Hamilton and wine: Turns out the Broadway sensation and Tony award-winning play is sparking sales of The Federalist, a wine labeled with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and, yes, Federalist Party founder and Broadway icon, Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton fronts the Visionary Zinfandel ($29) and Dueling Pistols ($40) (the winery’s Honest Red Blends are $17.76, by the way), a cabernet-syrah blend that gives a nod to the infamous duel with Aaron Burr. The wines were created to honor America’s founding fathers in 2010 — before the curtains went up on “Hamilton.”
Attending the New York production? You’ll find The Federalist wines at the bar. No word as yet on whether they’ll accompany the San Francisco production, as well.
Caught on video: Rudy Kurniawan duped wine collectors, top retailers and wine auction houses with counterfeit rare bottles of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Petrus, Latour and more. He was convicted in December 2013, and the feds destroyed the fake collection. In October, Netflix will air the documentary “Sour Grapes” about Kurniawan’s wine fraud, piecing together the events that led to his eventual downfall.
Mapping Napa Valley: Heading to wine country? Check out Antonio Galloni’s Vinous wine maps. Wine critic Galloni and his team spent six years mapping every valley vineyard in great detail, including acreage and elevation. on topographical maps. These colorful, old-school paper fold-outs also include vineyard history and geology. The maps are $25 each; available at Vinous.com.
