Light gold in color.  The nose is nice if a bit reserved.  Lychees with slight peach.  On the palate, this is mostly dry with just a hint of sweetness.  More like a perception than actual sweetness.  Peaches.  Refreshing.  Nice balance.  This is a very food friendly wine.  Easy to drink.  Good value at around $20.  No bitterness.  Drinking well right now, I don't think it improves.  

Golden in color.  Fantastic nose.  Clean and expressive.  Sea air, crushed shells, apples and honey.  On the palate, this has a great backbone of acidity.  Slightly oily texture.  Minerals, crushed shells with an herbal note.  Also some apples.  Pinpoint precision.  Slight orange citrus on the finish.  Seems to be youthful but almost at peak.  Of course, it should be at this level for another decade or more.  Complex.  Great with all kinds of food.  These still are under $40 which is a great value.  

This is the first vintage that Trimbach made a wine from this vineyard.  Light golden in color.  Great nose.  There is a bit of orange peel along with minerals and a salinity on the nose.  It is big right from the start.  The palate takes a bit of air to get going.  A relatively viscous texture.  The wine is dry.  Tight peaches eventually show more expressive peach along with minerals (crushed limestone).  There is some warmth on the wine.  Nevertheless, it worked great with food especially a Goat Cheese Tart (superb).  Still young, it is drinking well now, but should continue to improve fo

Light golden in color with some green hues swirling about.  A very nice nose with lychee nuts, slight peaches and almonds.  On the palate, this has a slight bitterness that is often found in Gewurztraminer.  It is medium sweet which is also what the indice on the back label indicates.  The palate has slight peach with nice minerality.  Slightly viscous.  Consumed over two days, it was better on day 2 with the bitterness receding and the wine coming together.  Reasonably food friendly with lighter foods though would also work well with heavier spiced foods such as Indian or Thai.  It probabl

One  of the best from Chianti.  This is a great wine.  It retails for under $50 which is expensive for Chianti but a great value for the quality offered.  Purple in color, ruby swirls.  The nose is great with cherries, tobacco, tea leaves, and a slight pine note.  With air, some cedar and earth emerge.  On the palate, this has firm tannins still.  Lots of dark cherry fruit layered with wet tea leaves (or maybe tobacco) and spice.  Deep and complex.  A strong backbone of acidity.  Long finish.  This is quite food friendly but especially meats and pasta.  Still young, this has at least 5 more

Screw Capped.  Light golden in color.  Upon opening there are a slight amount of fine bubbles.  It appears to be trapped CO2 which blows of quickly.  No harm, no foul.  The nose is great with green apples, slight wet rocks, slight lemon and simple syrup.  On the palate, this has a fair amount of sweetness.  Ripe fruit; citrus and peach.  Good balance though.  Drinks easy with some depth.  Young now and very fresh and vibrant.  It will develop over time.  Delicious.  9.5% Alc.  This will go with a wide variety of foods.  Considering the screw cap and the sugar and acid levels, this should ha

From a different winemaker named Chave (a name known in the Rhone for 600 years).  This is quite good and really shows off the vintage.  2010 was an excellent year but the wines are tight and need time.  This is just starting to open up and needs a good decant at this point.  Deep ruby/purple in color.  The nose is great with black raspberries, slight bacon fat, violets and grilled meats.  On the palate, this is ripe black raspberry fruit but concentrated.  Medium tannins.  An underlying crushed rock minerality.  Good balance.  Long finish.  Needs heartier foods.  Probably some upside here

This is the basic Syrah from Carlisle.  It sells for around $30 and is a great value.  The bottle comes screw capped which is a good thing.  Purple in color.  The nose has black raspberries, black olives, slight grilled meats and pepper.  On the palate, this is young but with some depth.  Drinking easily right now.  Black raspberries.  Good balance.  Plenty of fruit but not flamboyant.  Nice finish.  This often gets drunk early to allow the single vineyard Carlisles to age and that is a bit unfair as this will age just fine too.  

This is made from the Mencia grape in northwest Spain.  It is an excellent wine that combines both the acidity and elegance of old world wines with the fruit forwardness of brightness of new world wines.  It is also around $25 which is a good value.  Ruby in color, deeper at the core.  On the nose this has bing cherries, slight olives and a bit or herbal notes.  On the palate, this has a strong backbone of acidity.  Good cherry flavors.  Medium bodied but sinewy.  Nice finish.  Very food friendly with a wide variety of foods.  

Another stunning Chardonnay from Rhys.  Light golden in color with some green hues.  The nose has a vanilla scented lemon chiffon that is distinctive for Rhys.  Gorgeous.  There is also an underlying mineral component.  It is understandable why so many compare this to Meursault.  On the palate, this is still young but almost seamless.  The vanilla/lemon chiffon carries thru as does the minerality.  Great balance.  This would work with a wide variety of foods.  Its tht texture though that keeps being so striking.  Long finish.  There is some upside on this depending on how you like Chardonna