Brian Armenio

9.3

Awesome Rose poured by the illustrious Alesha Sin Vanata while visiting her in CLT. Strawberry, brioche, pear, apple and much more. — 11 years ago

Drew Summers

Sales Northampton Wines

9.3

Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (entirely) crafted by Napa's illustrious, Randy Dunn. After having spent 22 months in French Oak (entirely).....Voluptuous, Sweet Blackberry, Bay Leaf — 11 years ago

Barron Beltz

10

Verdoso 2011 Napa Valley Petite Verdot Every year at FOLIO we split all employees into 3 wine teams. Each team creates a wine: label, story, varietal(s),etc. Luckily, we had the illustrious Tony Coltrin on our team, who made this masterpiece of a wine. 100% PV from the Michael Mondavi Family's Oso Estate on the backside of Howell Mtn.
My 9-yr old daughter, Briley, submitted a painting and it was voted for the label. Here's the copy: "VERDOSO loosely translates to the Green Bear. This mischievous mythological creature is much like the Liger, but more like the tooth fairy, and enters the vineyard in the middle of the night replacing the unripe green berries with ripe mature clusters." — 11 years ago

Bucky Berlin

9.6

The illustrious unicorn of BC wines...words can't describe! — 11 years ago

with Lori and Lauren

Julian Weber

8.9

Owner by Chanel and the second wine of the illustrious 2ème Grand Cru Classé Château Rauzan-Ségla, this wine is made for earlier drinking. Ripe and fragrant with black currant, damson, violet, cigar box. Softer tannins than most. Shorter finish — 11 years ago

Chaad Thomas

Owner, First Tier Imports

9.0

Slightly cloudy; Bright, citrusy nose, palate shows same, with crisp green apple notes. Plenty of complexity and interest. Very good. — 11 years ago

Joe Carroll

Owner/Wine Director Spuyten Duyvil, Fette Sau, St. Anselm & Gotham Artisanal Provisions

9.5

Jean Van Roy's amazing story of Zwanze 2013. When we started renovation works in the cellars of the brewery two years ago, much to our surprise we came upon the remains of some very old walls. In agreement with the medievalists of the city of Brussels, the works were stopped in order to allow archaeological excavations to take place.

Shortly thereafter we were astonished to find out that Cantillon brewery had in fact been built on the ruins of the very ancient Abbey of Cureghem! According to the medievalists, this religious community was well-known during the middle ages for its fowl fed on draff and, more specifically, for its dish of stuffed Cureghem capon, which was served with a beer brewed at the abbey and apparently drew pilgrims from all over Europe.

Yet it was truly a heavenly surprise when the excavations uncovered the cell of the abbot, Father Faro. In the small room the archaeologists found quite a few old reference books, one of which contained the original recipes for the beers brewed at the abbey several hundred years ago. We didn’t hesitate for a second and decided on the spot to recreate one of these mythical beers.

This beer, which will be our Zwanze for 2013, therefore bears the name of its illustrious place of origin, Abbaye de Cureghem (Cureghem Abbey). Cureghem was formerly a village established many centuries ago on the banks of the Senne, the river running through present-day Brussels. The area was very heavily industrialised during the 19th century and, among other things, became home to many breweries. Today, it is part of the municipality of Anderlecht.

Since beers commonly referred to as “abbey beers” are not, or not any longer, products of spontaneous fermentation, we decided to brew a top fermentation beer, from a technical point of view in any case. The yeasts were selected in collaboration with Institut Meurice, a post-secondary college in Brussels specialising in biotechnology. Brewed in March 2012, our “Cureghem” beer fermented four weeks in stainless steel tanks before being blended with 10% lambic and pumped into 400-litre barrels of various origins. After maturing for six months, the beers were blended and put into casks or bottles to undergo re-fermentation and reach 7.2% ABV (Alcohol by Volume).

Inevitably, a top fermentation beer brewed in a spontaneous fermentation environment will be affected by the wild yeasts in the air, and this is certainly what happened in our case. For our Cureghem, the cultured yeasts were clearly the main factor behind primary fermentation and I think that the wild yeasts in the beer will instead play an increasingly important role as the product ages. However, despite the addition of the lambic to give it a little “extra something” in terms of character and ageing characteristics, this Zwanze cannot in any case be considered a spontaneous fermentation beer.

The long fermentation period coupled with the presence of wild yeasts lends this beer a solid character with a dry finish that lingers on the palate, while the combined use of fresh and aged hops yields both freshness and bitterness. Moreover, the different malts used give this year’s Zwanze a coppery colour along with a touch of caramel and candied fruit that provide body. Clearly, this is not your standard “abbey” beer but, perhaps, it is representative of what these beers were one or two hundred years ago — 13 years ago

Christine Havens

8.9

Domaine de Villaine is owned by none other than Aubert de Villaine, co-owner of that most illustrious estate, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. The little house Villaine is located in Bouzeron, and offers fine quality for money for those looking for a good value. The 2011 is light on fruit, a notoriously difficult vintage, but it has some charm nevertheless with tart cherry notes, cranberry and rose hips on the palate. The acidity is quite high, and the wine begs for food. A nice cheese plate? Yes. — 11 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.3

This 2007 Louis upstaged its illustrious big brother to win the Trophy for Best Tasmanian Pinot Noir at the Tassie Wine Show in 2010. Stewed rhubarb notes. Good intensity and length. 18- — 11 years ago

Brett Pinkin

9.1

Product of the illustrious winemaker of ceremonies Tom Rinaldi. He made Duckhorn and Provenance famous....just getting things started at 65 years young....what a great life it is :) — 12 years ago