France

• Alsace
• Bergerac
• Bordeaux
  • Barsac
  • Bordeaux Supérieur
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  • Sauternes
• Burgundy
  • Beaujolais
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  • Chablis
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• Champagne
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• Jura
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• Languedoc-Roussillon
  • Minervois
• Loire Valley
  • Bourgueil
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  • Muscadet
  • Mont Louis
  • Sancerre
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  • Savennières
  • Touraine
  • Vouvray
• Rhone (Rhône)
  • Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  • Cornas
  • Crozes-Hermitage
  • Gigondas
  • Hermitage
  • Lirac
  • Saint Joseph
• Provence
  • Bandol
• Savoie
• Tavel

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

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

Light golden in color.  The nose is nice with minerals, baked bread, slight chalk and red apples.  On the palate, this is refreshing.  Good acidity.  Not much fruit but nice minerality and chalk.  Good depth.  It drinks easy.  Worked with a wide variety of foods.  Retail is around $40 which is fair value.  

35% Pinot Noir, 35% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay.  This is a fairly priced Champagne (around $40).  Light golden in color.  The nose has some toast with a bit of lemons.  Also a dusty quality.  On the palate, this has a nice minerality.  Some strawberries appear on the palate.  The acidity seems to fade away a bit.  This makes for easy summer sipping.  Nice finish.  Works fine with food.  

From magnum.  Always a good choice for a crowd.  Light golden in color.  Plenty of small bubbles.  The nose has a bit of yeast along with a nice lemon backbone.  On the palate, them lemon comes thru as well as a bit of green apple.  Quite refreshing for a warm summer Brunch.  Not a ton of complexity but some.  Very nice acidity; it worked well with the food.  Perhaps it was the magnum format, but this seemed a bit fresher than this usually shows.  

2015 is considered a very ripe year in the Northern Rhone.  Most seem to think it a great vintage but some old school drinkers have issue with the ripeness.  There is no right answer but plan accordingly.  This is on the big and ripe side.  Purple in color, a thin line of ruby at the rim.  Great nose of black raspberries, bacon fat, and slight grilled meats.  On the palate, this is deep with tons of black raspberry fruit.  Medium tannins.  It unwinds in the glass.  It won't peak for at lest a decade and be good for at least another after that.  Still, today it is delicious.  

Purple, ruby at the rim.  The nose has dusty black cherries, spice and slight violets.  On the palate, this has black raspberries with slight black pepper.  A streak of earthiness under it all.  This is a big, fruit forward wine.  It is still young and should develop over the next two decades (probably peaking after one).  Good acidity.  Would work well with bigger foods.  Nice finish.  Certainly a ripe wine, it might be a bit controversial among Rhone fans, but this is excellent.  Certainly has some upside potential.  

Pale ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose has rhubarb, cranberries and cherries.  It is nice no earthiness or funk.  On the palate, there is a slight complexity here.  Tart cherries and cranberries.  It is refreshing but again lacks the depth or earthiness one might hope for after 15 years from a good vintage.  Yes, even from a Santenay.  It does have good acidity and is not really showing much age.  Certainly not young but seems just fine here.  It probably won't get better though.