2006 Sportoletti Rosso Villa Fidelia Umbria IGT (Italy, Umbria, Umbria IGT)

As always, a reliably good bottle of wine. Fruity in a good way with plush Cabernet black currant and tobacco flavors, but also with earth, funk, and plenty of acidity. Velvety texture and long finish. Can be cellared for quite some time, but why wait when the wine is drinking so well right now?

2000 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva (Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja)

Had this with grilled filet and vegetables, and french lentils for dinner. Tremendous pairing. That said, the 2000 Ardanza is a stunning wine on its own. All finesse and elegance. Spice, red fruit, earth, tobacco, rose petals and orange peel. Burgundian texture. This is the stereotypical old school Rioja. Long on the palate and finish. One can't have enough of this in the cellar.

2004 Rocca di Montegrossi Chianti Classico San Marcellino (Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico)

Killer bottle of wine. Popped and poured to be consumed with some of my homemade Pizza. Stunning nose. Dark red color and a soaring nose of dark plum, cherry, earth, mediterranean brush, dried herbs and violets. Just as stunning on the palate as on the nose. Cherry, chocolate, earth, leather. Finish is sensational. A total home run Chianti Classico.

2001 Castello di Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino (Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino)

Excellent Brunello in a more traditional style. Garnet red color and very nice nose of berry, spice, and earth. Good weight on the palate and silky texture. Finishes strong and has years of ageing potential. Really a great bottle of wine.

2006 Fontodi Chianti Classico (Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico)

A reliable bottle of wine. Dark garnet red color. Seems tight on night 1. More generous with some air. Dark chocolate, cherry, earth, and dried herbs. Solid finish. Just about a perfect "pizza wine" at the $18 I paid for it.

2002 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard (USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley)

This is great stuff. It isn't as good as the Bize I had the night before, but this performed extremely well with a piece of Copper River Sockeye Salmon and accoutrements. Cherries, bark, mushroom, and Asian spices. Good finish. This is not even at the drinking plateau yet. Has years left in reserve. Some of the most impressive domestic Pinot Noir I've ever tasted.

2006 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Guettes (France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru)

Had this with sushi at Tomo on Saturday night. Just a wonderful bottle of wine. Intense, yet very elegant, precise, and well defined. Sappy and full of bright cherry, earth, leather, smoky and meaty flavors and spice. Finishes magnificently. In my opinion, Bize is the best affordable Burgundy anyone can buy these days. Highly recommended.

2001 Vietti Barolo Castiglione (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo)

After the epic fail of the 2003 Remizieres Crozes, I decided to open this up. It isn't exactly a mind blowing wine. Certainly good and pleasant. Has typicity. Shows nice red fruit, roses, earth and spice. Very mellow and nice silky texture. Medium finish rounds this one out. Good value at the sub-$30 price tag I acquired it at many years ago, but I don't think it's worth any more than that now. Drinking at peak right now and I don't think it'll get materially better. The earliest maturing wine in the Vietti Barolo portfolio by a long-shot. 

2003 Domaine des Rémizières Crozes-Hermitage l'Essential (France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage)

I preface this review by saying that I have tasted this wine over the course of multiple days with plenty of aeration between tastings, but I simply am not coming to a materially different conclusion that I did when I first tasted it right out of the bottle. This wine may be a decent wine in the context of all wines in the world, but it has nothing to do with Crozes-Hermitage. Absolutely nada. Zero typicity, zero earth, zero terroir, zero pepperiness, zero meatiness that I like so much in my Crozes-Hermitage. This wine is simply the greatest Frankenstein wine I have ever tasted. Overripe, blowsy, sweet with seemingly noticeable residual sugar, dominated by pretentious fruit juice flavors and chalky, chunky, Tums-like texture. In the context on Crozes-Hermitage, this wine is a disaster of epic proportions. I actually think it tastes more like a CdP from an ultra-ripe vintage. This could pass for a non-descript new world Syrah experiment gone wrong. There is so much so wrong with this wine, that I don't even have the space to fully detail my disappointment.

If you like Crozes-Hermitage and own this wine...I recommend selling it if you can. If you can't, then cooking seems to be a great way to get rid of this stuff. And before someone says that the hot vintage must be to blame, allow me to say that I have tasted other Crozes-Hermitage from 2003 that have been very good to legendary such as Jaboulet's Thalabert. And other wines from the Northern Rhone have been inspiring, as well, as evidenced by my encounter with a Guigal 2003 Brune et Blonde. Vintage doesn't explain anything here...this is all winemaking-related. Truly offensive wine to bear the denomination Crozes-Hermitage.

2004 Mauro Veglio Barolo Arborina (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo)

It's official. I like Veglio's 2004 Arborina much better than his 2004 Castelletto. Everything I didn't like about the Castelletto, this Arborina succeeds in. No hint of barrique treatment, no massive extraction, and no flabbiness. This wine is really very nice. It shows restraint, finesse and precision. Red berries, flowers, and menthol on the palate and a killer autumnal/leafy/earthy nose. Wonderful finish and quite tannic. Great intensity of flavor and a very subtle sweetness of the fruit on the finish. This is one that every lover of traditionally styled Barolo should load up on. 

2000 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape (France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape)

As anyone who really cellars wine knows, with older wine, the condition of an individual bottle can be as important as the wine itself, the winemaker, and vintage. I say this because of all the bottles of this wine I have had, this was by far the best one. This bottle was hauntingly good CdP. I have had the good fortune of tasting many 100-pointers over the years, and this one was right up there with all the legends I have tasted in the past. As a matter of fact, the wine this most closely reminded me of is the 1990 Pegau. The nose of this wine is perfumed with kirsch and garrigue, and the wine literally roars over the palate with layer upon layer of fruit, earth, and freshness. The fruit is plush and velvety, but at no point was it "too much". Perfect balance from front to finish. The best wine I have had in a long time, and certainly one of the best CdPs I have ever tasted (right up there with 1990 Pegau). I will never forget the taste of this wine.

1998 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle (France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage)

This one isn't going to win you over with its fruit forward-ness. That said, this wine has amazing finesse, elegance, freshness, and yet, it is able to pack impressive intensity of flavor. Silky texture that's more reminiscent of Pinot Noir than Syrah. The nose is soaring out of the glass and olive tapenade, black pepper, dried herbs and blackberry are the primary flavors. There's a sappiness in this wine that I don't traditionally associate with Syrah, especially US Syrah. Finishes tremendously well and just a stunning bottle of wine. Although it is certainly a terrific food wine, this is actually a bottle that one can drink and ponder...an "intellectual wine". The only regret I have is that I don't own a case full of this.

2004 Clos l'Église (Pomerol) (France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol)

Bought 2 bottles of this during a weekend special sale for $35. And it was definitely a mistake to only buy 2 bottles. Nose shows dark berry fruit, tobacco, tar, earth and violets. On the palate, this retains its dark fruit profile, but the texture is lighter on its feet than the nose and color would make one believe. More silk than velvet. It has cherry and dark chocolate on the palate with an iodine and meaty flavor intermixed. Wonderful freshness with respect to the acidity. Finishes exceptionally well and it's just a terrific wine, especially with food. I drank this at the Austin neighborhood restaurant "Asti" tonight to accompany a dish of homemade Tagliatelle and Lamb al Sugo. Great pairing and I highly recommend this wine. Can be consumed now with some decanting, but it will be in its ideal window in 5 more years and keep for many years after that.

2006 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape (France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape)

I might be a cheap date tonight, but this is drinking wonderfully. Cold smoke, dried herbs and meaty aromas. Kirsch liqueur, garrigue, leather and a touch of chocolate powder on the palate. Finishes well. Has many years left in the tank and should become more interesting, still. Just a really nice wine to drink on a Monday night with a mediterranean-inspired dinner.

2006 Sportoletti Rosso Villa Fidelia Umbria IGT (Italy, Umbria, Umbria IGT)

This was delivered just a few days before it was consumed. As usual, a reliable wine that delivers more flavor than the cost of the wine would lead you to believe. Red berries, cherry, and subtle grilled herb notes and chocolate. Has slightly earthy undertones, but it's primarily a fun wine to drink right now with dinner. Can be cellared for a few years, but I think it's drinking terrific right now already.

2003 Château Lascombes (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux)

This is really shockingly good. I pulled this out of the cellar to go with steak and I wan't expecting fireworks at all. This Lascombes really blew me away though. None of the massive oak I feared I might encounter. No overblown fruit, no elevated alcohol and hot finish. Instead, I found a rather classic Bordeaux that was round, loaded with black currant, leather, some cigar box and nice acidity. Really a lovely wine that would do equally well with fowl or pork as it did with the more flavorful beef.

2006 Azienda Agricola Montevertine Toscana IGT (Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT)

Another stunner. Reminiscent of a very good Rioja, this has the same silky texture and complex palate with interesting dark berry, raspberry and dried herbs. It's fresh, yet powerful. Really one of the great unique wines of the world in my opinion, and it's right there with Chateau Simone in style, and it's unlike any other wine from Italy I have tasted. A curiosity, but an excellent one.

2003 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert (France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage)

One of the best wines I've had all year. Yes, it doesn't aspire to the same heights and glory as the recent Bonneau or Lafite, but I bet I could serve this blind to any wine geek and they'd think I am serving them $100/bottle wine. The depth of the fruit in this wine, the freshness, the spiciness, and the perfect mix of velvety and silky textures are simply amazing. And it's even more astounding that I paid $24 for this years ago. I should have bought cases of this and even then, it still wouldn't be enough. If you can buy this well-stored, it's worth picking some up. This Crozes has many years of improvement ahead of it.

2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard (USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains)

Opened this with traditionally American Christmas Dinner of ham, potatoes, and vegetables. Like the Fleur de Gay the day before, this was a pleasure to drink. Although not as intellectual a wine as the Fleur de Gay the day prior, this was an enjoyable wine that showed restraint for CA Pinot. Deep dark fruit that wasn't too tannic at all and some tree bark and earthiness. Flavorful enough to stand up to the food. Fine choice for this dinner.

1998 Château La Fleur de Gay (France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol)

Served this with Christmas Eve dinner. Prototypically German Christmas food of roasted goose, red cabbage, potato dumplings (Kloesse) and goose gravy. This wine has been burning a hole in the floor of my cellar for some time, and I'm glad I finally opened one. It is beginning to show mature flavors and aromas. A wine that is very animale on the nose in a good way, and its fine, elegant cherry and berry fruit is just lovely. Great freshness, silky texture, and some chocolate, earth, and tobacco. Again, I liked how the acidity in the wine balanced the fattiness of the goose. Bordeaux doesn't get much better than this for me, especially in this price range.