather than global breadth.&nbsp;
&ldquo;These cuisines and wines evolved hand in hand,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Owning that identity lets us explore their potential to the fullest.&rdquo;
<h3 dir="ltr">Thomas Kakalios&rsquo;s Wine List</h3>
Kakalios&rsquo;s selections reflect the landscapes and traditions behind each concept, but they also reveal how he guides guests: meet them where they are, then offer something that expands their sense of what a wine can do. These five bottles&mdash;spanning Spain, Italy, Greece, and Champagne&mdash;illustrate the range of his thinking.
Champagne Coessens &ldquo;Largillier&rdquo; Extra Brut (Multi‑Vintage) - $300 (Asador Bastian)
Champagne is one of Kakalios&rsquo;s favorite tools at a steakhouse because he believes it&rsquo;s unexpected. Coessens, a Pinot Noir&ndash;dominant bottling from a single clay‑rich vineyard, is a standout. &ldquo;People are surprised by how well Champagne works in this setting,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It can move from seafood to richer courses without losing its footing.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a bottle with enough structure and acidity to cut through marbling while still carrying the elegance guests expect from Champagne.
Bodegas Muga &ldquo;Torre Muga&rdquo; Rioja 2005 - $285 (Asador Bastian)
This Tempranillo from Rioja Alta hits what Kakalios calls a &ldquo;Goldilocks&rdquo; balance&mdash;dark fruit at the core, grounded by earthy, savory notes and fine tannins. The 2005 vintage, acquired by one of his team members, brings two decades of evolution without losing its fruit. He also appreciates the personal connection&mdash;the winemaker&rsquo;s family roots in the Basque region echo Asador Bastian&rsquo;s culinary identity. &ldquo;The complexity that&rsquo;s developed over time is remarkable,&rdquo; he says.
C&agrave; Nova Colline Novarese Nebbiolo &ldquo;Bocciolo&rdquo; 2020 - $95 (Mano a Mano)
At Mano a Mano, the goal is to make wine feel democratic, encompassing thoughtful bottles at prices that encourage exploration. This Nebbiolo from Alto Piemonte embodies that philosophy. Higher elevation and volcanic soils give it clarity and precision, while several years of age and a proper decant bring out its more savory tones. &ldquo;Nebbiolo is a great transmitter of terroir,&rdquo; he says, and this bottling shows exactly why. It&rsquo;s a natural fit for the restaurant&rsquo;s richer dishes and a compelling alternative for guests who love Piedmont but want something outside the Barolo/Barbaresco lane.
Oenos Mittas Naoussa Xinomavro 2022 - $115 (Andros Taverna)
Greek wines are a personal passion for Kakalios, and this Xinomavro from Macedonia is one of the bottles he&rsquo;s most excited about. The grape is notoriously difficult to work with, but this winemaker handles it with finesse. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of the most compelling examples I&rsquo;ve seen of the grape,&rdquo; he says. The wine&rsquo;s prominent acidity and elevated tannins make it ideal for hearty, mountain‑inspired dishes &mdash; lamb, mutton, stews &mdash; and its flavor profile stands entirely on its own. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not trying to be Nebbiolo or Burgundy,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It has its own identity.&rdquo;
Estate Argyros Santorini Assyrtiko &ldquo;Cuvee Palatia&rdquo; 2022 - $35 by the glass (Andros Taverna)
Offering a bottle‑worthy wine by the glass is a signature across all three restaurants, and this Assyrtiko from Santorini is the standout. The vines, many between 200 and 400 years old, grow in volcanic ash on an island that&rsquo;s essentially a desert. The result is a white wine with tension, precision, and a distinctly Greek character. &ldquo;It would go toe to toe with some of the great wines of the world,&rdquo; Kakalios says.&nbsp;

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