Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/16170
Arizona Comes on Strong S Co-owners Eric Glomski and Maynard James Keenan of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards sign bottles. triking back at the notion that Arizona is ill-suited for winemaking, Arizona Stronghold Vineyards co-owners Maynard James Keenan and Eric Glomski have bested several highly-regarded out-of-state wines in a blind competition. Keenan is better known as the lead singer of the band Tool. Patterned after the legend- ary “Judgment of Paris,” the June 3 event pitted ten Arizona-made wines against ten acclaimed wines from fi ve leading wine regions: California, France, Australia, Italy and Spain. The wines were judged by an all-star panel of wine experts, including Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibraryTV, Master Sommelier Laura Williamson and New York chef Annie Rosenzweig. The results were stunning: Arizona wines swept fi rst-place in both the red and white categories, and took six of the top ten spots. Arizona Stronghold Vineyards fi nished in the top half of the red category with its Nachise Rhône-style blend ($22), besting more expensive labels such as Australia’s Mollydooker Shiraz ($25) and Bordeaux’s Château Lynch Bages ($90), among others. Redbreast Irish Whiskey Arrives in U.S. R edbreast 15 Year Old Pot Still Irish Whiskey arrived in the U.S. this month, a distinguished and awarded pure pot still whiskey—the only traditional Irish pot still whiskey available today. “Redbreast is a very special unblended whiskey, triple-distilled and made with malted and unmalted barley,” said Wayne Hartunian, VP/Whiskey for Pernod Ricard USA. Hartunian added, “There is no better time than now to introduce this exquisite pot still whiskey to the U.S. Market. Irish whiskey is by far the fastest-growing U.S. spirits category, growing at twice the rate of the next fastest category and possessor of the fastest-growing premium spirit brand in the U.S.—Jameson. While sales of Irish whiskey have more than doubled over the past fi ve years, there is still plenty of room for growth, as the category is forecast to double again in size over the next fi ve years. Add to that the fact that sibling Redbreast 12 Year Old is experiencing double-digit growth (+23% in the past three months), and you have the perfect market conditions to introduce Redbreast 15 Year Old.” SRP $74.99/750 ml. september 2010 / the tasting panel / 13