Age

Do you remember being a kid and visiting a new friend for the first time, only to come home completely disoriented because of how different he or she lived than you?

As an example, I distinctly remember going to friend’s house after school in second grade and being shell-shocked by the fact he watched Gilligan’s Island at 4 PM instead of Happy Days. After that he watched Hogan’s Heroes instead of Mork and Mindy. It was too weird for me. I never went back.

In a sense, meeting new people as we get older constitutes a number of the same situations, it’s just that our coping skills have evolved to the point where we don’t freak out over a little adversity. But as the years go by, and we come into contact with younger people, the little differences can become chasms of separation that are too wide to overlook. There are certain ways of living we come to take for granted, and when those comforts are removed from our existence, we have less patience for that new reality.

The first time I went to Bordeaux for the en primeur tasting, I was with my former boss and his friends: all of whom were in their 60s and 70s. They knew the wines from every estate inside and out, and for them the entire week was old hat. For me, I was jumping at the opportunity to experience everything I could; partially because I knew I would never be able to afford to taste the wines on my own. Most of my older colleagues felt differently, however. For them, tasting the wines while knowing the modern prices was depressing, and a constant reminder of how they had been priced out of their favorite pastime.

Because I had never experienced Bordeaux in the 80s or 90s, I didn’t have any of the same expectations. To me, a bottle of Pichon-Baron should cost $150+. For these other guys, however; a bottle of Pichon-Baron will always be stuck in their minds at $20.

Today, the shoe is on the other foot, albeit with whisk(e)y rather than wine. Those of us who cut our teeth on 2007 prices often have a great difficulty paying what 2021 demands. BUT…the younger generation of whiskey drinkers has no issue. For them, a bottle of Pappy may be worth $1000 or more. Many of them have no problem shelling out extra cash if it means securing the chance at a rare experience. I know this because I watch it happen about fifty times every single day now that I’m back in retail.

Some of my older friends and customers have no patience for this. They’re still living in the era where buying a bottle of whiskey meant you were going to drink it, not sit on it for investment purposes. Once you realize a large number of today’s drinkers are looking to capitalize off their purchases, it completely changes the way you look at the industry.

To use a current analogy, those who bought GameStop stock at $50 or less were sitting pretty when they sold those shares for over $400 last week. But, that doesn’t mean the guys who paid $300 and sold for $400 went away empty handed. Even the guys who paid $350 or more still may have turned a profit. The same holds true for rare bottles of American whiskey. You may laugh at what others are willing to pay, but the joke may ultimately be on you.

As an example, you might scoff at paying $150 or more for a bottle of Blanton’s—as a beverage. But what about as an investment opportunity?

Every single day I talk to guys on the phone who have no plan on drinking many of their purchases. Most of them are younger than me. They’re building equity for a resale down the line, or the chance to trade for something better. As one person told me when buying a rare bottle of rye: “I actually don’t like rye whiskey, but I know someone who will trade me something better for it.”

This has happened in a number of pop culture genres over the last decade-plus. Look at the secondary market for Jordans now. 99% of the people buying his basketball shoes have never played hoops, nor do they plan to; it’s purely a fashion statement or an investment.

Whiskey is no different. As I fell asleep last night while watching The Color of Money, I was struck by something Fast Eddie tells Vincent when asked why he no longer plays pool:

“I’m too old. My wheels are shot. It’s a young man’s game. Kids are playing on coke, speed. When I was younger, it was booze. Somehow it was more human.”

-David Driscoll

Instagram Live With Gerald Casale - Next Weds

From 2016 to the beginning of 2018, somehow the word got out that if you were a celebrity who wanted to start your own booze label, I was one of the guys to call for advice.

It was humbling, but also weird at times because for many of these brands there was nothing I could do to help. The juice was often poor, and there’s no remedy for bad juice other than to simply get rid of it.

The one guy who absolutely had (and continues to have) great taste, however; was Gerald Casale, the co-frontman for the rock group Devo. Not just with wine and spirits, mind you, but with food. The guy is a fantastic cook. When I moved to LA in 2019, Gerald began inviting us over for dinner and—to this day—I can safely say that his homemade wood-fired pizza is among the best I’ve ever had.

As far as celebrity labels go, I don’t consider Gerald’s 50 by 50 Pinot Noir in the same category as other celebrity brands because there’s nothing hokey about it. Made from fantastic Sonoma Coast fruit, the wine drinks as well as any of its competitors for the price, and often times better. In Gerald’s case, I’m always willing to jump in and help because I wholeheartedly believe in his product (and I drink it at home).

But enough explaining; I’ll let Gerald fill you in on the details this Wednesday at 5 PM when we sit down on the @missionliquor Instagram for a live chat.

See you there!

-David Driscoll

A Fun Deal

While most bartenders and booze professionals I know won’t openly speak about vodka, or offer an opinion, I have no problem with it.

I love vodka. I drink a lot of it. Mostly with ginger beer, but sometimes as a 50/50 Vesper Martini as well.

I also like ice cold vodka with caviar. If I’m drinking it that way, I’m very picky. I want Eastern European vodka made with winter wheat, no alternatives. Sometimes I do Belvedere. Sometimes I do Stoli Elit. Sometimes I do Jewel of Russia.

But for the time being, I’m switching to Double Cross because we just got a HOT deal, offering a $30 vodka for $13.95.

If you’re new to Double Cross vodka, let me quickly catch you up:

• Double Gold Medal Winner - Best Vodka: SF Spirits Competition.

• Double Gold Medal Winner - Best Packaging: SF Spirits Competition.

• Packaged in an elegant and award-winning rectangular glass bottle that makes for a show-stopping gift.

• AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Made with 100% winter wheat from Slovakia and filtered with Tatra mountain spring water.

Like I said, most retailers are at $30. Our big box friends down the street are raving about their discounted price of $23.99.

But I’m taking it a step further because that’s what I am: a habitual line-stepper, to quote Charlie Murphy’s description of Rick James.

I’ve got plenty in stock, so grab what you need. Like the Lagavulin 9 year, I’d recommend buying this one by the case.

-David Driscoll

Don't Snooze On Scottish Gin

As much as we all love Scotch whisky and the drinking culture that goes along with it, the Scottish make some incredible gin as well; much of it at the very same locations where the whisky is made.

It’s a funny thing because so many folks I know are willing to pay more for a boutique-y “craft” gin rather than settle for a regular old bottle of Tanqueray. Tanqueray isn’t all that cool these days, as we’re now thirty years removed from Snoop Dogg’s “Gin & Juice.” Yet, what always stands out to me about modern gins in contrast: most craft gins don’t distill their own base spirit! Not that it matters in the end, but the one thing you can say about Tanqueray: it’s actually distilled from scratch by Tanqueray at Cameron Bridge distillery in Scotland, not simply purchased and passed through a still with botanicals.

The same goes for Hendrick’s, made at Girvan distillery in the Lowlands. The giant column still that makes grain whisky for William Grant, and a number of other blended Scotch whisky companies, produces the grain neutral spirit for Hendrick’s, which is then re-distilled on an old Bennett pot still and a Carterhead with a vapor infusion chamber on the lyne arm. They were purchased in the 1960s from London’s closed Taplow Distillery (and today there’s a third still, made from an exact replica).

Regardless of where the base spirit comes from, gin is big business these days. With so many new expressions to choose from each month, it’s hard to imagine a home for every new label on the market. Today, you can find gins from Japan, China, India, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and everywhere in between; many of them using distinctly-native botanicals, adding a unique “terroir” to their spirits.

The Hendrick’s “gin palace” at Girvan Distillery

Craft gins have been multiplying in number for more than a decade at this point, and it can be hard to keep up. To paraphrase an old Pavement song: I saw another one just the other day; a special new gin. At this point, many of us have been conditioned to think small and local when it comes to quality, but in the case of gin those attributes don’t really mean anything. You can run booze through a still anywhere, but where was the liquid actually made? Your guess is often as good as mine.

Not to imply that you have to make your own grain neutral to make good gin, it’s just to point out that some of the brands we consider to be mass-produced actually are more crafty in nature than we’ve come to believe. In fact, the craft gin craze in essence begins with Hendrick’s. Born in 1999, roughly a decade before the pre-Prohibition cocktail craze took hold, the team at Grant simply wanted to make something more innovative than than Bombay Sapphire!

How did they do it? They blended a heavy, more juniper-concentrated distillate from the Bennett still with the lighter, more floral spirit from the Carterhead still. Much like Grant built its reputation on the back of blended whisky, its soon-to-be-world-famous gin was also the result of a skillful marriage. That, and the uniquely-scented aromas of rose petal and cucumber that would become Hendrick’s calling card with bartenders and gin aficionados everywhere.

The real mind behind Hendrick’s and its subsequent spin-offs is Lesley Gracie, who has become somewhat of an enigma in the industry. Her nose for creativity has resulting in a number of new Hendrick’s editions, including the fantastic quinine-infused Orbium that allows you to make a gin & tonic with soda water rather than the tonic, and the newly-released Lunar expression that uses botanicals that bloom at night. I’ve been sipping on the Lunar at home all week and I’m totally smitten. Drinking it neat, it tastes almost like an herbal-spiced fruit tea. In a cocktail, it never gets lost; I could still make out the spice notes in a Corpse Reviver #2 last night.

Despite having been to Scotland almost a dozen times, I’ve only been to Edinburgh once—and only for an afternoon. Why? Because there aren’t any major whisky distilleries in Edinburgh! But there is one fantastic gin distillery, aptly named Edinburgh Gin. While it was contract-distilled out of England for its first few years of existence, today its made right in the center of the city with a beautiful visitor’s center, to boot. I’ve never been inside, but I’m a fan of the gin and it’s on my list of distilleries to visit once travel resumes and I can get back over to the UK.

If you’re looking for a wacky new flavor of gin that completely reinvents the wheel, then look outside both England and Scotland, as even the most innovative of new recipes never strays far from the classical line. The same holds true for Edinburgh, with its three core flavors that offer diversity, but are traditionally-tailored for the London dry palate. The standard edition is fruitier on the nose that most classic gins, and perhaps a bit rounder on the palate, but the lemon peel and savory spice flavors on the palate keep it grounded in familiar territory, and the gin finishes clean and fresh.

The Seaside gin is the lightest and breeziest of the three, distilled with actual seaweed, and balances savory with sweet to finish dry and neat on the palate. I know Tristan Stephenson, who wrote the fantastic book Gin Palace (from which gleaned some of the details for this post), likes this one with tonic water, lemon, and pinch of sea salt. He’s also a fan of the Cannonball gin, Edinburgh’s navy strength heavy-hitter that bursts forward with huge notes of black peppercorn at 57% ABV.

If you only drank gin from the UK for the rest of your life, you’d do pretty well. Concentrate that focus purely to Scotland and you’re still pretty high on the horse. While my wife doesn’t concur, I could move to Scotland tomorrow and never look back. Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, a gin martini for lunch with tatties and neeps, a pint of Tennants after work, and a glass of Scotch whisky in the evening before bed.

That’s good living.

-David Driscoll

Non-Diffuser NOMs

Following up with more tequila information today to help answer the question I’m getting over and over again via email: How do I know which tequilas are made with diffusers?

The answer: I can only tell you which tequila producers DON’T use diffusers.

Rather than share the top brand names with you, I’m going to list the distillery NOM numbers because the best distillers often make a dozen different brands. The easiest way to identify these producers is to look for the NOM identification on the label (in the top right of the above photo you can see that Cimarron is NOM 1146), and go from there.

One little caveat, while a NOM number will tell you where a tequila is produced, it doesn’t necessarily mean all the tequila in the bottle came from that producer. I only bring this up because a number of large brands have told me certain distilleries don’t have diffusers; to which I answered: “That doesn’t mean someone isn’t buying diffuser tequila from another producer and blending it in.”

But in the case of the distilleries below, I’m pretty certain that’s not happening.

I’m going to link each NOM to its profile on the Tequila Matchmaker website as well so you can dig deeper if you feel like going down this rabbit hole. Click on the profile to see a complete list of the tequilas made at each distillery.

When I buy a bottle of tequila, 999 out of 1000 times it’s going to come from one of the following producers:

• NOM 1123 - Cascahuin

• NOM 1414 - Vivanco

• NOM 1146 - Tequileña

• NOM 1493 - Los Abuelos (Fortaleza)

• NOM 1579 - El Pandillo

• NOM 1139 - La Alteña

• NOM 1474 - Los Alambiques

Given the fact there are roughly 105 tequila distillers in the Jalisco area and I’m only listing seven distilleries, that should give you an idea of how widespread the use of diffusers is.

Are there other non-diffuser distillers I haven’t listed? Surely.

However, for the moment, the only producers I’m confident enough to put in writing are the above seven. There are also distilleries with diffusers that make a handful of non-diffuser labels, but with all the blending going on I can’t say for certain if a typically non-diffuser brand is or isn’t being cut with a bit of diffuser juice to stretch out volume.

In any case, start with these producers and go from there if you’re looking for advice.

-David Driscoll

Great Expectations

When the expectations of your customers exceed the abilities of what you’re able to provide, you’ve got a problem.

Luckily, I don’t think that’s the case for 95% of the people we serve here at Mission, but for those adventurous drinkers who are always hunting the next big thing, I have a feeling 2021 is going to be a very frustrating year.

Here’s the reality of what’s ahead of us:

• There are 25% tariffs on anything good coming out of the UK and Europe and it doesn’t appear they’re going away in the immediate future.

• Even without the tariffs, most interesting single barrel selections are completely dried up, or they’ve been priced according to demand, so there are no deals whatsoever.

• Japanese whiskies will continue to be mostly Scotch that happens to be bottled in Japan, or aged rice distillate disguised as whiskey.

• New releases on American whiskey will continue to be scarce and expensive, resulting in higher prices and increased competition.

• Great American wineries will continue to be purchased by large investment groups who plan to “refurbish” and the sell the wines for more money.

• Tequila production will continue to expand, which means more agave will be processed at a young age, furthering the expansion of diffusers and creating an even bigger shortage of mature agave.

• Mezcal will continue to boom and people will act like they care, but never actually buy anything.

But enough good news!

The real issue we’re facing is that our expectations as savvy consumers are beginning to exceed what the current market can actually offer us.

You wanna know why there’s so much division in America, and why a segment of the population is longing to return to the “good old days?” It’s related to this same problem.

There was a time when going to a good college meant you would actually get a good job, rather than a lifetime of student loan debt. Unfortunately for an entire generation, that memo didn’t get out in time.

There was also a time when buying a home was a good investment and you were almost guaranteed to build equity as the years went by. Today, I don’t think that’s the case.

When everyone has a degree and expects to make $100K right out of college, it’s easy for expectations to exceed reality. Just like all those people who show up to look at a home listed for $700K, thinking they’ve found a place they can afford, only to realize they’re about to be outbid by someone willing to pay a million. It’s depressing.

I have dozens of friends who are unsatisfied with their jobs right now, as they grip with the new realities of the COVID economy. Many of them thought the changes in their companies would be temporary, but now they’re coming to terms with the hard truth: their jobs have been permanently altered. When a company earns more in 2020 by spending less on wages, why would it ever go back to doing things the old way?

For whiskey consumers still dreaming of $30 Elmer T. Lee on the shelves, or a $50 bottle of mature, second-growth Bordeaux that’s readily available whenever you need it, I fear their frustration is only going to grow. We’re never going back to that era. It’s over.

We’re in the era of $50 California wine that should be $10, but costs $50 because the price of land in California requires it to cost that much. Then, on top of that, more and more of the best grapes are being purchased by outside entrepreneurs who want to start their own vanity label, buy expensive fruit, and then completely fuck it up. But they put it in a hip, modern-looking bottle and they spin a good tale, so it sells. Or it doesn’t.

We’re in the era of premiumization, where companies are being told they need to make their products more attractive to a higher income bracket. That’s why distilleries, wineries, and breweries are being purchased by multi-national conglomerates and turned into luxury brands on a daily basis. Moving forward, you can expect more and more of the producers you’ve been drinking for years to phase out their bargain labels and replace them with higher-priced options.

Meanwhile, all the bargain brands are quietly being bought up by gigantic companies who will switch the formula over to their own mass-produced, cheaper alternative without 90% of the population batting an eye.

You wanna know why I wrote about Glenfiddich yesterday? Because Glennfiddich is a whisky that still offers a lot fantastic bang for the buck, and I had a great time drinking it with friends. But, make no mistake, I’m painfully aware of how irrelevant that blog post is in the greater scheme of things. As we were finishing up our glasses, I said to my buddy David: “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone just wanted to drink something that tasted good for a great price? It would be so much easier.”

The truth is: our expectations exceed the simple pleasures of Glenfiddich 12 or 15 year old. Yet, ironically, this is where all the value is today; with big brand labels that are still made with integrity. It used to be in the single cask market, where we could find competitive alternatives that had more flavor and more concentration. Today, however, it’s completely flipped.

Even though we’ve been conditioned to think outside the box, today you simply get more value with a mass-produced brand than a boutique label.

Just like you can make more money with a technical degree today than with a PhD.

Just like you’re probably better off renting and putting your savings into a mutual fund to build equity for retirement, rather than spending a million on 900 square feet.

The world is changing quickly. For the sake of your happiness and your sanity, it’s important to keep your expectations in line with those changes.

-David Driscoll

Revisiting Glenfiddich's Older Malts

Given that most of us cut our teeth on Glenfiddich when we first started drinking single malts, I don’t know many drinkers who consider Glenfiddich when they want something mature or upscale. They tend to go for Macallan or Glenmorangie or a rare single cask selection when the stakes go up. I know this because I am also one of these people. When it comes to luxury, Glenfiddich never really enters my mind.

But, having tasted through the entire line this last week with my friend David Laird, I can tell you with certainty that Glenfiddich’s value for the dollar is pretty tough to beat when it comes to the higher-end of the spectrum. Across the board the whiskies are delicious, but there were three that caught my immediate attention.

Let’s start with the Glenfiddich 21 Year at $174.95.

There are a handful of less expensive 21 year old single malt whiskies out there, but not many. What makes the Glenfiddich 21 special is that fact that it’s matured in rum casks. Not only that, but the rum that goes into the casks to season the barrels is specifically-designed by Glenfiddich for that very purpose! These aren’t random rum barrels that Glenfiddich is purchasing, mind you; Glenfiddich is crafting something very specific and has a very specific rum blend made to season the oak with a tailored flavor profile. You wanna talk about lush on the palate. This baby is like liquid silk with toffee, crème brûlée, banana, and rich vanilla. 

For years I’ve been recommending the Balvenie 14 year for whisky drinkers who want something more round and tropical-tasting, but moving forward I’ll be upselling folks to this one. It’s more than worth it.

Next, let’s talk about the ultimate bargain: the 18 Year at $86.95.

I generally consider the Glenmorangie 18 year to be the great $100 bottle of booze, but I’m going to amend that opinion today having revisited the Glenfiddich 18. This is everything I love about Sherry-matured whisky in that it isn’t all that sweet. Rather, the spice of the European oak comes out and it turns more into cocoa and hazelnuts rather than rich raisins and dark fudge. David and Mattias from Glenfiddich were telling me the Glenfiddich 18 is also great for a float on top of a Glenfiddich 12 Highball cocktail.

Guess what I’ll be drinking tonight?

Finally, let’s talk about the best new (for me) whisky I’ve had in the last six months: the 26 Year for $499.99.

Wow, wow, wow, wow…..and THEY’RE DISCONTINUING THIS???!!!

Yes, they’re discontinuing this edition of the Glenfiddich 26 year old because—get this—it’s too light in color. Apparently, it doesn’t look old enough in the bottle for those consumers that use color to determine age.

For those of you who remember the 1979 Glenfarclas cask I brought in all those years ago, this is the same thing but better. It’s aged entirely in refill American oak casks and it’s as light most 12 year old whiskies in color. But having spent 26 years in those used barrels, this is just perfection defined. It is PERFECT whisky. It’s like taking a bite out of a fresh baked eclair, the buttery, biscuity, sweet fruit notes just bursting all over your tastebuds and sending you into pure ecstasy.

I went back for thirds, fourths, and fifths on this baby, and I immediately put one of these in my bunker. This is the kind of whisky you just don’t find anymore, a throwback to a golden era when everyone let their whiskies sit in refill casks for decades and we all got to revel in that splendor. 

-David Driscoll

Brunello's Time to Shine

As is the case with many things in life, beauty often goes unrecognized for years until one can both appreciate its context and better understand its utility. 

In my particular case, there’s a number of films, books, and records that I never really took an interest in until I hit forty. Yet, almost like flipping a switch, suddenly I have this newfound gratitude for certain genres that seemed rather boring or uninteresting only a few years ago. I seem to have more patience, more of a desire to think outside myself, and a better awareness of what’s out there.

The same goes for my recent experiences with alcohol.

I remember my first few years at K&L when everyone was freaking out about Brunello and I was completely in the dark. 2006 had been a solid vintage and, as the wines were starting to arrive, my co-workers were telling me to put cases away in my cellar. Years later, it was the same with the “vintage-of-a-lifetime” 2010 offerings, but I wasn’t there yet. The idea of spending hundreds of dollars on wines with which I had no real connection didn’t seem like something I wanted to do. I was always much more interested in Bordeaux anyway.

But, like with a 401K or IRA account, it’s always later in life that we wish we would have been more aggressive in our youth.

Flash forward to the beginning of 2020 when I went to work for Skurnik in New York and took over as the California Spirits Portfolio Manager. I had only been with the company for two months when COVID-19 shut everything down, which left me working from home for most of the year. It was during those initial months that I began stepping up my Italian cooking skills, mostly due to the tutelage of my good friend Marco Galatro from Tuscany. I was obsessed with Marco’s ragu sauce and, surprisingly, so was my normally meat-averse wife. 

Before I ramble on any further, the point is this: my diet began to change in 2020 as a result of my new-found passion for Italian cooking, and I began buying new wines as a result. Skurnik has one of the deepest Italian import portfolios in the country, so I started diving deep into the wines of Lisini, Ciacci, and Collosorbo. The more I drank, the more I realized I had completely missed the boat with Brunello.

Before I start to lose you, let me give you three quick reasons why I finally saw the light with Montalcino last year:

• Price: The best wines from Montalcino aren’t cheap, but they cost a fraction of what the best Burgundies and Bordeaux will run you. A top-notch Brunello is not yet out of reach in the way Bordeaux’s first and second growth labels have become, as you can still drink incredibly well for $50.

• Flavor: I still think Bordeaux is king when it comes to earth-shattering complexity, but that’s because I was raised in a Bordeaux-heavy retail environment. Lately, I have to admit, I’m turning into a serious Sangiovese fiend. Something about that soft cherry core, bolstered with that meaty, minerally note has found a home on my palate. If I’m eating pizza or pasta, I’m probably drinking Rosso di Montalcino these days. If it’s meat, I’m definitely drinking Brunello.

• Cuisine: Let’s be honest: are you drinking old world Cabernet with anything other than steak? Because I’m not. And I’m not eating enough steak to drink all the old world Cabernet in my cellar. Sangiovese pairs beautifully with many different foods and, as I expand into different Italian dishes at home, I find that the wines from Montalcino hit the spot more often than not.

So why bring up Brunello now? Because we’re in the midst of another magical moment for the region and I don’t want any of you to miss out on these wines the way that I missed out on them back in the day.

2015 was a fantastic year for a number of producers in Montalcino, and 2016 is being hailed as the next great vintage with the hype so big at this point I’m considering putting less money into my stock market account this year, and more of it into my cellar. With a number of stellar 2015 wines in stock now, and the 2016 wines coming soon, this is the perfect time to get into the category if you’ve been on the sidelines thus far.

I grabbed a number of cases for the store this week that I think are worth your time, and I’ve preordered a bunch of 2016s in the meantime. I’m going to list a few here for the moment and I’m going to use scores from the two critics I turn to the most for Italian feedback: Eric Guido from Vinous and Monica Larner from the Wine Advocate.

Here’s what Guido wrote about Montalcino recently: “I’ve never seen this region as alive as it is today, fueled by a younger generation and the open-mindedness of an older generation which is slowly turning over responsibilities to them. Dare I say, a modern-day renaissance? What’s more, there is still remarkable value to be found in Brunello; and with a vintage like 2016 in front of us, consumers are in for a real treat.”

And Larner: “2016 Brunello di Montalcino and 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, will officially hit the market in January 2021. These wines deliver a twofold win, with classy 2016s and flashy 2015s, that speak to the best of Brunello. Brunello from 2016 and Brunello Riserva from 2015 are poised for long-term success, they will undoubtedly be remembered as important highlights on a long timeline of vintages. These are career-defining wines for many estates and for the appellation as a whole.”

Here’s my advice to you: 

• Buy some 2015s to drink now. The wines are pretty and have a lot to offer immediately.

• If you like them, think about investing in some of the 2016s for your cellar. These wines are going to last a decade or more and you’ll be happy you have them down the road—trust me.

2020 was the year I finally connected with Brunello. And I think 2021 is going to be the year many, many wine drinkers around the world do the same. The wines have a charm, complexity, and an ability to age that we don’t see for $40-$60 these days. They’re not over-extracted like many California Cabernets and they’re not overpriced like much of Bordeaux.

If you’re ready for the next great wine adventure, here are a few suggestions:

2015 Lisini Brunello di Montalcino $49.95 

• 94 POINTS - VINOUS: The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino dark and rich, showing ripe black cherries and plum, with layers of haunting florals, exotic brown spice and smoky mineral tones. On the palate, a wave of polished textures wash across the senses, ushering in juicy black cherry with sweet herbal and floral undertones, with zesty spices and vibrant acidity adding a refreshing quality. The finish is long and remarkably fresh, an example of how the warmth of Sant’Angelo in Colle can be tempered by a deft hand, as fine tannins come forward, balanced by mouthwatering acidity and punctuated by residual pure red berry fruit. It’s a wine that’s very easy to love, with near term appeal and potential for the cellar. -Eric Guido

• 94 POINTS - WINE ADVOCATE: The Lisini 2015 Brunello di Montalcino shows muscle and brawn, filling out its full-bodied frame with plenty of dark fruit, spice, tar and smoke. If you like a more concentrated style of Sangiovese, this is your wine. It offers seamless harmony and sun-drenched intensity that all work very nicely in this classic and warm vintage. You can wait, or drink it in the near-term with a rack of lamb. - Monica Larner

• DAVID’S NOTES: Lisini is one of the reference points for Montalcino winemaking. If it were a Bordeaux estate, maybe it would be Lynch-Bages. Classic, no-frills winemaking with a cult following that has lasted for decades. There’s nothing new world or modern about these wines, but at the same time they’re incredibly pretty and well-balanced. I’ve had plenty of  “old school” Montalcino (and Bordeaux) that tasted like a wet barn after a cow took a shit. This isn’t that. I’m nosing the Lisini now as I type this and it’s glorious. There’s no mistaking the dark cherry note, but it’s layered with all sorts of other delicate aromas. There’s a nice tannic grip on the palate, but there’s still plenty of grace here. I love this.

2015 Podere Scopetine Brunello di Montalcino $49.95

• 93 POINTS - WINE ADVOCATE: The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino unfolds slowly, showing a quiet and tempered aromatic display. Aromas of dark fruit, plum and dried cherry build in intensity. As they come into clearer view, you also catch contours of smoke, tar and balsam herb. The wine shows a soft approach in terms of mouthfeel, but that too grows with time. The wine picks up considerably more volume and width with aeration. Serve it with some aged pecorino. Only 6,800 bottles were produced. -Monica Larner

• DAVID’S NOTES: Do you have a romantic ideal about the tiny farm in Tuscany that makes incredible wines, from a handful of hectares, in minuscule quantities, for just a handful of devoted fans? Good, so do I. That’s why I love this wine from Scopetone. Made in some of the oldest terroir in Montalcino, only 375 cases are made annually on average!! There’s almost nothing of this wine available anywhere. You wanna talk about a perfumed and savory complexity; this wine is like a trip down the terroir rabbit hole, while maintaining its soft-fruited character. 

2015 Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino $49.95

• 93 POINTS - VINOUS: Dusty black cherries, cinnamon, sage, dried florals and savory spice lift effortlessly from the glass, forming a bouquet that keeps me coming back again and again. The palate is laced with silky textures, along with pure ripe cherry and plum, mineral underpinnings and subtle spice. Brisk acids and fine tannins mingle, presenting a wonderfully balanced experience. The finish is long and savory, with dried cherries and minerals resonating over a coating of refined tannins punctuated by lingering spice. -Eric Guido

• DAVID’S NOTES: If the idea of old school Brunello still sounds a bit too rustic for you, and you’re generally more of a California Cab person, then check out this riper and rounder offering from Collosorbo. It still has all the stuffing that you want from a proper Brunello, but with softer edges and more weight. Collosorbo’s estate has some of the best soils in Montalcino and an all-south-facing slope. It’s an all-female team as well—a mother and two daughters—and all the fruit is hand-harvested. Plus, you can pop this bottle tonight and really get going with this whole Brunello thing!

-David Driscoll