Van Duzer, 1995 Oregon Chardonnay.  Approx $11 @ Specs.  Recommendation: Drink.  Best Bottle.  I don't like Chardonnay!  And let me tell you why:  most of the Chardonnay I taste is either from California, or it is mimicking the Cal. style.  I hate fat, buttery, peaches and cream Chard.  That's why I love the steely, flinty, crisp flavor of white Burgundy.  I also have learned that the same lean Chardonnay flavors can be found in the cold climate Chards of Oregon and Washington.  This one's a winner; crisp, acidic, lively.  Amazing that a '95 was still so clean and refreshing.  A good drink and a great food wine.

Quinta de Ventozelo, 1994 LBV Porto.  $?.  Availability in US is questionable.    Recommendation: Drink.  This is one of the bottles Julie and I brought back from Portugal, and it is the shit!  Intense, powerful, dusty.  The '94 Port vintage has been (rightly) lauded as one for the records, and an LBV lets you see why, without waiting until 2009.  A huge flavor, and a great way to end a big meal.  Rich, complex, sweet, tannic, well balanced, everything desirable in a vintage Port.  It had all of us wishing that we smoked cigars...  it was that good!

This is one of Julie's all time favorite wines, and one of the few whites that I get genuinely excited about.  Robert Mondavi coined the phrase Fume Blanc, and set a new fashion when he began fermenting and aging Sauvignon Blanc in French barrels.  The result is a fuller bodied, more complex Sauv Blanc than the crisp, lean style popular before.  Today, most American Suav Blanc is done in the Mondavi style.  But year after year the RM Napa Fume is consistently excellent.

Julie found the '99 to be a little less oaky, and a little more acidic than last year's vintage.  Fine flavor and good finish.  Monster that I am, I poured it with fettuccini in a tomato meat sauce!  Still, the Fume has enough body to handle crazy shit like that.

Another find from my in-laws wine cupboard (see Dec. 22).  We went over for X-mas dinner and I found a venerable bottle of Woodbridge Cab.  This is a good example of the fact that even some of the "cheap" grocery store brands can get a lot more interesting if put aside for a few years.  But who goes to the trouble of saving a $6 bottle 4 years?  I'm guessing this was not so much saved; more put up and forgotten.  Still, a lucky thing.  Great taste, smooth finish, no off flavors, real Cab complexity.  Worked great with the turkey, falling off the bone and strongly flavored with rosemary.

Cavit, 2000 Pinot Grigio, Italy.  1.5 L approx. $9.  I'm not a huge fan of Pinot Grigio in general, and found this one a little thin.  No off flavors, nothing bad...  just nothing there.  Recommendation: Don't Drink.

Escondido, 2000 Merlot & Pinot Noir, Texas.  $5-$7 each.  Julie and I like Escondido enough that we served both of these at our wedding.  I consider it the strongest brand of Texas wines under $20.  Always dependable.  Recommendation: Drink.

Turning Leaf Res., 1999 Pinot Noir, California.  approx. $9.  One of Gallo's better efforts in a Pinot, this wine is a little lacking in body, but has a very pleasant flavor.  Of course, I was feel'n pretty good by that point.  Recommendation: Drink.

I remember in 99 while I was still at Glazers the 97 Coastal Pinot got a very favorable review (don't remember where) and it simply disappeared.  Apparently some extra Napa juice was redirected into the Coastal brand that year, and the result was a huge wine for the price.  Pinot was not a big thrust of their mid-priced line, and they did not anticipate the demand.

Imagine my surprise when I found a bottle of '97 Coastal Pinot in my in-law's wine cabinet!  They came over for dinner tonight and we enjoyed it with a roast.  Fantastic!  At four years it's holding up great.  After breathing just a few minutes it was smooth and full flavored.  It didn't have that grape-Kool Aide flavor I associate with cheap Pinot.  Well balanced with a dusty finish.  Killer!  Unfortunately, I'm not too sure if this description will hold true for the more recent vintages.

Every year on the Solstice I drink a toast to my father's birthday.  This year was a little bitter sweet knowing that he did not live to see Dylan born.  Still, I always keep it upbeat and try to have something a little out of the ordinary.  This year I opened one of the bottles Julie and I brought back from vacation in Portugal.  I tasted this beautiful, dry Madeira after a great meal in a little restaurant on the Island, and insisted on bringing a bottle back.

If you aren't familiar, Madeira is a fortified wine very similar to Sherry.  Like Sherry, the sweet Madeira is better known, but I love the dry Madeira seco.  This one tastes like toasted almonds, vanilla and lemon.  Very nice to relax with!  I think it's available at Specs, but I have no idea what you would pay.

Ok, ok...  I'm as surprised as the rest of you to be talking about Action Jackson.  I was a bit embarrassed to even buy a KJ product, but I'm a sucker for blends, and it's two of my favorite grapes.  But I'm always looking to try something new, plus the price was right.

I found the Collage to have a lot more body than I expected, and a good, peppery, Rhone-like flavor.  It didn't have that "hot in the mouth" feel associated with "Zin under ten".  Julie enjoyed it too, although I drank most of the bottle and went to bed happy.

I hate to say it, but KJ really made a good wine this time.  There is also a Collage Cab-Shiraz, and I may have to give it a try.