The Tasting Panel magazine

JUNE 2011

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/33511

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 73 of 132

amber color; smooth, clean rye nose; spicy, toasted and rich with mellow, dense biscuity fl avors and a deep, lush fi nish; balanced, seamless and quite lovely. DIAGEO NORTH AMERICA 93 Hazelburn 8 Year Old Cask Strength Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky, Scotland ($110) Springbank’s unpeated malt; pale, clean and elegant with lovely vanilla, cereal, nuts and banana; great depth and style with a long, mellow fi nish; fresh and charming. ANCHOR BREWERS & DISTILLERS 93 1971, France ($208) The base grape is Baco Noir; dense and spicy; rich and gorgeous with a complex interplay of wood and spice. ANCHOR BREWERS & DISTILLERS 93 Scotland ($45) Smoky and rich on the nose with a hint of sweetness; smooth and lush with lovely nutty notes and fl ashes of spice and heather; intense and yet elegant; a blend that will please the most hardened single malt fan; balanced, complex and totally satisfying. DOMAINE SELECT 93 Spirits distilled from malted barley; light amber color; silky and ripe with notes of orange, spice and lush texture with sweet herbal notes and ripe fl avors. BRAVERMAN LLC 90 94 The King’s Ginger Liqueur, Netherlands ($30) Amber color; fragrant ginger and fl oral nose; silky and thick texture; creamy and sweet and bursting with ginger spice and heat; formulated in 1903 for King Edward VII by London’s Berry Bros & Rudd; rich, smooth and intense. ANCHOR BREWERS & DISTILLERS june 201 1 / the tasting panel / 73 Pür Geist Bierbrand, Germany ($28/375 ml.) Wemyss Smooth Gentleman 8 Year Old Scotch Whisky, Darroze Bas- Armagnac Gaube Bulleit Rye Whiskey, USA ($28) Medium Meet Patrick Cappiello “I was in my 20s when I visited my fi rst winery in the Finger Lakes,” says Patrick Cappiello, Wine Director for Gilt at the Palace Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. “It was a transition from drinking to drinking with an understanding.” Growing up in an Italian home in Rochester, New York allowed Cappiello easy access to New York and Canadian wineries. “It really opened my eyes to regions, vintages and varietals. I think my friends thought I was turning into that stereotypical wine snob.” Cappiello kept pushing for more vinous education and started his career in Cleveland at the Baracelli Inn (which Patrick Cappiello, Wine Director at GILT at the New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan. recently went out of business), one of the fi rst of its kind in that part of the country in 1999 to have a 175-bottle list and a personal cellar for the owner. A bachelor’s degree in philosophy may have helped Cappiello in terms of thinking and drinking, but it was fate that led him to meet David Gordon of Tribeca Grill in NYC, who would become his mentor. “We went from a 600-bottle selection to over 1,800 within a year,” Cappiello tells THE TASTING PANEL. “I was forced to study about wine—like crazy—and became the fi rst-ever somm on the fl oor at Tribeca Grill.” From there he went to New York’s Veritas as Sommelier, which he calls “a wild ride.” A head hunter eventually tracked him down for the hire at Gilt, and while he couldn’t imagine working anywhere but Veritas, once he checked out Gilt’s wine list and perused the impressive Burgundies, he knew there was great potential for some exciting work to be done. Two-and-a-half years and 3,000 selections later, Cappiello created what he refers to as “wine for everyone.” His fair-priced wines range from the “cool and nerdy” to wines that are “an experience,” but all are ultimately, affordable with low mark-ups. “Well-priced wines are hard to come by—we’re not limited to catering to the elite.” Lancaster 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley Tasting Notes by Patrick Cappiello Aromas of cedar, vanilla, and tobacco. Flavor ranging from black cur- rant, raspberries, nutmeg and saddle leather. On the palate, supple tannins and a long juicy fi nish. Truly a great example of Cabernet from this often overlooked appellation in Northern Sonoma. Lancaster is available through Wilson Daniels Ltd. PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Tasting Panel magazine - JUNE 2011