El Miracle by Mariscal, Old Vine Carnacha 2013

Barrels designed by Valencian artist Javier Mariscal

El Miracle Thanks to our innovative culture, Vicente Gandía Winery, a Valencian wine producing company founded in 1885, is celebrating its 130th anniversary and remains true to the values it held when it was created: to combine tradition withinternationalisation, to back innovation and quality, to be committed to promoting wine culture, and to contribute to the welfare and progress of society.

El Miracle by Mariscal, Old Vine Garnacha 2013   The Spanglish-sounding 2013 El Miracle by Mariscal is named after the barrels designed by Valencian artist Javier Mariscal, that appear on the label. Against all odds, it is 100% Garnacha Tintorera matured for eight months in second-use French oak barrels. The wine is surprisingly aromatic with notes of red cherries, not as dark as you'd expect from a grape that has so much coloring matter with perhaps some herbal hints that add freshness. The palate is medium-bodied, with dusty tannins and good acidity, slightly rustic but with character and in need of food. A nice Garnacha Tintorera at very good price. 90 Points eRobetParker.com #217

Blandy's Sercial dry Madeira, Aged 10 Years

THE WINES OF MADEIRA Take an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 90% of it is mountainous and with volcanic soils. Now give it a tropical climate (never less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit) with high humidity at night time. Terrace the mountains and plant just about 400 hectares of vineyards with the vines growing on pergolas so you can grow your everyday vegetables under them and maybe even a banana tree here and there. Harvest the never to be ripe grapes and try to make wine with them. Oh, and don't forget to heat the wine up to temperatures that shall remain unmentioned. Once you finish with heat, allow the wine to oxidize for good measure. The end result? The beautiful wines of Madeira. From bone dry to extremely sweet, (Sercial, Verdelho, Boal and Malvasia) ranging from 3,5,10,15,20,30 and 40 year old blends, to a Colheita and Frasquera. Sercial: Dry, Verdelho: Medium Dry Boal: Medium Sweet, Malvasia/Malmsey: Sweet Colheita: Vintage wine, with 5 years minimum age Frasquera: Vintage wine with 20 years minimum age The wines of Madeira have always been the secret of every oenophile out there. Wines with longevity-- some vintages available today go back 300 years and are practically indestructible. Madeira has only 8 wineries in total, and only 6 are able to export wine (one of them being new and unable to release wines yet, and one winery that can only sell locally). With 6 wineries to supply the entire world with Madeira wine, demand and supply are never equal. It is no wonder they are not always available, but once obtained is a treasure worth sharing with friends. Costas - Gotham Wines

Blandy's Sercial dry Madeira, Aged 10 Years   Dry floral notes with a hint of herbs and honey. Beautifully dry with just a hint of caramel, dried apricot, briny and nutty with great acidity. Aged yet refreshing. Enjoy it on its own or with dried fruits and a spicy cheese. Costas Gotham Wines

6100 Vdka

THE TALENT IS IN THE CHOICES VDKA 6100 is a passion - a passion we love sharing with fellow vodka purists. We make VDKA 6100 in Reporoa, near Lake Taupo on the North Island of New Zealand, using fresh seasonal whey that we source from the Bay of Plenty Region. Our whey is fermented using a rare strain of yeast that we imported from Ireland over 30 years ago and have been hand cultivating in Reporoa ever since. The purity of the ingredients means we only need to distil VDKA 6100 a few times; ensuring that the character is retained. We filter through carbon 'rockets' and then blend with extraordinary, locally-sourced natural New Zealand spring water. The result is a truly distinctive, elegant, luxurious vodka. VDKA 6100 is gluten-free, sugar-free, lactose-free, and free from chemical additives. It has been tested against the best, and it's one of the purest vodkas on earth. Is there a story behind how we chose the name VDKA 6100? Of course. It was chosen for a very specific reason. '6100' pays homage to the distance between the source of the vodka and the birthplace of the brand. The distance between the territorial waters of New Zealand, from which the product is sourced, to those of the United States, where the brand was born, is 6100 miles.

6100 Vdka   Vodka is often described as a colorless, odorless, and flavorless alcohol.... not VDKA 6100.  The unconventional composition makes our vodka smooth in the mouth with a taste that hints at citrus and white pepper. VDKA 6100 also has extremely low levels of methane (the nasty compound that makes bad vodkas 'burn' your throat) creating unrivaled smoothness. Daring choices were made creating it. A discerning choice is now yours to enjoy. AWARDED 91 POINTS IN THE ULTIMATE SPIRITS CHALLENGE 2016 VDKA 6100. The Drink of Choice.

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon

The Kentucky Derby "the most exciting two minutes in sports"! The Kentucky Derby is unlike any other sporting event! With a crowd of more than 150,000 people, unparalleled history and tradition and its unique spectacle, the Kentucky Derby has been described by Forbes as one of the "Greatest Bucket-list Sporting Events" in America. Every year, on the first Saturday in May, thousands of guests gather under the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs to create lifelong memories with their friends and family. If you're not there, then join us at Gotham Wines to celebrate an overdue spring day (hopefully) and the DERBY! Mint Juleps will flow made with the official bourbon of this year's Derby, Woodford Reserve. Dress up (the Kentucky Derby is the world's largest and most entertaining fashion show, with spectacular hats and outfits - or not) and stop by, to enjoy a bourbon tasting and a mint julep. You can even watch the race with us. Cheers! The Gotham Team

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Each sip of our Distiller's Select® craft bourbon contains over 200 congeners, natural color, aroma and flavor components. Enjoy the full experience. Download the Woodford Reserve app for iPad and Android tablets to experience the depth of flavor found in our craft bourbon. TASTING NOTES Proof: 90.4° Appearance: Clean, brilliant honey amber. Nose: Heavy with rich dried fruit, hints of mint and oranges covered with a dusting of cocoa. Faint vanilla and tobacco, spice. Taste: Rich, chewy, rounded and smooth, with complex citrus, cinnamon and cocoa. Toffee, caramel, chocolate and spice notes abound. Finish: Silky smooth, almost creamy at first with a long, warm satisfying tail.

Below is the recipe for a classic Mint Julep The traditional Derby Day cocktail, and a southern ritual crafted from bourbon, simple syrup and mint. INGREDIENTS 2 oz. Woodford Reserve 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup 3 Fresh Mint Leaves Crushed Ice INSTRUCTIONS Express the essential oils in the mint and rub them inside the glass. In the same glass, add simple syrup, bourbon, and crushed ice. Stir. Garnish with more ice and fresh mint.

Blue Nectar Reposado Special Craft Tequila

Tequila Glass

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT FAMILY A STORY ABOUT A FATHER AND SON WITH A SHARED LOVE FOR TEQUILA. IT STARTED WITH A BIRTHDAY RITUAL OF GIFTING EXCEPTIONAL TEQUILAS TO EACH OTHER. A TRADITION WAS BORN. There is no great great-grand father in this story. No faux-Spanish name. No celebrity endorsement. Just a father and son with a passion for tequila. The first stop on their journey was the lowlands of Jalisco, the heartland of tequila country, rich in tradition. In the outskirts of Amatitán they drove down an unpaved, dirt road in the pouring rain. Trucks sat on the side of the road, mired in the mud. After a bit of a struggle they made it over the one-lane bridge to the distillery. Spirits should have been low but as they pulled into the distillery they were immediately captivated by two jovial, genuinely in-love-with-tequila brothers in cowboy hats. They had met their partners. Our founders wanted to ensure that their tequilas would be true to the terroir of the region's volcanic soils so they only used estate-grown agave from fields adjacent to the distillery. And while staying true to tradition, they also desired to creatively craft unique tequilas. Much tinkering and tasting followed. Alongside their master blender, Guillermo Garcia-Lay, they developed the profiles of unaged and aged tequilas. And refined them again and again and again. The result? Agave-forward tequilas with a sophisticated taste. Distinct but well-balanced with a rich, earthy body. Great for mixing or sipping. Perfect for any occasion. The tequila was born but it needed a name. There was a desire to capture the essence of tequila. Blue was derived from our commitment to making authentic and quality tequilas using 100% blue agave. Nectar came from the mystical connection to ancient rituals that used a fermented drink made from agave. Great-tasting. Great-sounding. Great-looking. A tequila that demands attention.

Blue Nectar Reposado Special Craft Tequila   Double-distilled. Aged six to eight months in charred North American oak barrels and blended with three-year extra añejo. Rich flavor with hints of oak, smoke and vanilla. TASTING NOTES Beautiful straw-colored tequila imbued with deep, oak aromas mingled with cooked agave. An initially hot mouthfeel that cools quickly to reveal a long warm, bittersweet finish.

Herradura Reposado Tequila

Jimador en Casa Herradura

Tequila Some of us would say there's never a bad time for a little tequila. That said, there's definitely never been a better time than now, thanks to a boom in traditionally minded artisanal tequilas and wider availability of longstanding Mexican brands that lack big marketing budgets. No, the struggle these days isn't in finding a superb, distinctive, and refined tequila - one that instantly erases any hangover memories of rotgut shots - but deciding among myriad great options. First, a quick primer: Tequila is made from one species of agave, agavetequilanaweber, var azul (or blue agave), and primarily in the arid lowlands and rainy highlands outside of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco  (by law, it can also be produced in parts of four other Mexican states). When the agaves reach maturity after several years, their sugar-rich hearts (piñas) are cooked and crushed; the extracted juice is then fermented and, finally, distilled. Several factors come into play at each stage of this process, but at the very least, for a tequila to be great, it must be all agave, with no additives. (Rule number one: Never buy tequila that's not labeled "100% agave.") Blanco is the clear tequila as it comes off the still, though it can spend up to two months aging in oak barrels. Golden reposado is aged from two months to a year. Dark añejo sits from between one and three years, and the relatively recent extra-añejo is any tequila aged more than three years, which results in qualities similar to those of long-aged rums and brandies. Herradura has continuously produced tequila since 1870, and the roughly 25 million agaves itmaintains are propagated from the original plants of that era. More than any other huge-scale producer, Herradura has found a way, though, to maintain quality while scaling up. (Way, wayup - its fermentation tanks hold more than a million gallons.) Rather than rely on commercial yeasts to hasten fermentation, the company uses only naturally occurring airborne yeasts and lets the juice ferment for up to a week. The hacienda has a knack for aging: Herradura introduced the reposado category in 1974, and it remains one of the best examples of the style, with classic vanilla and butterscotch elements that come from a long (for reposado) 11 months in American oak.  By  Nils Bernstein and Jason Fine Mens Journal

Herradura Reposado Tequila   A pleasant fresh agave note rises first from the glass to make for a soft and smooth introduction to this spirit. Buttered popcorn and a hint of pepper follow. The freshness of the initial aromas carrythrough to the characteristics of this spirit on the tongue which is initially pleasingly light and full of that buttered popcorn evident on the nose. The oak soon starts to show itself with smooth vanilla and a peppery element that continues through onto the finish of moderate length. Plenty of caramel combines with a faintest hint of smoked paprika and a healthy dose of agave to add to the excellently rounded and full-flavored palate.  A very enjoyable Tequila.

Travaglini Gattinara 2010

La Famiglia Travaglini Gattinara

Travaglini Located in the heart of Gattinara, Travaglini was established in the 1920s by Clemente Travaglini. In 1958 Arturo Travaglini followed in his father's footsteps and took over the helm at the winery. The family's passion and commitment to winemaking has not diminished through the generations; Cinzia Travaglini, great-granddaughter of Clemente, manages day-to-day operations at winery. Her husband Massimo Collauto is the chief winemaker, a role he inherited from his late father-in-law and beloved mentor, Giancarlo Travaglini. Throughout the years, Travaglini has established itself in Gattinara as the most esteemed producer of traditional, limited-production wines from the Nebbiolo grape. Travaglini wines illustrate the full range of expressions Nebbiolo can achieve. "Gattinara DOCG" has great structure and longevity, while "Nebbiolo DOC Coste delleSesia" is young, fruity and easy to drink.   The Bottle An exceptional wine deserves an exceptional bottle. It was with that in mind that in 1958, Giancarlo Travaglini set out to create a bottle that was also a work of art. This special bottle, exclusive to Travaglini, was designed to grace the most prestigious tables in the world. The shape of this bottle naturally catches sediment during pouring, allowing the wine to be served directly from bottle to the glass without decanting. The dark-colored glass prevents light from passing through and impacting the quality of the wine. This elegant bottle was perfectly designed for storage and aging in the cellar.

Travaglini Gattinara 2010   The 2010 Gattinara is a firm, classically austere wine with persistent tannins and a slightly compact personality. It will be interesting to see if the 2010 puts on weight in bottle, or if the tannins soften, as today, the wine is very much shut down. Sweet dried cherries, tobacco, crushed herbs and dried flowers add shades of nuance through the middle and finish. I have seen Travaglini wines blossom with age before, although I don't really see that happening here. 90 Points Vinous