What’s happening in wine and whiskey this week:

News of the Week

🍷 Arizona has a wine community you might not know about.

✈️ Sonoma’s Aperture Cellars wines are now available on United flights.

🔥 Scientists may have found a way to save grapes damaged by wildfire smoke.

💪 Woodford Reserve is releasing its highest proof rye whiskey to date.

🥃 The Tennessee Whiskey Trail is launching a new Tennessee Collective whiskey.

New Bottle Releases

Widow Janes The Vaults 2025
Brooklyn distillery Widow Jane just announced the details of its latest Vaults release. This is a blend of sourced bourbon that was aged for 15 years and finished in Greek “Mythological Oak,” harvested from ancients forests growing on that island nation. The oak was air dried for one to two years, and is supposed to impart new layers of flavor into this already well-aged whiskey. 99 proof; SRP $250

Wheel Horse Baltic Porter Beer Finished Bourbon Whiskey
There have been many whiskey and beer collaborations before, but the latest comes from Wheel Horse, which put its four-year-old bourbon into barrels previously used to age Narragansett Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter (these casks were initially used to age the bourbon for a period of four to five months). This is the first beer-finished whiskey for this independent bottler and blender based in Rhode Island (the whiskey is distilled at Green River in Kentucky). 101 proof; SRP $40

Templeton 13-Year-Old Rye Whiskey

Templeton is an Iowa whiskey brand that ran into some trouble about a decade ago when it had to settle a lawsuit over its labeling, which obscured the fact that the whiskey was actually sourced from MGP in Indiana. Nowadays, Templeton still sources whiskey (and properly discloses this on the bottles), and it also has its own distillery. The whiskey in this new release, however, is still sourced—because at 13 years old, this is the oldest Templeton whiskey to date, a 13-year-old rye made from the classic MGP mashbill of 95 percent rye/5 percent malted barley. 108 proof; SRP $170

Unicorn Pick of the Week

Toki Black

For the past decade, Japanese whisky has been hard to find and expensive when you do. That has started to change for the better, but age statement expressions from distilleries like Yamazaki and Hakushu, both owned by Suntory Global Spirits, and Nikka’s Yoichi and Miyagikyo are still pretty pricy, particularly the limited-edition releases that have come out in recent years.

Suntory’s age-statement blended whiskies in its Hibiki line have suffered the same fate, leading the company to introduce a non-age statement expression called Harmony. And about a decade ago, Toki was released, another non-age statement blended whisky that was meant more for mixing into a classic highball than for straight sipping. This whisky is a blend of malt and grain whiskies distilled at Suntory’s three distilleries—Hakushu, Yamazaki, and Chita. The main malt element, which comes from Hakushu, is a peated whisky, although that doesn’t really come across on the palate. There's also a significant grain component distilled at Chita and some sherry cask-matured Yamazaki in the mix.

Toki Black is a brand-new expression, and it joins the lineup as a limited-edition, smoky version of the original. The whisky is made from the same blend as the core release (about 50-50 malt and grain), but there are some significant differences. One of those is a first for Suntory—the inclusion of a grain whisky distilled at Hakushu on a smaller Coffey still (about a third of the size of the still at Chita), as opposed to the regular pot stills used for the malt whiskies. Also, the Hakushu malt element is much more heavily peated than in the original. And for those who are interested, both Toki and Toki Black adhere to the voluntary regulations that codify Japanese whisky from the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association (JSLMA).

The result is strikingly different, and in my opinion it’s a better whisky. The additional element of smoke stands out, but it’s balanced by notes of pear, apple, citrus, vanilla, and a bit of baking spice. If you enjoy a Toki highball, you might like a Toki Black highball even better. The brand has partnered with jazz artist and producer Terrace Martin on a campaign for the release of this new whisky, and you can check out the short film he made here.