Let me continue the lists of my best recommendations and favorites of 2019. I've already posted my Top Wine Lists, Favorite Croatian Wines & Dining Experiences, Top Ten Restaurant Dishes, Favorite Restaurants & Food-Related Items, and Top 50 Restaurants. This post will now concentrate on some of my Favorite Wine, Spirit, Sake & Drink-Related Items. This is certainly not a complete list but it is more a sampling of compelling and memorable matters I have experienced and posted about over the past year.
This is also a purely subjective list, based on my own preferences, and makes no claims about being the "best" of anything. But all of the items here have earned my strong recommendations and I hope you will enjoy them as well. For more wine related items, you can just search my blog posts for the past year.
Analysis Of Top Ten Wines: In my three prior Top Wine lists of 2019, I mentioned a total of 26 wines, which included wines from 12 different countries and regions, three more than last year. First place was a tie between France and Oregon, both with 4 wines. Second place was also a tie between Portugal and Australia, both with 3 wines. Third place was another tie, with Moldova, Italy, Spain, and California, each with 2 wines. Rounding out the list were Japan, Greece, New York, and Georgia, each with 1 wine. As for wine types, the lists are also broken down into 3 Sparkling, 4 White, 2 Rosé, 13 Red, 1 Amber, 1 Fortified and 2 Aromatized Wines.
Favorite Discount Wine Stores: Consumers always want bargains, excellent value wines which won't stretch their wallets. You can buy the cheap, mass-produced commercial wines which can be found in almost any wine store or instead, you can seek out excellent, value wines which put to shame those cheap wines. Certain discount wine stores provide not only excellent prices but also an interesting selection and good service. I want to highlight three such stores which continue, year after year, to do an especially good job, places where I go to seek bargains: Bin Ends in Braintree & Needham, Wine Connextion in North Andover, and Rapid Liquors in Stoneham. Shop at any of those stores and you won't be disappointed.
Favorite Wine Stores: This is a small list of wine stores which consistently impress me with their selection and service. Each shop is worthy of your patronage and wine lovers should make the effort to visit these places if you have not done so yet.
Lower Falls Wine Company in Newton Lower Falls
Wine-Sense in Andover
Wine Bottega in Boston's North End
Wine Press in Brookline and Wine Press in the Fenway
Streetcar Wines in Jamaica Plain
Marty's Fine Wines in Newton
Favorite Private Wine Dinner: Mooncusser Fish House offers a five-course Tasting of Local Fishes, and you can get it with a Wine Pairing. I opted for the tasting with wine pairings one evening, and would definitely do so again. The seafood was exquisite, each dish being fresh, well-balanced and creative. Plus, the wine pairings were excellent, not only working well with each course but also being fine wines on their own. Great service and a fine ambiance also contributed to an amazing wine-paired dinner. I highly recommend that all seafood and wine lovers dine at Mooncusser. In addition, they recently acquired a full liquor licenses so are carrying a variety of spirits as well.
Favorite Public Wine Dinner: The Moldova Restaurant in Newton held their first Wine Dinner near the end of last year, offering some of the best dishes from their menu with a number of Moldovan wines. The food was delicious, from the Placinta to the Friptura de Miel (roasted lamb), while the wines worked well with the various dishes. Moldovan wines aren't easy to find but they are worth seeking out. With about 12 guests at the dinner, it was a fun and intimate affair, with lots of excellent conversation going on through the night, as Andrei Birsan, the importer of the Moldovan wines, regaled everyone with stories about the wines and Moldova. Check out their future wine dinners.
Favorite Whisky Dinner: At Rebel's Guild in Boston, they hosted an excellent Glenlivet dinner, beginning with an ample selection of tasty appetizers and finishing with a delectable bread pudding. The dinner courses were paired with a Glenlivet cocktail and tastings of four Glenlivet whiskies, from the Founders Reserve Scotch to their 18-Year Old Scotch. The pairings worked well and there was so much food and whiskey, that the dinner was also an excellent value. It was also a special occasion as one of the other guests was Frederick Wright, a long-term fan of my blog, who I met in person for the first time. His partner and he were both very personable and interesting, and it made the experience even more enjoyable.
Favorite New Wine List: This past year, I was pleased to dine at the Forge & Vine in Groton, a casual restaurant with tasty food, especially plenty of comfort food options. The wine list has about 23 wines by the glass and over 100 wines by the bottle, and it is the bottle list that has some of the most intriguing choices. Though the list has some big-name labels, it also has some intriguing less known ones, from countries like Bulgaria and Lebanon. The most intriguing section are their Biodynamic-Farmed & Natural wines, about 14 options, and those I tasted impressed me. I wasn't expecting such an intriguing list and fellow wine lovers really need to check it out.
Favorite Wine Pairing: This pairing was at my home, part of a Sherry competition I entered, and I still love how this pairing worked. The Williams & Humbert Canasta Cream Sherry worked wonderfully with a Pear & Blue Cheese Crostata. I think the blue cheese was the special ingredient which helped to elevate this pairing. And this Cream Sherry wasn't overly sweet, which also helped the pairing. You can find the recipe for the Crostata in my article, and it is versatile, so that you could use the basic recipe with most any type of fruit.
Favorite Bar: The Kumo Sky Bar, the top floor of the Kamakura restaurant, is one of the few local spots where you can find Chilled Sake, Warm Sake, Shochu, Japanese Koshu wine, Japanese Whiskey, Japanese beer, Japanese-inspired cocktails, and more. It is aesthetically pleasing, as well as intimate, with a retractable rooftop and a view of the city of Boston. Plus, you can order plenty of delicious Japanese food while you're sipping on your drink. This is definitely a place to expand your palate, and try something new.
Favorite Gin: Etsu, a Japanese gin, thoroughly impressed me with its complex and compelling taste. Made with ingredients including yuzu, bitter orange, licorice, coriander, angelica root, and tea leaves, it has a distinctive Japanese flair. The yuzu takes a prominent role, providing tart citrus notes, while accompanied by other interesting flavors of green tea, pepper, and lime, with floral notes. Overall, it presented a complex palate, with other intriguing flavors flitting back and forth across your palate. The Japanese gin industry is relatively new but they are already producing some compelling products.
Favorite New Whiskey: The Nomad Outland Whiskey is an intriguing blend of Scotland and Spain. It is a blended whiskey from Scotland, which is aged in authentic Spanish Sherry barrels, and then sent to Spain for additional aging. The taste is compelling and complex, a wondrous melange of flavors of both whiskey and sherry. It is smooth and elegant, with a bold spicy aspect, and notes of vanilla, salted nuts, raisins, honey, and dried fruit. It is more dry, not sweet, despite the raisin and honey notes. The pleasing finish simply lingers and lingers within your mouth, and it beckons you toward another sip. Well-balanced, delicious, and unique.
Favorite Local Sake Trend: In general, many premium Sakes are probably best slightly chilled, like a white wine. However, there are plenty of exceptions, including some which taste great when properly warmed. I'm not talking about the cheap, burning hot Sakes you find at some restaurants, but rather Warmed Sake that is treated with respect and heated properly. Three local restaurants, including Kamakura, Pabu and Momi Nonmi, are leading the way in this regard. Warmed Sake is especially delicious during the winter so this is the best time to visit these spots and learn about the marvels of Warmed Sake.
Favorite Alternative Sake Packaging: Sake in a "juice box," with a straw! The Nihon Sakari Onikoroshi Futsushu comes in a 180ml tetrapak, a very convenient and easily transportable package. I found it to be dry, with a pleasing blend of earthiness and rice flavors. It was a simple Sake, but relatively smooth and easy on the palate with a hint of bitter on the finish. Definitely food friendly, it would also be enjoyable on its own. Don't overly think it. Just drink and enjoy.
Favorite Sake History Articles: Last year, I chose to revise and expand a number of my historical Sake articles, providing plenty of new information, such as the earliest references to Sake cocktails and the first Sparkling Sake, going back to 1938! Check out A History of Sake Brewing in the U.S., Historical Tidbits About Sake in the U.S., Early History of Sake Brewing in British Colombia, and A History of Sake Brewing in Brazil. I'm sure you'll learn plenty of interest from these articles.
Favorite Baijiu History Articles: Despite being the world's most popular spirit, Baijiu doesn't get much attention in the U.S. I've previously written a number of Baijiu articles, and this year I composed a two-part series of Historical Tidbits About Baijiu, providing a historical review of numerous Baijiu references, in English, from 1665-1995. Hopefully, this history will intrigue more Americans to learn more about Baijiu, as well as to drink some. Baijiu has a bad reputation in some circles and people need to break out of those prejudices.
Favorite Wine Travel Event: This past September, I visited Croatia, touring the country from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. It was a wondrous trip, filled with so much fun and excitement, great food and wine, intriguing museums and historical sites, and much more. Check out my page All About Croatia, which will lead you to all of my 25+ articles about the trip to Croatia. I posted a list of my Top 15 Wines of Croatia, as well as my Top 5 Dining Experiences. I fully understand why Croatia has become such a popular vacation destination, and it's now time that Croatian wines became more popular in the U.S. too.
Favorite Wine History: I researched and wrote a history about the Early History of Krug Champagne in the U.S., and what I learned fascinated me. Krug was being imported into the U.S. just six years after the House was established, and it was being sold in quarts and pints, not the 750ml bottle that we are used to seeing. A Canadian newspaper published some intriguing statistics on Champagne exports to the U.S. during the 1870s. I even found a couple jokes involving Krug from 1867. So many fun and educational items, providing a fascinating glimpse into Krug and the U.S.
Favorite Wine Interview: This past year, it was my pleasure and honor to interview Julie Cavil, the Wine Director of Krug Champagne. She was a personable and fascinating person, providing great insight into Champagne production at Krug, helping to show why Krug is special. Julie went into much detail about production methods, reasonings behind various decisions, and the future of the winery. This year, Julie is being promoted to Chef de Caves at Krug, a sign of her passion, skill and dedication at Krug.
Favorite New Wine Interview Series: In 2019, I started a new interview series, The Mind of a Sommelier, I want to delve more deeply into the minds of local sommeliers, to better understand their decisions when creating wine lists, and to know more about the inspirations, challenges and joys of their work. Six sommeliers participated, and their interviews were very popular articles, providing some fascinating insight. I'll be continuing this series in 2020, and if any sommelier is interested in participating, please contact me.
What were some of your favorite Wine, Spirit, Sake & Drink-related items this year?
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