Elizabeth Spencer Pinot Noir

Elizabeth Spencer Wines
Pinot Noir
Special Cuvee
Sonoma Coast
Calistoga, California
2005
14.3%
$45.00 -- Elizabeth Spencer Tasting Room, Rutherford, CA

Color: Rich medium strawberry
Nose: Young strawberry, beef jerky
Body: Medium
Front: Tart cherry
Middle: Strawberry, pine smoke
Back: Peat, clover
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is a delightful Pinot Noir. I like it because it doesn't have the fruit-solo taste many Pinots do; there are layers in here, strata of interesting, strange flavors on the heels of the fruity taste. The delivery is long on the palate, too. Check here for a fact sheet on the wine, but don't read too much if it will delay your ordering bottles and drinking them.

Note: still tasted great the next evening.

Keenan Merlot

Robert Keenan Winery
Napa Valley Merlot
St. Helena, Napa Valley, CA
2004
14.3%
$44.50 -- Pastiche Wine Shop, Tucson, AZ
Color: Deep garnet
Nose: Cassis, mocha, smoke
Body: Medium to Full
Front: Berries
Middle: Spicy
Back: Leather car seats
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Give it air! It comes out a little tight, even after years in the bottle. This is a little more French than I'm used to in a Napa Merlot. Hear hear. It's well-built, economical, and will run smoothly for years; plus, who doesn't like leather seats?*

I'm amused to find that this is the first Merlot I've reviewed.

*No animals were harmed in the writing of this review.

Maryhill Winemaker's Red

Maryhill Winery
Winemaker's Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc
Columbia Valley, WA
2006
14.2%
$14.50 -- Pastiche Wine Shop, Tucson, AZ
Color: Medium strawberry red
Nose: Cassis
Body: Medium to Full
Front: Tart cherries
Middle: A little spice, chocolate
Back: Light tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

I don't seem to have reviewed many Washington wines, but this one is more than worth it. It reminds me a little of one of Andrew Will's Bordeaux-style blends. It's smooth, chocolatey, but brooding, without being mean or overbearing. It's like having a little-known poet over for dinner. And like that, too, it's a real bargain in terms of entertainment for the money. Please show this post to your favorite under-published poet friends.

Speaking of the under-published, this wine goes fabulously with the music of the jazz/country trio Swamp Rat, especially the two songs with "Stella" in the title.

This reviewer found it tarter than I did, which makes me think it might have settled down a bit in the intervening months. If so, that's a good sign.

Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy

Mollydooker Wines
Blue Eyed Boy
Shiraz
McLaren Vale, Australia
2006
16.0%
$45.50 -- Pastiche Wine Shop, Tucson, AZ
Color: Deep creamy red
Nose: Raspberry, brambles, heat
Body: Full
Front: Blueberries, cream
Middle: White pepper
Back: Plums, jam, perhaps a little cocoa
Burns clean?: Somewhat; don't drink too much at a sitting.
Cap: Screwcap

This is a big, playful wine, true to the Sparky Marquis style. If there are tannins, I can't taste them. It's not the synesthetic experience that a wine like Possum is, but it's spicy and jammy and dark out of all proportion to what is normally understood to go by the name of wine. Let it sit open a bit; it's hot and tight out of the bottle.

Elizabeth Spencer Chardonnay

Elizabeth Spencer Wines
Wente Clone Cuvee
Chardonnay
Sonoma Coast
Calistoga, California
2006
14.2%
$40.50 -- Elizabeth Spencer Tasting Room, Rutherford, CA

Color: Rich yellow
Nose: Pear, damp sawdust
Body: Full
Front: Lime, fig
Middle: A little butter, clover
Back: Grapefruit
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

"'8 Barrels Made'?" my mother says; "They should have made more." It makes a wine writer's job easier when half of his reading audience declares an opinion. This is an excellently balanced, nicely structured chardonnay that's long on the palate, but I think I'll have to drink some more bottles of it before I launch into any poetics about it. It goes well after a swim in the pool on a hundred-degree day with a little fruit and cheese before dinner, that's for sure.

Crane Brothers Brodatious

Crane Brothers
Brodatious
Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah
Crane Ranch Vineyard
Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, California
2003
14.5%
$39.00 -- 58 Degrees, Tucson, AZ

Color: Dark red
Nose: Eucalyptus, raspberry
Body: Full
Front: Cherry mint
Middle: Leather, spice
Back: Oaky, peaty
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is a huge, beautiful, Bordeaux-style blend. Crane Brothers doesn't make a lot of wine, but what they make is sick-and-wrong-good. They graciously make available a hefty amount of information about this wine. But you don't need it. It evolves as it's open, going from a dense mint-fest to a chocolatey brooding lurker, to something more laid-back and yet sophisticated for which I lack a simile that isn't laughable. I admit I was going to say "like James Bond."

Sattui Family Chardonnay

V. Sattui Winery
Sattui Family
Chardonnay
Napa Valley
Napa, California
2006
14%
$17.75 -- Sattui Winery, St. Helena, CA

Color: Light gold
Nose: Pears and clover
Body: Medium
Front: Peachy
Middle: Grapefruity
Back: A little butter, marmalade
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

A nice mix of oaky and steely. 2/3 from a Carneros property, and 1/3 from the Carsi Vineyard, it's an elegant balance of Chardonnay elements. Not many people are going to dislike this wine.

Hog Wilde Chardonnay

Glenlyon Vineyards & Winery
Hog Wilde
Chardonnay
Sonoma Valley, Parmalee-Hill Vineyard
Glen Ellen, California
2005
14.1%
$17.75 -- 58 Degrees, Tucson, AZ

Color: Intense gold
Nose: Pears
Body: Medium
Front: Pear, wood
Middle: Cilantro, hamburger
Back: Butter
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Plastic

Don't be put off by the unusual bottle. The spelling of "Wilde" in its name demands fabulous spectacularity. This is a delightful wine, especially for summer. It's about a thousand degrees here in Tucson today, and this wine is a perfect accompaniment to death-dealing heat. It's not super-long on the palate, but it does have some really interesting flavors going on in there. Don't be put off by the hamburger. Embrace the hamburger. Besides, maybe I'm just hungry.

Faust Cabernet

Huneeus Vineyards
Faust
Cabernet Sauvignon
Rutherford, Napa, California
2005
14.8%
$50.00 -- Bounty Hunter, Napa, CA


Color: Deep burgundy red
Nose: Plums, cinnamon
Body: Heavy
Front: Cherry
Middle: Café crème
Back: Walnuts, soft tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Drinking this is like walking down a root-corrupted sidewalk under a canopy of moss-laden live oaks on a late afternoon on the gulf coast. Like most 2005s it is better with some time to air (one hour, in this case, and it really bloomed). It’s got a long delivery, yet by some paradox, it doesn’t take long to drink a bottle. Good with everything but spicy food. Comes in a half-bottle which is a good deal.

On disrespecting the palate length of wines: I used to wait until the wine had fully delivered before taking a bite. I do that less now, because eating doesn’t erase or stop the wine’s unfolding on the palate—it combines with it.

Asmodeus in the Valleys

SOME OF YOU have probably noticed that, though it's summer and prime wine drinking time, I haven't been reviewing so many bottles. Unlike my hiatus in March, I haven't been abstaining. I've been drinking tiny amounts of an enormous number of wines.

For the past few years I've been spending a few days of May in Napa and Sonoma. There's a conference I go to out there, and I'm allergic to my home state in May. But also, there are some good wines in Napa and Sonoma. Before three years ago, the only winery I'd been to was in Spain, and that is an experience I will never remember--after all, I was about 17 when it happened. Here is a picture of someone who looks much like me, emerging from a vat during that trip, tasting cup in hand.

Asmodeus visita a la bodega, circa 1987.

(Now that I look at this photo, in the wake of many years, I see from the couple in the background that I was perhaps less inebriated by comparison than I thought.)

The famousness of Napa and Sonoma means that there are hundreds of wineries and thousands of tourists all the time. Most of them are not wine experts, so the experience of tasting in the valleys is a strange one for someone who really likes wine and has tasted a lot of it. There's good advice out there on the web for how to make the most of trips to wineries, so I won't repeat it except to say drink lots of water and don't plan to visit too many places in one day. The people who make and serve the wine are the most excellent (see, I've been in California, where they say things like that) thing about any wine country, so come ready to confess your shortcomings, tell your best wine stories, and listen to theirs.

Last year I went to Napa right after being caught in the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles. The whole neighborhood I was in was evacuated to a high school that was directly in the path of the smoke from the fire; I had a horrific allergic reaction that made it impossible for me to taste anything for a week afterwards. So all I got out of Napa and Sonoma last year was experiments in "mouthfeel."

Well, that's not all. Wine country in California (whether north of San Francisco or the Central Coast or wherever) is stunningly beautiful. No pictures capture it; it is temperature, aromas (eucalyptus and fertilizer, or fermenting berries, or wood-fires and pine), the texture of vineyards, wind, redwoods, switchback roads, potholes on highway 29--all of this. It's easier to see these things clearly if you go in April or May, and go during the week rather than a weekend.

This year was a little odd, too, because Robert Mondavi passed away while I was there. Everywhere I went I heard stories about him, so I felt more embedded in the "deep time" (and also the tight economic weave) of Napa than usual. But rather than just go to the boutique places that I'm really excited about now (Elizabeth Spencer) or the places I've always loved (V. Sattui) I tried to expand my vistas this time.

It's impossible to schematize the wineries in Napa and Sonoma, but I think it might be useful to take a stab at it, since most wine drinkers never get a chance, or more than one chance, to go there. So let me make an important distinction, stereotype a little bit, and then tell a couple of stories.

First, there's a distinction between the experience of a winery's tasting room and its marketplace profile. That is, there are massive winemakers (Gallo; Mondavi), medium winemakers (St. Francis; Sonoma Cutrer); small wineries (Larkmead; Conn Valley); boutique or winery-only-distributed joints (Crane Brothers; V. Sattui); and makers so small that, while having cult followings, it's hard for non-oenophiles even to find out about them (like Terry Hoage in Paso Robles, about whom more later). The whole industry is like a high school from a John Hughes movie: everybody knows everybody and everything is changing all the time--alliances, partnerships, apprenticeships, and so forth--creating a frothy experimental environment founded on some of the best grapes in the world. Listen to the conversation at the table next to you at Artisan or Matthew's in Paso Robles; it's bound to be educational. You'll hear guys who run picking crews who were hired because they speak the obscure Mixtec dialect that the latest round of field workers speak and who have their own vineyards on the side or who work for distributors; you'll hear the latest gossip about new hires or small winemakers furtively whispering to each other about how awesome the Charbono grape is; and much more.

But boutique wineries can have Disney-esque tasting rooms. Established makers like B.V. and St. Supery can have laid-back, but seriously educational ones. Some places, like Freemark Abbey, will do comparative tastings of old wines with recent vintages of the same label; others will only give you the latest stuff released.

To stereotype a little, I found there to be three sorts of tasting room experiences worth differentiating (though the hospitality design folks will doubtless insist that there are twice as many at least): The appointment-only, down-home experience; the friendly, open, tourist-sensitive but oenophile-adaptable experience; and the mostly for-show experience, which includes both Disneyfied tasting rooms and unbelievably pretentious wineries. Before describing some of these in Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles, let me disclaim that, while for me, wines from the Disneyfied tasting rooms tended not to be as good, there's no correlation extrapolable from this, both because wine is a matter of personal taste and because even at the newest, most pretentious winery in Rutherford, the Cabernet is unlikely to suck.

Sonoma: I love everywhere in Sonoma. It's beautiful, less trampled than Napa, and less subject to palate-deadening from repeated Cabernet bastings. Gloria Ferrer doesn't do tastings, but a glass of their sophisticated sparkling offerings and some of their free almonds taken out on a veranda overlooking a hillside of chardonnay vines is unforgettable. Things are more goofy at Cline, but they make a couple of the best wines in America. It's less regal at Grundlach-Bundschu, but the wines are even better. At St. Francis, try the Cabernet Franc to see one of the secrets of the widespread success of these wines. To see some of the local politics, take one of the ill-maintained mountain roads over to Napa and read the signs, the messages painted on the road, and the election banners in various front yards.

V. Sattui in Napa is a carnival, but you can't trust anything I say about it, because, for entirely selfish reasons, I don't want you to go there and it's already too popular. Serious: Ehlers, a non-profit winery and ecologically awesome, with a great Cabernet Franc; Larkmead, appointment-only; Elizabeth Spencer. Pretentious beyond imagination: Opus One; Darioush; Peju.

Peju is new and spectacularly self-conscious. They're open until 6 p.m., and I visited them immediately after going to one of the most established wineries in the valley, B.V., and drinking several of their reserve wines. There was a gleaming, white Ferrari parked in the circle in front of the winery when I got there, and one incredibly swanked-out Asian woman taking a picture of another incredibly swanked-out Asian girl (her daughter, as it turned out), so that, together with the fountains and ridiculously expensive building materials, set the tone. Then there was a wait to taste: a sign saying, wait here for the next tasting, while twenty feet away you could see fourteen people tasting and having a big ol' time with the pourer. When you finally were admitted to the tasting area, it turned out to be not the usual shoot-the-shit session with a pourer as in most places in Napa (my favorite was with Amy at Conn Creek), but instead a one-man show with bottles. It was so put-on that I thought at one point the pourer would start juggling .750s of Pinot Noir. The wine was not that great.

Darioush has a second label called CARAVAN that's worth the money. The Persian-palace architecture, million-dollar furnishings, multiple video screens, and roped-off areas with signs telling you redundantly that you can't go there are designed for something, to produce some reaction in tasters that I do not understand. But most importantly, while their Cabernet is good, it's no better than CARAVAN, is much more expensive, and lacks wisdom from Rumi (or anyone else) on the back label.

I went to Paso Robles because I think some of the best wine in the world is starting to come out of there. Apart from falling into a sulphur spring and having to buy new shoes as a result, I had a fantastic time. The business is booming there--on the drive down, on 101, you'll pass through thousands and thousands of acres of vines, disturbing in their magnitude for anyone who's been to France or Spain: the Central Coast mother lode. But it's not as toney as Napa or Sonoma, and most of the wineries are still boutique, often with tastings by appointment only. Everyone is friendly, so pick up the phone and make a date.

This doesn't mean that there aren't Disneyfied experiences. Tobin James is one of the most important makers in the area, and the tasting room is a spectacle of crypto-Wild West kitsch. They make you taste about a dozen wines, too, so it's hard to remember what happened there. This much I remember: the Sangiovese was fantastic, and those words don't come out of my face often. This is a key to what's happening in Paso Robles; varietals like Sangiovese, Grenache, and Mourvedre thrive there.

A sticky swine at Eberle.

For a slightly less cowboyish, but equally old-school-Paso Robles experience, I went to Eberle. Eberle, according to the German oenos I went on the cave tour with, means "small male wild boar" in German. Thus, henceforth we will call this the "Eberle Swinery."* They have super-cool caves in which, for a modest fee, you can get married and/or drunk, and more importantly, they have an extraordinary wine I didn't know they made: Côtes-du-Rôbles. (A side note; the wineries on the East side of Paso seem to be into putting embroidered stickers on you; see illustration.)

From the swinery I went to an even more serious winery, Tablas Creek. It's way up in the hills, and more than worth the drive. Their Esprit de Beaucastel and Côtes de Tablas are fantastic wines; they were tasting the Mourvedre (an important ingredient in both of these French-style blends) while I was there and it was a revelation.

Back in town, I ate dinner at two excellent places, Villa Creek (a restaurant and a winery; Robert Parker loves Villa Creek wines more than I do, but their GSM is pretty damn fine) and Artisan.

I wish I'd had a chance to set up a tasting at Terry Hoage Vineyards, because both at Villa Creek and at Artisan all the talk was about him and his stellar wines (he also sells grapes to other boutique winemakers). Like many Paso wineries, Hoage makes Rhone blends. The wine brokers sitting next to me were talking about Hoage when he walked into the restaurant, with three guests and two already-open bottles of wine. The feeling in the room was exactly like the one that happens in Nashville when John Rich walks into a venue. Hoage appears much more calm and self-possessed than Mr. Rich, but he is bigger than life--remembers everyone's names, gives credit all around the room, and moves with a quiet confidence that makes Peju look like a cheap online advertisement for low mortgage rates. And I haven't even tried one of his wines yet.

It is an amazing time for winemaking in this country, and particularly on the West Coast. But if you are lucky enough to visit a winery, be sure to notice the show, and the people behind it, as much as the wine. There's a special kind of eclecticism, or perhaps insanity, involved in any craft, I suppose, but this one has some unusually bodacious side effects.

*This joke shamelessly extrapolated from a slip of the tongue by one of my generous hosts later that week in Los Angeles.

V. Sattui Vittorio's Vineyard Cabernet

V. Sattui Winery
Vittorio's Vineyard
Cabernet SauvignonNapa, California
2005
14.4%
$40.00 -- V. Sattui Winery, St. Helena, CA

Color: Deep cherry red
Nose: Mocha plums
Body: Heavy
Front: Dark fruit
Middle: Cinnamon, dust
Back: Spicy tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is a new wine. It's from what used to be Suzanne's Vineyard--a plot adjoining the winery on Highway 29 in some prime grape-growing territory. It's functionally Rutherford. This wine shows its youth; it doesn't hold up as well as the other main-line Sattui Cabernets, so it's a tad unfortunate that it's so expensive. But drink it young and it's stellar, just like all the others. It doesn't have the cherry tang of the Preston or the stately vanilla of the Mt. Veeder but it's Napa Valley loveliness all the way. Fantastic with food. My father noticed instantly, too, that it has legs like Jessica Alba and staying power like Sigourney Weaver. He didn't say that out loud but I could tell that's what he was thinking.

Forthcoming (since I know I've been absent and my sexy, loyal followers are wondering what the hell is going on) is a slight departure: I've been in Napa and in Paso Robles recently, tasting (and reading) instead of writing, and one of my readers has persuaded me to muse on my winery visits. I promise it will burn clean.

Vinos Sin Ley Grenache

Vinos Sin Ley
G-5 Garnacha
GrenacheVinos de Madrid, Puerta Bonita, Spain
2004
14.5%
$9.99 -- Durham, NC

Color: Deep red
Nose: Raspberry and pepper
Body: Medium
Front: Raspberry KA-POW!
Middle: Raspberry AGAIN!
Back: Graphite
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Plastic cork

It's a fruit bomb. Like, the Dr. Strangelove of raspberry-based palate devastation. It's an easy-drinking wine, if you are a raspberry drinker. No, really, it's an interesting wine, but not if you like subtlety, lots of layers, or anything much more than fruit and a little tannic spice. Still, why trust me: check out the high ratings at this site.

Longview Cabernet

Longview Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon
Adelaide Hills, Macclesfield, Australia
2006
14.2%
$27.99 -- Highlands, NC

Color: Deep purpley red
Nose: Blueberry
Body: Heavy
Front: Mint
Middle: Blueberry
Back: Creamy oak, tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

I can't taste any of the things the back label claims are in it, but I like it anyway. Like lots of Australian cabernets, it doesn't taste like what I think of as cabernet. but it's good stuff nonetheless, and not hot at all. Good with food, but it hasn't got the tannic backbone to stand up to really hearty fare.

Chasseur Chardonnay

Hunter Wine Cellars
Chasseur
Lorenzo Vineyards
ChardonnayRussian River Valley, Sonoma, California
2005
14.1%
$59.90 -- Highlands, NC

Color: Light gold
Nose: Pineapple and spice
Body: Heavy
Front: Pineapple
Middle: Caramel butter
Back: Smoky mesquite
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

A French structure--long delivery with several distinct layers--but an American bigness and power. The most extraordinary Chardonnay from California I've ever had.

Note, 2014: This remains true.

Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon

Caravan Vineyards (Darioush)
Estate
Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa, California
2005
14.5%
$45.00 -- Highlands, NC

Color: Deep cherry red
Nose: Cherry
Body: Heavy
Front: Cherry vanilla
Middle: Clove and cream
Back: Heat, blueberries
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

After it's been open for two hours, it tastes like French toast. I had it with pecan crushed, slightly spicy shrimp and it was fantastic. It's Napa loveliness; not too tannic, but it held up to the shrimpy pecans. I'm a sucker for Rumi--the back label contains nothing more than a saying from Rumi, who was a spiritual oenophile (but see here for some doubts about the business of attribution). Perhaps it should be decanted; after it's open awhile the heat goes away entirely, and the fruit and oak and spiciness come into harmony.

Note on 2 October 2010: Tried the 2007 ($36, H.E.B., Austin, TX): it needs just as much air as the '05 did at its age. Probably isn't quite as...transcendent as the '05, but it's damn fine. I see no reason to spend twice as much or more on the Darioush Cabernet.

Gary Farrell Cabernet Sauvignon

Gary Farrell
Cabernet Sauvignon
Healdsburg, Sonoma, California
2001
13.9%
$35.00 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Medium red
Nose: Cherry
Body: Heavy
Front: Cherry
Middle: Violets
Back: Graphitic tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

It's a Spanish-style cabernet. Sure, such a thing may not exist much, but this bottle proves it ought to. There's a ludicrous amount of information about this wine at the Gary Farrell website. But what it doesn't tell you how tasty it is, and how it's shaped into a more old-world structure than common for the region. One of the consequences of this is that it pairs interestingly with food, contributing different tastes after different bites, always characteristically berryish but not overpowering your dinner.

Marquis Philips Sarah's Blend

Marquis Philips
Sarah's Blend
Shiraz; Cabernet; Merlot
Australia
2004
15%
$14.99 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Deep purple
Nose: Caramel and berries
Body: Heavy
Front: Creamy blueberries
Middle: A little heat; peppery
Back: Mesquite, and, oddly, cucumber
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Screwcap

A big bomb of loveliness, but with a little alcoholic burn. Really good if you want something bold, interestingly structured, and fruity (but not sweet). The 2005 tastes better to me right now, so this one may be on the way out. Now, these people don't like it, but what do they know?

Note (23 Nov 2009): I tasted the 2007 vintage. Blueberry jam and cherry on the nose, blueberries, chocolate, red currant, soft coffeelike tannins. I'm going to pair it with grilled lamb and roasted fingerling potatoes, and I'm expecting a tasty synergy. $13.99 at Spec's in Austin, TX, still 15% abv.

Vale do Bomfim Reserva

Vale do Bomfim
Reserva (Touriga N.; T. Roriz; Barroca)
Douro, Portugal
2004
14%
$9.99 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Deep cherry red
Nose: Caramel and berries (put it in a relatively narrow-mouthed glass)
Body: Medium to heavy
Front: Tart berries
Middle: Tannins, spice, moss
Back: Leather, wood
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is not the sort of wine, in terms of tastes or structure, that I expect from this region of Portugal. I don't know what's going on, but it's good. This is one of the most complex wines I've tasted at this price; it's got distinct stages of development in the mouth that get more distinct the longer it's open. The aroma is lush, almost Australian, but the tastes are subtle old-world Iberian leather, spice, and wood, with occasional patches of violets bursting through. It's stellar with anything salty and I wish to Allah I had some chorizo to go with it. It should be good in the cellar for awhile, I'd think.

Barahonda Monastrell

Barahonda
Monastrell
YeclaMurcia, Spain
2004
14.5%
$9.99 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Deep red with brown
Nose: Violety peat
Body: Medium
Front: Dates
Middle: Tannins, vanilla (how)?
Back: Leathery pepper
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Historians will notice that it's been awhile since I posted. First, I got sick. Then, I got infected. Then, I went on two rounds of antibiotics and at some point lost the ability to taste almost anything. I went a month without drinking any wine. While it's nice to know I'm not an alcoholic, I'm distressed that my taste buds basically need to be rebooted--and, of course, it's now allergy season!

But enough whining... crappy taste buds and all, I seem to be able to tell whether a wine more or less sucks or not. Tonight while paying my bills I noticed that the glue on the payment envelopes for American Express tastes like cheap Pinot Noir. So I'm back in the saddle.

This wine certainly does not suck. Apparently it was super a couple of years ago, too, which doesn't surprise me. The tinge of brown might mean it's maturing, which is good to know. It costs next to nothing, and newer vintages, though praised by certain famous tastemakers, might not break the bank either. It's chewy, spicy, and just plain old tasty.

Castello di Lucignano Chianti Classico Riserva

Castello di Lucignano
Chianti Classico
RiservaSangiovese
Chianti, Italy
2000
14%
$18.99 -- Weaver St. Market, Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Medium red with brown
Nose: Peppery strawberries
Body: Medium
Front: Tart raspberries
Middle: Apricots
Back: Leathery thyme, mint
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is one of those old-world wines that it'll take a miracle to replicate in the U.S. It's subtle; the flavors lurk below the surface and it takes focus to figure out what's going on. I still can't quite tell what's going on in the nose. But check this out: after sniffing for a few minutes, trying to get a read on it, I gave up and went back to the kitchen. A chicken onion garlic thing was roasting in the oven and, thanks to the contrast, it smelled like candy when I first walked in. So: alchemy in the nose, herbs kept in your wallet all day in the glass.

Tablas Creek Côtes de Tablas

Tablas Creek Vineyard
Côtes de Tablas
Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache, Counoise
Paso Robles, California, USA
2001
14.5%
$24.99 -- Mr. Whiskers, Nashville, TN

Color: Medium red with brown tinge
Nose: Blackberries and sweat
Body: Medium
Front: Sparkly spice
Middle: Plums
Back: Licorice, tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

A good friend gifted a bottle of Tablas Creek's "Esprit de Beaucastel" wine a few years ago and it split the room's opinions. I liked it immensely, but others disliked the spicy, sparkly attack that the wine exhibited. Still young and spritzy, a bit. This wine has the same thing going for it--though it's not quite as pronounced--and I like it again.

Maybe I like it because I've been working like a dog this week; maybe because it's practically a spring day out here on the back porch with my wine and cheese and wisteria; or maybe it's just that this is an excellently structured, elegant wine.

2004 vintage: Stellar again, though not quite as complex as the 2001. Perhaps, though, with another year, it'll get there. Cherry and vanilla dominate in this incarnation.

Honig Cabernet

Honig Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
Rutherford, California, USA
2005
14.5%
$35.99 -- Wine Authorities, Durham, NC

Color: Deep purple-red
Nose: Bread, kale, plums
Body: Stout
Front: Blueberries
Middle: Cream
Back: Cassis and cedar
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This wine makes an excellent accompaniment to Dan Cohen's ballad "Hope You Don't Change Your Mind," which is currently at number 40 on the A/C radio charts. Its laid-back blend of cynical tannins and fruity wit match Cohen and King's lyrics perfectly. We're lucky to have wine like this and music like this. This wine evolves as it opens and goes well with lots of different foods.

Note, 10-19-2010: The 2007 vintage is delicious. Chocolate covered cherries, with evenly distributed tannins giving texture and structure, and cherries, plums and tar on the nose. Give it a little air and it'll be stunning.

Martin Pinot Noir

Martin Family Vineyards
Pinot Noir
Russian River Valley
Sonoma, California, USA
2002
13.9%
$23.99 -- Carolina Wine Merchants, Chapel Hill, NC

Color: None too dark red with a tinge of peach
Nose: Strawberry, clover, and cinnamon
Body: Medium to light
Front: Cassis, cedar
Middle: Plum, pepper
Back: Sprouts, vanilla
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Just when you think it's going to be State Fair cotton candy like lots of boring, headache-inducing Pinot Noirs, this thing takes a right turn up into Sonoma and gets more like a trip to the library.

Cueva de las Manos Cabernet

Proviva S.R.L.
Cabernet SauvignonCueva de las Manos (Reserve)
Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
2005
14%
$10.99 -- Parker & Otis, Durham, NC

Color: Dark ruby
Nose: Rosemary, Pu Erh tea, shoe polish
Body: Full
Front: Spicy plum
Middle: Raspberry coffee
Back: Graphite, figs
Burns clean?: Perhaps not
Cap: Cork

This tasting is based on about an hour's airing. This wine reminds me of powerful Australian shirazes. There's a little of the cabernet profile in there. But largely it's other strange things. Not bad things, but strange things.

A note on the bottle: "Cueva de las Manos" (Cave of Hands) refers to a pictoglyph site in the mountains of Argentina, fragments of images of which are reproduced in slick style as visual elements of the label. The wine is proclaimed, on the back label, to be the winery's tribute to the indigenous people of Argentina. That seems like an odd thing to me, on several levels. It's not clear what the indigenous people of Argentina are getting out of such a designation, though this doesn't rule out that they're getting something. But even without quibbling about dedicating an alcoholic beverage to an indigenous American population or the formal oddity of a French grape being chosen, it seems like a weird gesture; or, perhaps, seems little more than a gesture.

Hubert Chavy Bourgogne

Hubert Chavy-Chouet
Chardonnay
Les Saussots
Meursault, Bourgogne, France
2006
12.5%
$19.99 -- Wine Authorities, Durham, NC

Color: Pale gold
Nose: Creamy apricots, lemongrass
Body: Medium
Front: Butter, clove
Middle: Circus peanuts cut with helium (can it be done?), lime
Back: Walnuts, grapes
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Great God almighty. There's so much going on in this bottle I don't know where to start. It tastes awesome with everything. Cheese, beef, rice crackers, kale. It's structured beautifully; has a long delivery; and the tastes come in a different order than I've been used to with Bourgognes. It's tastier and more entertaining than almost any California chardonnay I've had recently at this price.