Buy this $15 pinot noir now

Buy this $15 pinot noir now

Bourgogne wines, like all red Burgundy, are hit or miss. To navigate Burgundy, you have to have rely on good producers, good vintages and good luck. Wines labeled “Bourgogne” are ranked lower in appellation than village level, premier cru and grand cru wines. This means they come from outside of classified vineyards, and they are sometimes a blend of pinot noir from different regions. Since the appellation is so broad, the wines can vary wildly. Many times Bourgogne wines are mediocre. Many times they are decent. And every once in a while there’s one that really stands out and says, “I’m pinot noir, bitch. You best recognize.”

I am drinking just such a wine right now. It is the 2009 Joseph Faiveley Bourgogne “Paulee” and I bought it from Calvert Woodley Wines in DC for $15.

It’s a vibrant, black cherry color in the glass. It shows a lot of black cherry and ripe plum aromas, but there’s an underlying earthiness that I love. With time in the glass, it opened up aromatically to show rose petal and coffee aromas. On the palate, this wine has grainy tannins. Dark cherry flavors lead into plum and mocha. There’s some oak in this wine, but not too much. It’s fresh all the way through, with a solid dose of acid. The cranberry fruit on the finish is pure and delicious.
This really is a solid pinot noir, and an amazing value at $15. I really like the 2009 vintage in Burgundy. Joseph Faively has done a great job with this wine.

88 points

Buy this pinot noir, thank me later. Post your tasting notes!

Words I Learned from Bad Religion - #1

Southern California punk rockers Bad Religion not only changed punk music, they educated a lot of people in the process. The band's lead singer, Greg Graffin, is also an evolutionary biologist and a phenomenal writer. He's a student of the English language as well, and has amassed quite a complex and unique vocabulary.

I started listening to Bad Religion when I was thirteen. When I was fifteen I smuggled their albums into a missionary boarding school in Germany. Their guitar riffs and melodies sustained me. I continued buying every album during my teens, into my twenties, and even now. This band has always thrilled me, and I can honestly say that I’ve learned a lot from them.

Plus, they just put on great friggin’ shows.

Anyway…

Words I Learned from Bad Religion

The Word: Prescience

The Song: “Kyoto Now”

The Album: “The Process of Belief”

“It’s a matter of prescience,

no, not the science-fiction kind.

It’s all about ignorance,

and greed and miracles for the blind.

The media parading disjointed politics,

founded on petro-chemical plunder,

and we’re it’s hostages.

If you stand to reason

you’re in the game.

The rules may be elusive

but our pieces are the same.

And you know if one goes down

we all go down as well.

The balance is precarious

as anyone can tell.

This world’s going to hell.”

Prescience, derived from the Latin word praescientia, means foreknowledge.

But isn’t the word prescience just awesome? Pre-science. It practically defines itself. It’s such a great word, and I’ve used it many times over the years in my own writing.

In the Bad Religion song “Kyoto Now” the word references the coming disaster of global climate change. Their album “The Process of Belief” came out in 2002. I remember 2002. It sucked. But this song was a bold, albeit melodic, call for the United States to join the world in curbing carbon emissions that cause climate change. It was a direct call for action to implement the Kyoto Protocol.

“You might not think it matters now,

but what if you were wrong?

You might not think there’s any wisdom

in a fucked up punk rock song.”

But the way it is

cannot persist for long.

A brutal sun is rising

on a sick horizon.”

It’s somewhat depressing to listen to the song now, in 2011. It’s still unbelievably catchy and powerful, but it also reminds me of how little progress we’ve made on climate change.

“Kyoto now.

We can’t do nothing

and think someone else

will make it right.”

What a great song, and what a great message. Unfortunately, singer-songwriter Greg Graffin’s warnings have proven to be prescient.

Like David Sedaris, Only Not as Good

While I was reading Augusten Burroughs’ “Magical Thinking: True Stories,” I asked my girlfriend what she thought of the author. “He’s not as good as David Sedaris,” she said.

The comparison is telling. Both are middle-aged, gay satirists who adopted Manhattan as home. Both write similar essays, in a similar style, about similar subject manner. So when one (Burroughs) comes on the scene several years after the other (Sedaris), I can’t help but make the comparison.

Well, now that I’ve finished “Magical Thinking,” I have to admit: my girlfriend was right. (There, I said it.) Burroughs ain’t got nothin’ on David Sedaris.

Whereas David Sedaris’ writing comes off natural, witty and effortless, Burroughs writing does not. The biggest issue I have with “Magical Thinking” is that Augusten Burroughs just tries way too fucking hard. He’s a funny guy, a decent writer, but he overdoes it again and again. He tries so hard to shock his audience with his overhyped personal confessions that all else is lost.

I don’t think he’s an inherently mean guy, but he sure as hell tries to be. This book is filled with fantasies of people who irk him getting mowed down by cars, buses, trains, etc. There is literary value in writing down such deeply personal thoughts, but Burroughs seems unable to find it. He hates everything. And not in a clever, ironic kind of way. To be honest, his disdain for everything but himself gets very boring very quickly.

If Augusten Burroughs is anything, it is king of the hyperbole. In this book, finding a live rat in his bathtub is described as, “far worse than suddenly finding yourself walking through a prison cafeteria wearing Daisy Duke shorts and a Jane Fonda headband.” I understand his sentiment about rats, but the aforementioned prison scene makes any other problem seem irrelevant by comparison.

At times, the hyperbole is so extreme that the point he is trying to make becomes meaningless. When he writes about the frustrations of losing his hair in his early 20s, I can’t exactly relate, but I try to sympathize. But when he compares going bald to dying from breast cancer, I lose interest. I’m all for making extreme jokes, but Burroughs does it carelessly and repetitively. This frustrates me (but not the way cancer would).

And despite all the interesting things that have happened to this man, frankly, he isn’t all that interesting. He lives in the west 50s, hates ironing his clothes and works at an advertising firm in Manhattan. Let me just say that if there is one more story about someone who works at an advertising firm in Manhattan, I really don’t want to hear it… unless it somehow incorporates zombies, boxing or a bank heist, preferably all three.

There’s one subject, however, that Burroughs writes about with passion and realness: his partner Dennis. When Burroughs tells me that he loves this man, I believe it. His words of love are pure and beautiful, and it is clear he and Dennis have something special, something worth writing about. This relationship features more prominently in the latter pages of the book, and the final story about Dennis is by far the best. Burroughs’ love for Dennis is so rich that he comes across as disinterested and bored when dealing with other subject matter.

Burroughs’ childhood memoir “Running with Scissors” is currently collecting dust on one of my bookshelves. I haven’t read it yet, and it may take me a while to psyche myself into picking it up. I understand that “Running with Scissors” is his childhood memoir, although he does refer to his childhood in this collection of “true stories.” He’ll be talking about shopping or dating and make a flash reference to his “terrible” childhood, something about his mother being insane, his own stint in some unnamed mental institution, being sexually abused. He lobs these references out so quickly, and then moves on to some other mundane topic. For me, the effect is jarring. You don’t drop a sex abuse bomb and then continue writing about buying an iron at Kmart. Perhaps his hesitancy to discuss his childhood is because he expects that his readers have already read “Running with Scissors,” but I think this book still needs more than an occasional reference to his upbringing.

His relationship with his parents is also barely mentioned: “My parents hated each other, and I hated them. I longed for them to die in an auto accident so that I could be whisked away by uniformed social workers and sent to live in a compound near a major city.” This piques my interest, but he immediately drops the issue. Yet he will write for pages about seeing P Diddy (or Puff Daddy or whatever-the-hell he calls himself) at a race track.

Perhaps this is just his style, perhaps this book is just wildly unfocused, but I had a hard time relating to his stories. They seem removed from reality, which is very odd for a collection of “True Stories.”

I hate writing bad reviews, but this book left me feeling cheated. And, damn it, I don’t get cheated without writing about it.

Now, back to some more David Sedaris.

Friday Night Blind Tasting With Good Friends

Back in my the late 1990s, Stephen, Ian and I lived at the same dorm at a German boarding school. They were my best bros. Over the years, we've kept in touch. It had been ten years since the three of us had been together, so we were in the mood to celebrate. It just so happened that my wine tasting group was having a pre-holiday tasting.

So we wrapped all the wines in paper bags and met at good ol' Weygandt Wines in Cleveland Park. We served all wines blind and unveiled them at the end. There were very few non-stellar wines. The tasting was just phenomenal, and nearly every wine was interesting, complex and good for starting conversation. Pizza was served as well, which worked with the reds we were tasting. It was great to have Ian and Stephan stop in on such a great tasting. Tooch, you were missed.

Palate Cleanser

• 2005 Mönchhof Robert Eymael Riesling Spätlese Mosel Slate - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  This had been opened for two days before we tasted it, but it was still going strong with honey and oil, slightly oxidized. Just a starter to get the palate ready for the real stuff.

White Flight

• 2009 Eric Morgat Savennières L'Enclos - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières
  Golden color. Aromas of apple, wax and hazelnut. Pulpy pear fruit on the palate, with nuts and golden raisins. The acid is intense, which keeps it balanced. I could tell this wine had some oak, which I don't find too much in Savennieres, but I still guessed it as a Loire chenin blanc. This is my first time with Morgat, and I've never heard about this producer before. But this style of zingy acid and minerality, combined with dried fruit and some nutty oak is really working for me. Absolutely delicious, and I think this would improve with a few years in the bottle. (91 pts.)
• 2001 Zind-Humbrecht Zind - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC
  Dark golden colored. Nose shows explosive honey, pistachio nut, and lychee. The palate is fresh with plump fruit, and high acid. There's some sweetness that reminds me of riesling, but an olive oil flavor that makes me think of some sort of strange Italian white wine. After much internal debate, I guessed this as an Alsace riesling. I think this does have some riesling in it, but I was had this feeling that there was just something Alsatian about this wine. (89 pts.)
• 2005 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
  Light gold color It was love at first sniff: gala apples, popcorn, marshmallow and then a rush of lemon. The palate is rich and creamy, but the acid is right on. Big, but balanced, with lots of hazelnut on the finish, which is really long. I guessed it as a 2009 chassagne-montrachet. This was my first time with this producer, and I was very impressed. (93 pts.)
• 2009 Cameron Chardonnay Blanc Clos Electrique - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
  Medium yellow color. Aromas of flowers, lemon cleaner, tangerine rind. Very complex nose. The palate is gorgeous, and heavy on the fruit. But there's delicious high acid. It starts really plump with lots of honeycomb, then transitions to fresh, lemon and floral flavors. Incredibly long finish. It got better with air, and it was clear tasting this blind that it was too early to be drinking this. I was happy to see it was a Cameron Clos Electrique, which has become one of my favorite domestic chardonnays. The 2008 I had recently showed better, but I really think the 2009 has a long, increasingly complex life ahead of it. (93 pts.)
• 2005 Domaine Bernard Defaix Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
  Medium yellow color. The nose shows popcorn, pear and a distinct aroma of brie rind. The palate is bold and intense, and there is some butter and oak here. Tasted blind, we're clearly in chardonnay territory. What's unique about this wine is the distinct flavor of limestone and seashell that made me think Chablis. I was glad to see this was a Defaix, as I've enjoyed this producer for years. It was really delicious, and I like the combination of flavors. Thanks, Bob, for popping this. I loved it. (91 pts.)
• 2009 Crowley Chardonnay Maresh Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
  Light gold color. The nose showed lots of honeydew melon, like pure, concentrated honeydew. Absolutely intoxicating. Also aromas of apricot and rich apple. It almost reminded me of a white rhone blend on the nose. The palate is a confluence of intensity and freshness that is just delicious. Coconut, cream, marshmallow, lemon, yellow apple. It's absolutely delicious, and I guessed it as a Sonoma chardonnay. Go Willamette Valley! This is an excellent chardonnay that really impressed me. It got more expressive with air, and it has years ahead of it. Thanks, Brett, for again reminding me that Oregon produces some blissful chardonnays. (94 pts.)

Reds

• 2001 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru
  I'm not going to score this wine, because once it was unveiled I, and the other tasters, thought this was not a full-quality bottle. Maybe it was stored badly or just an off bottle. It was drinkable, just not at all as good as I know this wine is. Bright red color with a hint of amber. It smells like meat and red cherries. The palate shows dense tannic grip. Something tastes burned in this wine, like someone threw a bunch of cherries onto a grill. It doesn't taste of oak, just ash. Short finish. I thought it was a messed-up syrah. I scored it 82 blind.
• 2008 Uwe Schiefer Blaufränkisch Szapary - Austria, Burgenland, Südburgenland
  Bright red color in the glass, just vibrant and clear. Aromas of sour cherry and hemp. It seriously smells like cranberries wrapped in dried seaweed. The aromas on this wine are nothing short of ecstatic. The palate is really silky and juicy, with ripe brambly fruit, solid acid, and a kick of tannins. Tasted blind, I was guessing all over the map. It wasn't dark and dense enough to be new world, but I couldn't place it in the old world. I was thrilled to see it was an Uew Schiefer. I've loved his blaufrankisch before, and this one was just exceptional. (91 pts.)
• 2010 Daniel Bouland Morgon Vieilles Vignes Corcelette - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon
  The color and nose on this wine are classic cru Beaujolais. Vibrant red color, and you can see your fingers through the glass. The aromas are bright and lively, cherry, some vanilla. The palate has surprisingly grippy tannins. Lots of plush currant fruit, but it maintains a lightness and sexiness. Tasted blind, I guessed this as a 2009 cru Beaujolais. I'm excited about the 2010s, and this was a solid example. Thanks to Stephen for this contribution to the tasting. (89 pts.)
• 2003 Louis Jadot Nuits St. Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges
  I tasted this wine blind and loved it. I was really surprised to see it was a basic, village-level Burgundy. This wine outperforms its appellation. The color is ruby, with just a hint of brown. The nose is very focused on earth, mushroom, bacon and loam. I absolutely love the nose. The palate is full, with lots of tannins. Flavors of olive tapenade are mixed it with sour cherry. It's a big wine, expressing the heft of the 2003 vintage, but it maintains a feminine mystique. Absolutely delicious. (93 pts.)
• 2004 Domaine de Baron'Arques Limoux - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Limoux
  The nose smelled very unique on this wine. It was off-putting for some at the tasting, but I enjoyed it. I got a distinct note of sardine, also white pepper and some cherry and rhubarb. Really strange nose, but I like strange. The palate has gritty tannins, dense black and red fruit. There's a flavor on the finish that reminds me of curry, maybe a little bit of allspice? I guessed mourvedre, just because I knew it was going to be something a little bit out of the ordinary. Turns out it's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Grenache, Syrah and Malbec. It's a kitchen sink of grapes, but it's a solid wine that will surely start up some academic discussion. (89 pts.)
• 2009 Domaine Monpertuis (Paul Jeune) Vin de Pays du Gard Cuvée Counoise - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays du Gard
  I tasted this blind and was excited to find out it was only twelve dollars! It really overdelivers for the price. The nose shows fresh cherries and some earthy aromas. The palate is really lush and delicious, with a soft and round feel to the wine from beginning to end. I wondered if it was pinot noir, but there was something in this wine I couldn't recognize. For the price, this is a really solid wine that has some complexity. (88 pts.)
• 2009 Reynvaan Family Vineyards Syrah Stonessence - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Wow. This is a really unique wine. The aromas are amazing: sour cherry, rare steak, plum skins and a distinct note of green pepper. Smelling this blind, I was wondering if this was some sort of crazy cabernet franc. But the palate is something else entirely. It's big, bold and rich, but maintains a beautiful freshness. The plum fruit and meat flavors glide over the palate. I love this producer, and even when tasted blind these wines wow me. Apparently this 100% syrah is only made in certain years. It's a beautiful interpretation of syrah. (94 pts.)
• 2009 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
  The nose on this wine is heavenly: strawberry rhubarb, licorice, rose petal and orange rind. On the palate, this wine is fresh and fruity, but balanced with delicious cranberry fruit. There's a distinct orange rind flavor that I absolutely love. It tastes so fresh and pure. This is an absolutely gorgeous wine. Tasted blind: 94 points. I was a bit tipsy at this point of the night, but it wasn't just that. Everyone loved this wine and it was several people's wine of the night. (94 pts.)

Dessert

• 2001 Château Lamothe Guignard - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  This was my contribution to the tasting. It's golden honey colored in the glass with lots of viscosity. The nose is textbook Sauternes: apricot, botrytis, a bit of nail polish. The palate is full of honey, apricot, candied peach, but there's also some chalk and minerals on the finish. The acid isn't very high, but I found it delicious. It's a solid, classic Sauternes. (90 pts.)
• N.V. Broadbent Madeira Five Year Reserve - Portugal, Madeira
  Beautiful caramel color. The nose shows almond shell, caramel, and a bit of red apple. Very gushy on the palate. Thick, but not too much. Lovely nutty, honey finish, which is long. (88 pts.)

Jennifer Egan's Genre-Bending Novel, "The Keep"

I’m an obsessive writer and an avid reader. And sometimes I come across a book that makes me think, “Damn, I wish I would have written that.” Jennifer Egan’s novel “The Keep” is one such book.

In an era when genre-bending has become a genre itself, Jennifer Egan does something truly new with this novel. Published in 2007, it’s unlike anything I've ever read, but at the same time it incorporates elements from a dozen different literary works.  

It starts off as a story about Danny and Howie, two young cousins. Howie is the messed-up adopted one and Danny is the good kid. At the outset, it seemed we were destined for a story of two teenagers. And, in a sense, that's what this novel is. But it's also many other things

When they're teenagers, Danny leaves Howie in a cave and Howie almost dies. It's so traumatic, it's referred to as “the incident.” From then on, Danny has serious guilt and Howie has serious anger.

But, hold on a second. Now we're twenty years in the future and we're somewhere in Eastern Europe. There's a castle with a mysterious “keep” and people with secrets. We're with Danny and Howie again, but we're in Kafka's territory now.

Wait a sec. All of the sudden, the narrator jumps out of the story and addresses the reader directly. He's in prison, and we're not sure why. He admits that “this is all some story some guy told me.” But is it? Of course not. Nothing is as it seems in “The Keep.”

This all happens before page 35. If you're not tripping by this point, you will be soon enough.

There’s a baroness of the castle who lives in the keep and says she’s descended from the people who built the castle 900 years ago. She looks young and beautiful from afar, but the closer Danny gets to her the uglier and older she gets. It's strange, but by no means the strangest thing in the novel. What exactly lies in this “keep” and why is this shape-shifting baroness guarding it?

As the castle story builds toward a powerful and unexpected climax, we learn more and more about this jailed narrator. These two elements compete with each other for the reader’s attention, but as the book moves forward, the two storylines run together in an ingenious fashion.

There’s an inherent risk in narrating from the perspective of someone with chaotic life circumstances, such as a convicted criminal. You’ve got to get the reader to believe the person who is narrating. In this case, our narrator is a man in prison for a terrible crime. His life is one of boredom, fights and more boredom. There are some times when Egan slips out of her prisoner narrator and throws in a phrase that sounds forced and fake, like: “his voice was butter melting in a pan,” and, one page later, “his voice is like a butterfly wing moving.” Still, these are few, and for the most part Egan’s prisoner narrator is believable. Egan is at her best when describing this prisoner’s attraction to a woman who comes into the prison to teach a writing class. Yes, there’s a love story element to this tale as well.

Description is lacking in some places. Egan has a great skill of describing people and places, but she doesn't use it much here. A lot of the scenes read like a screenplay. (And I'll admit it: I wondered for most of the book if she wrote this with a movie option in mind. Until the last fifty pages, when a plot turn makes me think this would be nearly impossible to film.) Egan's language is fast-paced, close-up and quick, creating an experience similar to the one I got while watching films like “Memento” and “Pulp Fiction.” This is not a book to read slowly. It almost needs to be read fast, because so much is going on, and the pace is so important, that to read it over the course of weeks would take away from that.

With whatever minor criticism I have for this book, I can not deny the reality that Egan is one of America's greatest living novelists. This is only the second novel by Egan I’ve read, the other being “Look at Me,” which was one of the best books I read in 2010. This is up there with the best of 2011. Next, I’ll move onto “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” a novel that earned Egan the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. If it’s anything like her previous two novels, I’m sure the award is deserved.

George Pelecanos: DC's Crime Aficionado

“Three teenage boys cruised the streets in a Gran Torino drinking beer, smoking weed, and listening to the radio.” It doesn’t take much to imagine how this scene could go wrong.

And it goes very wrong.

Although it takes place over the course of thirty years, George Pelecanos’ novel “The Turnaround” is really about that one night in the 1970s, when three white kids the Maryland suburbs get into a car and drive south into The District, looking to taunt some black kids. The worlds of three white kids and three black kids collide, and like atoms the collision creates a massive explosion. One dies, one goes to prison, one is permanently injured, but all are scarred for life.

Thirty years later, the events of that night still haunt everyone involved.

Best known for his screenwriting works like HBO’s “The Wire” and “Treme,” Pelecanos wields words like they’re weapons. This isn’t crime genre fiction (although there’s a lot of crime involved). It’s literature, and the best works of literature always involve crime. Pelecanos knows crime, and it shows in his writing. In addition the twists of plot, the depth of characters and the breadth of socio-political issues addressed in this novel, it’s simply damn well written.  

While horrifying and startling, this novel is also filled with hilarious ruminations on life in DC. Puffed-up lawyers speak condescendingly to food service staff. People shop for groceries at run-down Safeway stores. There’s an incredible dissection of the history and cultural intricacies of DC’s neighborhoods.

While it feels so much like DC, there are some great references in this novel that show how much the area has changed since the 1970s. For example, Shady Grove, now a sprawling suburban hell at the west end of Metro’s red line, is referred to as farmland.

One character in the book expresses what I assume is the author’s views on most crime genre fiction. It was “a fascistic genre because in these shows the criminals were always apprehended, and the police and prosecutors always won. The shows were warning the citizens, in effect, to stay in line. That if they dared to break the law, they would be caught and put in jail.”

While it’s true that some crime doesn’t pay, other crime does. And Pelecanos’ book is anything but fascistic. It tells the truth about violence, crime and resentment, which is something you don’t find in the Washington Post very often. Put down the newspaper, stop watching violence on the 11:00 news, and pick up this book. This portrayal of DC crime is much more realistic.

Adieu to a Wine Buddy

My friend Matt (aka Tooch) and I have been tasting wine together since 2008. We've thrown dozens of tastings and shared hundreds of bottles. It's fair to say that most of the best wines I've had over the past three years have been tasted with Matt. Along with several others, he's been at the core of an unofficial wine tasting gang. (Hazing consists of tasting through 10 fruit bomb syrahs in half an hour.)

Since he's leaving DC and moving across the country, a small group of friends got together for one last wine hoorah. We started off at our adopted home of Weygandt Wines and moved to Ripple, a relatively new restaurant in DC's Cleveland Park neighborhood. The food was unique, tasty and masterfully prepared, as usual. However, it was the wines that stood out.

It's been interesting to see how our palates have changed over time, and how they've stayed the same. I have always loved syrahs from the Northern Rhone, and we tasted two spectacular ones at Matt's goodbye tasting. Over the past year, I've gone from a lover of German riesling to an addict. I tend toward rieslings from the Mosel Valley, while I think it's fair to say that Matt enjoys wines from the nearby Nahe region more, or at least more frequently. This tasting included a great riesling from quintessential Nahe producer Dönnhoff as well.

Well, enough of an intro. Let's get down to the wines.

Cheers, Matt, and I hope to see you back in DC soon for even more great wine.

Pre-Game Wines

We started off the evening at Weygandt Wines with two whites and a red.

• 2006 Recaredo Cava Gran Reserva Brut Nature - Spain, Cava
  This was the first vintage-dated Cava I've ever had. In fact, I had never seen one before. It showed a lot of biscuity aromas, along with lemons, pistachios and a hint of balsamic as well. It has a tangy palate with razor-like acid, but it's still quite full. Lots of lime, chalk and a flavor that reminds me of a green olive. Long finish. The bubbles dissipated quite quickly, but it was still a solid Cava. (88 pts.)
• 2006 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon No. 2 - France, Loire Valley, Touraine
  This is one of the most unique sauvignon blancs I've had in a very long time. The aromas are really fantastic. It started off with floral and honeysuckle aromas, and opened up to show banana peel, lamp oil and an aroma that reminded me of soil with lots of rocks. The palate has some weight to it, with pulpy white peach fruit, and medium+ acid. I really enjoyed the complexity and balance of this wine. It has a synthetic cork, which is a shame because I'm curious what this would taste like if it had a few more years on it. (89 pts.)
• 2009 Domaine Guion Bourgueil Cuvée Prestige - France, Loire Valley, Bourgueil
  I didn't know the price point when I tasted this wine, but I would've guessed about $40. I was amazed to hear it was less than $15 a bottle. This is a very serious cabernet franc that offers the depth and complexity of a wine three times the price. Wonderful aromas of sweet blackberries, tobacco, leaves and dense loam. The tannins are fine and almost feel leathery on the palate. The red plum fruit, smoke, beef brisket and green olive flavors glide over the palate. This wine is big, and could improve for years. This wine is a candidate for 2011 Value of the Year. (90 pts.)

Whites with Dinner

What an interesting bunch of chardonnays. This was my first time tasting a Marcassin chardonnay, and it was quite an experience. This being a tasting in Tooch's honor, we had to have a Dönnhoff Riesling Großes Gewächs thrown in, of course.

• 2008 Jean Collet Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre - France, Burgundy, Chablis 1er Cru
  I liked this wine a lot, even though it is somewhat of an anomoly as a 2008 Chablis. The aromas are really explosive, with white peach, mixed nuts and circus peanut candy. The palate is plump and bold. The main flavor reminds me of bruised yellow apples, although chalk and honeysuckle are there throughout. Acid lingers on the finish. I never would've guessed this as a 2008 Chablis, but it was very nice. (89 pts.)

• 2004 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard - California, Sonoma Coast
  This wine was met with mixed enthusiasm by the tasting team. Thoughts about this wine are usually prefaced with: "This isn't really my style of chardonnay, but..." Yes, this chardonnay demands attention. It stands up and grabs your palate and takes it for a crazy ride. The wine is very cloudy in the glass. The aromas changed with air, and each time I smelled this wine I detected another aroma. All sorts of aromas: lemon custard, roasted peanuts, smoke, almond biscotti. Big and bold are words too weak for this wine. Flavors of pineapple upside-down cake, apricot, lemons, buttercups, etc., etc. It's extreme on the palate, but by no means overoaked. A sweet vanilla flavor lingers underneath, but it's equally matched by a dose of chalky minerals. The oily, buttery mouthfeel, combined with the acid, makes this a really intense experience. It's not white Burgundy, but it's a treat. (94 pts.)
• 2009 Crowley Chardonnay - Oregon, Willamette Valley
  I found this wine to be very balanced. Aromas of banana peel, pear butter and honey. The palate shows creamy fruit, highlighted by just a bit of oak. The green apple flavors and the acid keep it in line. This is a very drinkable chardonnay with all the elements in the right place. (90 pts.)
• 2009 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
  I tasted this wine earlier in 2011 and loved it, and it showed even better at this tasting. The aromas are intoxicating: white peaches, whipped honey, lemon-lime and slate. The palate is absolutely delicious, showing plump orchard fruit, apricot and pineapple. The acid and minerals are really high, but the wine maintains a beautiful sense of balance. It's intense, yet so easy to sip. I know Dönnhoff GGs can age, and this surely has a lot of flavors to unravel over time, but it's incredible right now. (93 pts.)

Pierre Gonon St. Joseph

It was a treat to taste two Gonon syrahs with twenty years of age difference between them. Both were fantastic, but I gave the edge to the 1989. While the 2009 was great, it seems time does wonderful things to Gonon's wine.

• 1989 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Les Oliviers - France, Rhône, St. Joseph
  With twenty years of age, this wine showed very strongly. Mature, sexy aromas of red plums, violets, beef bouillon and charcoal. With air, the wine opened up to show herbal (thyme) and bacon notes. The wine glides over the palate with soft tannins. It's meaty, with cranberry, charcoal and thyme flavors. The acid and rhubarb flavor combine to give this wine a sappy mouthfeel. A distinct note of mint leaf on the finish. What a complex wine, and a great way to bid adieu to an old wine tasting buddy. (93 pts.)

• 2009 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
  It was fun to taste this wine after tasting a 1989 from the same producer. This baby is packed tight, but it's showing serious promise. The aromas are powerful and bold: beef jerky, charcoal and an aroma that reminds me of cow hide. The palate is dense with gritty tannins and plump black fruit. Secondary flavors of pepper, coffee and beef are already present, but will surely unwind with some age. Lovely coffee note on the finish. I love what Pierre Gonon does with syrah, and tasting both of these wines made me realize I need to keep some Gonons in the cellar. (92 pts.)

Three Big Reds

These wines were very impressive, and went very well with my steak dinner.

• 2005 Celler Vall Llach Priorat IDUS - Spain, Priorat
  This is a big, boastful blend of carignan, merlot, grenache, cabernet sauvignon and syrah. The nose is a burst of liquer, black licorice and chocolate-covered berries. The palate is full of ripe fruit, but the tannins and acid come in to save it from being flabby or offensive. Nice black cherry and mocha on the finish. (90 pts.)
• 2004 Copain Syrah Broken Leg Vineyard - California, Anderson Valley
  I've been drinking a lot of older Copain, with much success, and this was no exception. That said, I do think it's in a bit of a strange stage right now, and could probably benefit from another few years in the bottle. Aromas of plum, charcoal and hints of black olive. The palate has gritty tannins, fresh acid, ripe purple fruit, charcoal notes and a long finish. It's good, but I feel like it's still wound up and needs some more time to show its full potential. (91 pts.)
• 2008 Cayuse Grenache God Only Knows - Washington, Walla Walla Valley
  Aromas of wild strawberries, red plums and hint of bacon. It's big and juicy on the palate with fresh plums and blackberry extract. This is just plain delicious. It doens't have much in the way of complexity (maybe it needs time?), but it is way up there on the yummy scale. (90 pts.)

Wine for Nerds

Some fellow oenophile and wine bloggers got together at my favorite wine shop, Weygandt Wines, for an impromptu tasting. There was no theme, we all just brought a bottle we thought the others would find interesting. There were a surprising amount of unique, rare and nerdy wines. Some stood out from the pack, but I can honestly say I enjoyed every wine. It was great night of wine and conversation. I can't wait for the next one.

Whites and Nouveau

The whites were all unique and wonderful, while the Nouveau won over some haters.

• 2002 Philippe Prié Champagne Brut Tradition - France, Champagne
  This Champagne was a great way to start off the evening. The lemon and wheat bread aromas were just explosive. The palate has a ton of acid and intense yeast. It's a powerful wine, with laser-like lime, pear and biscuit flavors. A long finish. (91 pts.)
• 2006 Domaine Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet Hermitage Blanc - France, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
  I brought this wine hoping to win over some people who are hesitant with rhone whites. This one had more than a few fans. Hazelnut, lanolin, smoke and lemon oil aromas. The lemon oil aroma is dead on, and reminds me of growing up when my mother would clean all her antiques with a lemon-based dusting oil. The palate is full of nutty, pear and yellow apple fruit, backed up with medium acid and a mineral streak that reminds me of oyster shells. The palate has a long finish of honeycomb and hazelnut, but the acid maintains throughout. (91 pts.)
• 2008 Domaine Ganevat Chardonnay Grusse en Billat - France, Côtes du Jura
  I've had this wine before, but liked it even more this time, maybe because I spent a lot of time with it. Aromas of yellow apple, marshmallows, smoke and honeycomb. The palate is plump and smoky, but the acid and mineral edge are so intense that the wine feels perfectly balanced. Gorgeous hazelnut and peanut shell flavors, with a hint of seaweed and minerals. While I love chardonnay in all its interpretations, this one has a little bit of everything in it. It's a very approachable Jura wine. Fantastic stuff. (92 pts.)
• 2010 Pascal Janvier Jasnières - France, Loire Valley, Jasnières
  I was really wowed by this wine, and impressed by how much it offered. The nose is just gorgeous, with slate, salt, pear and minerals. The palate is richer than I was expecting, based on the aromas. The pear, chammomile and honeycomb mix with sea salt and stones to make for a balanced and lively wine. There's a hint of ginger on the finish that I love. (90 pts.)
• 2011 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais Nouveau Primeur - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais Nouveau
  This is a Beaujolais Nouveau for all the haters out there. For that wine snob who refuses to touch the stuff, this is a wine to pour for them. It's the best Nouveau I've ever had. The nose is rich and explosive with sweet cherries, but I'm impressed by the amount of dark fruit aromas as well. The palate is like a burst of plum, black cherry and there's even some earthy-spicy flavors as well. Great acid makes it fresh and, frankly, delicious. (87 pts.)

A Plethora of Reds

We had some Jura, Loire, Sicily and California reds all thrown together for a fascinating flight.

• 2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Ferrington Vineyard - USA, California, Anderson Valley
  This pinot was just lovely, with a gorgeous bright purple color. The nose showed rose petals, smoke, red cherries. Over time, the wine opened up to show a bit of rhubarb, which was great. The palate was full of boisterous cherries, tangy acid and smooth tannins. The palate showed lots of finesse and restraint, while maintaining a lush and rich mouthfeel. Long, lingering finish with a touch of acid. (93 pts.)
• 2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Chinon
  This is an incredibly young wine that has a long life ahead of it. Even now, though, it's delivering. The aromas are dark, with black cherry and currants, along with a hint of pepperoni. With time and air, the aromas opened up, and I think the long-term aromatic potential of this wine is very high. The palate has gritty tannins, tangy acid and rich dark fruit. The mouthfeel is huge, but it somehow maintains balance. I enjoyed the plum, loam and green pepper flavors. Long, tannin-filled finish. This could use a decant, or ten years in the cellar. (92 pts.)
• 2008 Jacques Puffeney Poulsard Arbois "M" - France, Jura, Arbois
  It's not every day a wine made from poulsard is thrown into a tasting, but this wine had some fans, and I was one of them. The color of this wine in this glass is a mix of auburn and bright cherry red. Aromas of sour cherry, red apple, flowers and an aroma that reminds me of spaghetti and meatballs, or meat stewed with tomatoes. I was surprised by the tannic structure of this wine. It has real grip to it. The flavors of meat, dark cherries, olive and earth are compact, but delicious. This could develop a lot of complexity with age. It was fun to drink now, but I'd love to try this again in five or ten years. (89 pts.)
• 2010 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine L'Arpent Rouge - France, Loire Valley, Touraine
  This tasting turned out to have wines made from all sorts of grapes, including this pineau d'aunis. This wine is really unique, but not for everyone. In the glass, it looks like fruit compote, with a lot of cloudiness. It needed a decant to blow off some of the very funky aromas. Initially, it smelled a bit like carrion, but that blew off. After about a half-hour, it started smelling like hippies. Seriously, it smelled like dark incense, hemp and dirty ponchos. It's one of the most interesting aromatic profiles I've come across in a while. The palate shows dense tannins and tangy acid. Rhubarb, wild strawberry and onion grass flavors, with some smoke as well. There's a taste of rotting leaves on the finish, which I really enjoyed. This is a very interesting wine that could probably use a bit of time in the bottle, although this one came with a faux cork, so I'm not sure about the aging potential. (89 pts.)
• 2008 Arianna Occhipinti Nero d'Avola Siccagno Sicilia IGT - Italy, Sicilia IGT
  It's been a few months since I've had a nero d'avola, and this wine makes me think I should drink them more often. It's a smoky, cloudy red color in the glass. The nose shows explosive black cherries and smoke. The palate is bold, but also very bright and easy to drink. The tannic grip is matched with zippy acid, all backed up by blackberry, lamb and olive tapenade flavors. A very unique wine that's clearly doing it's own thing. (88 pts.)
• 2007 Volker Eisele Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
  I have a feeling I would've enjoyed this more alone, rather than tasted with so many wines. It was strange to have a Napa cab thrown into the tasting at this point. The nose was closed at first, but ipened to show smoke, currants and blackberries. The palate is rich and creamy and the cassis and pipe tobacco flavors mingle with the oak on the finish. (87 pts.)

Palate Cleanser

It's always good to split up a bunch of reds with a nice sherry.

• N.V. Emilio Lustau Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Lustau Solera Reserva Light Manzanilla Papirusa - Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry
  I needed a break after the first bunch of reds, and this manzanilla sherry did a great job of cleansing the palate. The nose showed almonds, lemon rind and a bit of vermouth. The palate was briny with sea salt and peanut flavors. Very briny, in fact, like green olive brine and some sea shells. I enjoy these flavors, so I had a good time with this wine. (86 pts.)

More Reds

To finish off, we threw some random reds together. The Bandol stole the flight, and was a great way to end the tasting.

• 2005 Domaine du Bois de Saint-Jean Côtes du Rhône Cuvée de Voulongue - France, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône
  When I turned 21, the 2003 Rhones were just hitting the market. I was just getting into wine and focused heavily on this area. I remember buying many wines from this producer and really enjoying them. I haven't had one in years, so it was fun to try this 2005. The nose really stunk upon opening. It wasn't faulty, just stinky: seaweed, olive paste and lamb wool. The palate had good acid and tannins, with some dark plum and earth flavors. A savory meat flavor lingers on the finish. Good, but just couldn't compete with some of the other wines being poured. (87 pts.)
• 2010 Domaine du Vissoux / Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie Les Garants - France, Beaujolais, Fleurie
  One of only a few 2010 beaujolais wines that I've had, and I really enjoy this vintage. Cherries, plum cake and loam on the nose. Gorgeous on the palate, with dense plums, silky tannins and fresh acid. This wine has it all, compacted into a tight ball, and could use some time to open up. (88 pts.)
• 2010 Domaine de L'Octavin Arbois Commendatore Les Corvées - France, Jura, Arbois
  I really enjoyed this trousseau. Very light red color in the glass, almost like cherry juice. The nose smells like Fruity Pebbles mixed with sour cherries. The palate is light and fresh with cherry candy, rose petals and hints of earth. If a Jura wine can ever be called a quaffer, this is it. Thanks again to Tom for representing the Jura. They should hire him as a wine ambassador. (88 pts.)
• 1997 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Cuvée Estagnol - France, Provence, Bandol
  This Bandol has years ahead of it, but it's lovely right now. Very cloudy and gritty in the glass. Rich aromas of black plums, olives and meat. The palate shows sour cherries, olives, meat and leaves. A taste of mushrooms lingers on the finish. I really enjoyed this, and think it will continue to develop complexity for a few more years. The tannins and fruit are still big and bold. (90 pts.)

Thanksgiving Wine? Drink Whatever the Hell You Want

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and every year around this time there’s a plethora of media attention focused on what wines to drink around Thanksgiving. Wine shops all over the country are proudly displaying their wine picks for Thanksgiving dinner, offering Thanksgiving mixed cases of wine, etc.

 

Truth is, there’s not much involved in pairing wine with Thanksgiving dishes. My advice is pretty simple: Drink whatever the hell you want.

 

Food and wine pairing is by no means rocket science. There are some general guidelines that will help make the food and wine pairing experience more enjoyable, but there are no real laws. I don’t know about your Thanksgiving plans, but mine always involve tons of people and tons of food. I come from a huge extended family, and when we get together there’s always stuffing done five different ways, at least two turkeys, and enough mashed potatoes to fill  a ditch. There’s Amish cranberry sauce with spices, venison cutlets, bacon-wrapped (insert other delicious food item), yams, jams and hams. If you put all these items on one plate — which you do, because it’s Thanksgiving — your dinner plate becomes the food equivalent of a soda fountain “suicide.” The food is delicious, but it’s not exactly easy to pair with wine.

 

Look, there’s enough to worry about around the holidays. Wine pairing shouldn’t be one of them. Whatever wine you bring, there’s bound to be a food it pairs well with. There’s also bound to be a food that contrasts with the wine.  

 

My only suggestion is that the wine be good, or even very good. What better time to drink great wine than around the holidays? That awkward political conversation with Uncle Joe is easier when you’re sipping an glass of good wine. There’s an argument to be made that most people won’t pay much attention to the wine, so why serve good stuff? Well, because life is short, goddamnit, and holidays should be something special. Around the holidays, many wine shops will host tastings, so try to get your palate around some wine before you buy it.

At the end of the day, drink whatever the hell you want. And when all the family members are gone, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

 

Drink and be merry. Cheers!

A Stellar California Pinot

2004 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard
(USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley)

I drink a lot of California pinot noir. I know it's trendy and frequently overpriced, but I can't help myself. Especially when it's a pinot noir from Anderson Valley. And especially when it's from a great producer like Radio-Coteau. I drank this wine with my girlfriend over the course of an evening while we were just hanging around the house. It was not tasted with food, and I think that's what I like about this wine: it was just so wonderful to sip alone.

This wine is a beautiful dark ruby color in the glass. It smells wonderful, with lots of black cherry fruit to start. There's a real sense of earthiness on the nose, with loam and rich soil. I seriously smell some venison in this wine as well, and I love it. (Initially, the aromas were closed down but with some time in the glass, the wine really opened up beautifully.)

On the palate: The first thing that hits me about this wine is its mouthfeel. The fruit is pure and bold, but the wine is full of tannins. It's really like biting into a fresh black cherry, with that dense, pulpy fruit along with a shot of acid. The acid keeps it all balanced and fresh while the waves of fruit roll in. The fruit almost tastes cool, like it's been chilled, it's just that fresh. There's some currants, plum, and a slice of minerality. The tannins and fruit in this wine stand up and demand attention. The finish is long, with slightly toasted oak.

It's showing very well now, but this wine could sleep in the cellar for a few more years and open up a bit more. I'd love to revisit this wine in three years or so.

My totally subjective and meaningless score would be 93. Not bad for a bottle I picked up for $30.

It's wines like this that keep me coming back to Anderson Valley pinot noir, year after year.

Islam, Immigration and Bruce Springsteen

A review of the memoir "Greetings from Bury Park" by Sarfraz Manzoor

He’s an unlikely Bruce Springsteen fan, a Pakistani kid living in the blue-collar English town of Luton. But he’s quite possibly the most avid Boss nut I’ve ever heard of, surpassing even my mother and my aunt who both went to the same high school as Bruce, and my friend from the Jersey Shore who has “Born to Run” tattooed on his chest.

Sarfraz Manzoor’s love of Bruce is the one thing that gets him through his chaotic circumstances. He’s a strange kid in a strange place. Manzoor was born in Pakistan to a Muslim family, but his father was living in England to support the family. It wasn’t until years later that the rest of the family moved to England to join Manzoor’s father. Times were not easy for Pakistanis in 1980s England. Margaret Thatcher, economic stagnation, racist hatred, terrific working conditions, etc. Manzoor’s father works all the time in factories to save money for the family and relatives back in Pakistan., and his mother and sisters work for hours on end making dresses by hand for upscale London shops.

Manzoor wants to be close with his father, but it does not seem destined to happen. (To say Manzoor’s father is strict is a gross understatement, tantamount to saying that “Thunder Road” is a decent song.) The connection he seeks with his father is unattainable, so Manzoor turns to music. And music changes him. It opens his eyes to the beauty of romantic love (as opposed to arranged marriages), free expression (as opposed to religious structure). And Manzoor is at his best when describing his adolescent connection with music in general and with Springsteen in particular. After seeing The Boss for the first time in London, Manzoor tells his friend: “I had started getting sad before the end of the concert, the knowledge that it would soon be over almost ruining my enjoyment. We had spent so long dreaming of this one evening that now [that] it was over there seemed nothing left to look forward to…” Maybe this is why the next time Bruce comes to England, Manzoor goes out and buys front-row seats for six concerts in a row.

Being a music nut myself, one who has chased Social Distortion across the country, I completely understand Manzoor’s drive. There is a unique sense of belonging that comes from understanding a musician’s lyrics, feeling the beat and the guitars, and experiencing it all live among crowds of other people. The differences among the fans fade away, and all that’s left is a shared enjoyment. Manzoor, perhaps because he was fiercely sober his entire life, does a great job describing these moments of musical bliss.

"We" Are in Trouble

A review of the novel "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The future is looking bleak. Powerful institutions are gaining an even stronger hold on society. People are retreating further into apathy, accepting whatever they are told. Free thinkers are being marginalized. Automatons are gaining strength. No, this isn’t a cynical diatribe about life in 21^st Century America, although it very well could be. Rather, it’s the overarching theme of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1921 novel, “We.”

I’ve put off reading this classic science fiction novel for some time, and on a recent trip to Europe, I finally dug into it. I cannot recall the last time I read a historical work of literature that spoke so clearly and prophetically about the future. Zamyatin’s dystopian view of society is so real, so vivid and so complex that it’s uncanny to think it was written in Russia 90 years ago.

In the world of “We,” society is dominated by the great “Benefactor,” a mysterious, elusive source of repressive dictates. The citizens have ceded their power to this “Benefactor” and his benevolent OneState, which controls the minutiae of everyday life. Society is structured according to the theory of “mathematically infallible happiness,” that monopolistic power can and must determine the life it decides is best for its people.

No one has a name, only a number. Imagination has been all but destroyed through propaganda, violence and, eventually, forced lobotomies. Sex is regulated according to a system of hormone tests that determine how much sex people need. “Pink tickets” are handed out to each person based on their hormone levels, and these tickets are then exchanged with their sexual partners. (There are no booty calls in OneState. Talk about a depressing future.)

The narrator has some number that I don’t remember and didn’t write down. He’s so loyal to OneState that he is the chief engineer behind a technological project to spread OneState’s ideology to alien planets. He is working on a spacecraft that will explore the galazy for life forms in order to preach the gospel of OneState to them. The narrative takes the form of a journal and something of a missionary pamphlet on how great OneState and the Benefactor truly are. The narrator is a faithful follower of the Benefactor. He doesn’t “like or understand jokes.” He respects authority and law for its own sake. He doesn’t drink (which is illegal), and he doesn’t think.

That is, of course, until our monotone narrator meets the sexy, rebellious I-1330. Yes, he falls in love with her, and, yes, he has a change of heart and mind. But it’s a long and arduous process of realizing how to think and function outside of the system. Once he drinks and has sex with I-1330, he deems himself “sick” and “done for.” Liberation of the body and mind is, to the narrator, akin to self-destruction.

I won’t give away the ending, but it’s magnificent, like that last loop on a speeding rollercoaster that leaves you out of breath.

The story behind “We” is equally as intriguing as the story itself. It was written in Russian, though it appeared first in English. Only in 1988 did people living in the Soviet Union get the chance to pick up this novel in its original Russian. If you give a rat’s ass about history and politics, and have even a remote interest in science fiction, this book is a must have. I am an idiot for taking this long to read it.

Newly-Released Wines

I stopped by my favorite wine shop, Weygandt Wines, on a Thursday night to taste some of their new releases. Most of the wines were from the 2010 vintage, which is apparently spectacular all over Europe. I brought a 2010 riesling from my recent trip to the Mosel Valley, and it showed very well. It was a great time, with great people and discussion. This tasting was another example of why I'm going to be buying lots of French wines from the 2010 vintage. In Austria and Germany as well, 2010 is just a great vintage, and I can't wait to stock up on them.

2010 Kurt Angerer Grüner Veltliner "Kies" - Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
I love how kurt angerer can put out a $20 gruner veltliner of this quality. The nose shows lime, grapefruit and slate. The palate is really spicy and full of acid. Flavors of grapefruit rind and slate. This is a really compact wine that will probably show better with a littler air or time in the bottle. Great stuff. (90 pts.)

2010 Weingut Jacob Steffen Erben Kestener Paulinshofberg Riesling Kabinett trocken - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
I bought this wine back from my trip to the Mosel Valley and popped it for some friends. I liked this wine a lot, and it seemed to be quite a crowd-pleaser. Perfumed nose with white flowers, lychee and white peach. the palate has great acid, chalk and minerals. On the midpalate, I get a flavor that reminds me of almond or chestnuts. Slate and lime linger on the finish. (90 pts.)

2010 Catherine et Pascal Rollet Mâcon Solutré-Pouilly Domaine de la Chapelle - France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon Solutré-Pouilly
I've enjoyed this wine in the past, and am excited to report that the 2010 is quite a steal. The nose shows lemons, salt and nuts. It's plump on the palate, and really zesty, but it's backed up by green apple fruit and hazelnuts. A very balanced chardonnay from a great viontage at bargain price. (89 pts.)

2010 Château de La Greffiere St. Véran - France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, St. Véran
pear and green apple on the nose. the palate is really creamy with buttescotch and hazelnut. lots of pulpy fruit. not as balanced as i'd like. (86 pts.)

2010 Domaine Auchère Sancerre - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
This was my first Sancerre from 2010, and what a good one. Aromas of lemons, slate and seashells. The palate is fresh and the acid is kicking. I love the key lime, orange rind and slate. This is a powerful, intense Sancerre that is really enjoyable. (90 pts.)

2009 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil La Coudraye - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Bourgueil
Dark purple color in the glass. The nose is a wonderful medley of black olive and black cherries, and I also get a distinct paprika and even a curry aroma. I love the nose. The palate is a pure burst of fresh cherry fruit. The tannins are chewy and it's all wrapped up with flavors of meat, olive and iron. This is a more bombastic style of cabernet franc, but I really enjoyed it. (90 pts.)

2010 Daniel Bouland Côte de Brouilly Cuvée Mélanie - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly
The 2010 beaujolais wines are very impressive. This is no exception. It's very aromatic, showing fresh strawberries, cherries and some soil. The palate is plump and fresh with solid tannic structure. I like the plum and jolly rancher flavors, and also the iron flavor on the finish. This is tightly-wound now, and I think it'll get better with years in the bottle. (89 pts.)

2007 Mas Martinet Priorat Menut - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
Each time I taste this wine I'm impressed by the power, elegance, balance and price. For $20, it doesn't get much better than this. Fresh raspberry and smoke on the nose. The palate is full of fruit, highlighted by just the right amount of vanilla and oak. Delicious wine. (90 pts.)

2009 Château La Fleur Morange Mathilde - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion
This is my first 2009 Bordeaux, and I enjoyed it a lot. 100% old vine Merlot. The color is dark purple. The aromas show plums, tobacco and fresh tilled soil. The aromas point to Bordeaux, but the palate is full of California sunshine. Dark plums, vanilla coke and black cherries lead the way. The oak and smooth tannins add a creamy mouthfeel to this wine that I just find irresistable. It's drinking well now, but could use some time to mellow out a bit. (92 pts.)

2010 Domaine des Soulanes (Cathy et Daniel Laffite) Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes Kaya - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Roussillon, Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes
Lots of paint and spices on the nose. This is a really big wine that could use some time or a decant. There's an explosion of blueberry and blackberry fruit, along with some dusty tannins. (88 pts.)