RIPON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 19, 2026--
Cooper & Thief Cellarmasters today announces a new collaboration with Kentucky-based Larceny Bourbon. The Cooper & Thief x Larceny Napa Valley Red Blend is a limited release wine finished in Larceny’s signature wheated bourbon barrels. This unique finishing process creates complex whiskey-driven aromas and imparts notes of warm caramel, butterscotch, and toasty oak. Known for doing things differently with its portfolio of spirits barrel-aged wines, Cooper & Thief is the number one luxury bourbon barrel-aged wine brand in the U.S. 1 and joining forces with Larceny Bourbon adds a deeper connection and character to this small-batch exclusive wine. Larceny Bourbon is a wheated Bourbon that goes against the grain with a mashbill that uses wheat instead of rye as the secondary grain, resulting in a softer, rounder profile.
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“Cooper & Thief believes in challenging tradition, especially in the luxury wine category that is steeped in convention. This collaboration between our cellarmasters and the Larceny Bourbon’s Master Distillers is created for the traditional bourbon drinker who loves exploring unique and thoughtful expressions. This release is special because it pairs Larceny’s excellence in Kentucky Bourbon with Cooper & Thief’s expertise in creating bold, smooth bourbon-barrel finished wines. It truly is a Wine for the Whiskey Lover,” said Michelle Diemer, Senior Director of Marketing for Cooper & Thief.
“Larceny Bourbon is crafted with a wheated mashbill that creates a softer, rounder whiskey with notes of caramel, honey, and toasted oak. When those barrels are used to finish a wine like this Napa Valley Red Blend, they bring more than just character – they layer in a rich sweetness, enhance the wine’s texture, and add depth through warm baking spice and subtle vanilla notes,” said Conor O’Driscoll, Master Distiller for Larceny Bourbon. “The interaction between the wine and our barrels creates a long, smooth finish that bridges the worlds of bourbon and wine in a compelling way. It’s a bold, flavorful expression that stays true to Larceny’s spirit of doing things a little differently.”
To further elevate this small batch release, the Cooper & Thief Cellarmasters carefully selected bold varietals from Napa Valley vineyards. Napa Valley produces riper, more concentrated fruit, yielding a rich, dark, plush wine. The cooler 2023 vintage helped balance richness with freshness, resulting in a Red Blend that feels both indulgent and refined. Primarily Malbec-led with Zinfandel and a touch of Petite Sirah, this isn’t a typical red blend. Plus, adding the Larceny award-winning Bourbon barrels for finishing brings another layer to the wine with signature bourbon aromas and flavors for a lush and powerful wine.
The Cooper & Thief x Larceny Napa Valley Red Blend is rolling out at select retailers nationwide this March with a Suggested Retail Price of $34.99. The wine has already received a 93-point score from The Tasting Panel Magazine. In addition to this exclusive launch, the Cooper & Thief portfolio of Bourbon-barrel aged wines includes a California Red Blend, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The classic Cooper & Thief Red Blend is a California blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with Malbec and Merlot, distinct from this new Napa Valley exclusive release. To learn more about Cooper & Thief and the Cooper & Thief x Larceny Bourbon Napa Valley Red Blend, please visit https://www.cooperandthief.com/.
1 IRI Total US Multi Outlet + Conv, latest 52 wks ending 4.27.25
About Cooper & Thief
Launched in 2014, Cooper & Thief is the top luxury spirits barrel-aged wine brand in the United States. While other wines do the same things for centuries, Cooper & Thief celebrates doing things differently. Their portfolio of spirits barrel-aged wines challenges tradition and infuses bold character and unexpected depth into every bottle. The Cooper & Thief cellarmaster believes that you shouldn’t have to choose between wine and spirits. With Cooper & Thief, both wine and whiskey lovers can enjoy the best of both worlds in one glass. For more information about Cooper & Thief, visit www.cooperandthief.com and follow on Instagram and Facebook @cooperandthief.
About Larceny Bourbon
The story of Larceny begins with John E. Fitzgerald, a bonded U.S. Treasury agent with a penchant for thievery of the best Bourbon. Using his keys to let himself into the rickhouses at night, the Fitzgerald barrels, as they came to be known, became one of America’s most beloved whiskeys after Prohibition with the launch of Old Fitzgerald. Today, the John E. Fitzgerald story continues through Larceny, an incredibly smooth and exceptional small batch Wheated Bourbon. First brought to market in 2012, Larceny is one of the most successful new-to-the-world Bourbons in the past decade. Produced by Heaven Hill Distillery, the brand offers Larceny Small Batch and Larceny Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Since its inception, Larceny has been an award-winning, best in class Bourbon receiving accolades such as Best Wheated Bourbon and Double Gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Whisky Advocate Whisky of the Year. For more information, please visit www.larcenybourbon.com.
Cooper & Thief Cellarmasters collaborated with Larceny Bourbon to create a Limited Release Napa Valley Red Blend.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government's top intelligence official told lawmakers Wednesday that Iran's government "appears to be intact but largely degraded” yet repeatedly dodged questions about whether President Donald Trump had been warned about the fallout from the weeks-old war, including Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, also stated in prepared remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee that U.S. attacks on Iran last year had “obliterated” Iran's nuclear program and that there had been no effort since then to rebuild that capability.
The statement was notable given Trump's repeated assertions that a war with Iran was necessary to head off what he said was an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic. Gabbard pointedly said that conclusion was the president's alone to draw as she declined to directly answer whether the intelligence community had likewise assessed that Iran's nuclear system presented an imminent risk to the United States.
“It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said at one point.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia shot back: “It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States.”
The testimony came at the first of two congressional hearings held each year to offer the public a glimpse into the largely secret operations of the government's intelligence agencies and the threats they confront.
The hearings this week take place at a time of scrutiny over the war with Iran and heightened concerns about terrorism at home after recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia university. Wednesday's hearing also came a day after the resignation of Joe Kent as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Kent said he could not “in good conscience” back the war and did not agree that Iran posed an imminent threat.
But the hours-long hearing offered few revelations from Gabbard, who repeatedly declined to discuss conversations with Trump, or other senior intelligence officials who testified.
“I am very disappointed,” said an exasperated Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It's the only one time of year the public gets to hear from you guys in this kind of setting.”
A frequent line of questioning for Democrats: What intelligence, if any, had been given to Trump about the war's potential consequences? Trump, for instance, has said he was surprised that Iran responded to strikes from the United States by attacking Arab nations and has been contending with the economic impact of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a body of water connecting the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans and a vital passageway for oil and gas.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that Trump was “fully briefed” on the possibility of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and that the Pentagon has been planning for the possibility of Iran closing it “for DECADES.”
But Trump’s plan to secure the waterway is unclear, especially after he said this week that NATO and most other allies had rejected his calls to help secure it. Iran has said the strait is open except to the U.S. and its allies.
Democrats got few direct answers when they pressed administration officials on what Trump understood about that possibility, with Gabbard saying she would not divulge her conversations with him and CIA Director John Ratcliffe observing that he had been in countless briefings with the president.
“We’re trying to figure out if the president knew what the downside was of the Strait of Hormuz being closed,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat. “Did he know this was going to happen or did he just disregard it?”
Gabbard appeared to try to thread a needle between emphasizing the intelligence community's views of Iran's risks — she said, for instance, that internal tensions would continue to increase even if the regime's leadership remained intact — and not completely echoing the president's arguments of an imminent threat.
At one point, Warner noted that Gabbard, in her prepared written statement submitted to the committee, said Iran’s nuclear enrichment program had been obliterated in strikes last year, but her opening remarks on Wednesday did not use that language.
He asked whether she had omitted that reference to conform to Trump's claims of an imminent threat. Gabbard insisted that she had skipped some of her written statement in the interest of time.
Trump has sought to distance himself from Kent. Ratcliffe tried to do the same Wednesday when he was asked whether intelligence supported Kent’s assessment that Iran was not an imminent threat. “The intelligence reflects the contrary,” Ratcliffe said.
Gabbard and Ratcliffe fielded the majority of questions, but other witnesses included the heads of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel, who was pressed about the terrorism threat amid a spate of attacks this month. Those include a man with a past terrorism conviction who opened fire inside an Old Dominion University classroom in Virginia and a Lebanese-born man in Michigan who drove his car into a synagogue.
One subject that did not receive attention: a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran, which people familiar with the matter have said the U.S. likely carried out as a result of outdated intelligence.
Apart from Iran, Gabbard was pressed on her presence at an FBI search in January of the main election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, where agents seized voter data related to the 2020 presidential election. Her appearance at a domestic law enforcement operation raised eyebrows given that Gabbard's office is meant to focus squarely on foreign threats.
Warner described her appearance there as part of an “organized effort to misuse her national security powers to interfere in domestic politics and potentially provide a pretext for the president’s unconstitutional efforts to seize control of the upcoming elections.”
Gabbard responded that she was present for the search at the request of the president but did not participate, though she later said she helped to oversee it.
The House Intelligence Committee will hold its own threats hearing on Thursday.
Associated Press writers Mike Catalini, Ben Finley and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe testifies during the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
FBI Director Kash Patel listens during the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams III, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, listen during the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are seated before the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies before the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are seated before the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe stand before the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are seated before the Senate Committee on Intelligence hearings to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
FBI Director Kash Patel takes part in a U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Flag Raising ceremony at the State Department, Monday, March 9, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
