Louis Tete, 2000 "Le Tot" Beaujolais Villages.  $?   Recommendation:  Drink.  Aaron and Angelique's neighbors brought this bottle along.  They first tasted it at a country club wine dinner, and picked up a bottle (or more?) for themselves.  This bottle serves as a reminder that Kool Aide flavored swill and hangovers are not all Beaujolais has to offer.  In the hands of a good wine maker, Beaujolais can show remarkable depth while retaining its light texture and lively flavor.  This one offered the slight hint of raspberry and oak.

Leonard Kreusch, 1999 "Twisted River" Gewürztraminer, Germany.  $9.  Recommendation:  Drink.  Ever since the sudden success of Skyy Vodka, few have been able to resist the lure of a cobalt-blue glass bottle.  Honestly, I don't understand why every other bottle on the shelf isn't blue.  This is a great Gewurtz, as fun and snazzy to drink as the bottle it came in.  Bright grapefruit, zingy but well balanced acidity, rich texture and a not-too-sweet sweetness.  Outstanding complement to asparagus with lots of garlic.

Julie and I picked this bottle up remembering the romance of our trip to Portugal last summer.  Vinho Verde is a white wine made in northern Portugal.  The name, meaning green wine, refers to the fact that it is drunk young, usually one or two years old.  They drink it everywhere over there.  This is not a serious wine.  It has a scant 9% alcohol, a light texture, slight effervescence, and a refreshing, almost thirst-quenching flavor.  Dry and every-so-slightly fruity, Vinho Verde tastes more like Fresca than anything else.  A summer wine, an afternoon wine, a swimming pool wine, an "I can't believe I drank a whole bottle" wine.  Try one. 

Several areas along California's long central coast, from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, have been recognized for their wine growing potential in the last 15 years.  One of the late "discoveries" has been Paso Robles, in San Louis Obispo County.  J. Lohr is one of the best labels I know of from the area.  I've always thought of it as a restaurant wine, just because during my time at Glazers it was on a bunch of great wine lists and had very little retail exposure.  Restaurants love that because the insane mark-up is less transparent.    But a value this good can't stay a secret forever.

The Seven Oaks Cab is a big, robust wine.  Julie rightly pointed out the flavor of spicy green pepper.  While this was a great wine to drink, I think a couple more years in the bottle will do great things for it.

In 1999 Gallo resurrected the Gallo Sonoma line as its signature fine wine brand. Since then Gina Gallo has made some mighty fine wine.  The Cab, Merlot and Chard have remained approachable and right around the $10 price point.  But the Pinot Noir has been consistently used to make a statement.  Prices a few dollars higher than the others, the Pinot has been the vehicle to go after awards and ratings without breaking the $20 mark.  This 97 Russian River Valley wine was the original Pinot Noir release in 99, and I remember at the time it got a lot of attention.  Critics raved the quality, Pinot fans applauded the value, and competitors complained that Gallo was giving away Russian River fruit to buy respectability.  They were all correct.

Now five years old, this wine is a serious drink.  The flavor cuts a deep groove right down the center of the tongue, a special feeling only mature Pinot can give.  It's tannic and balanced, rich, deep, and very tasty.  Grab a bottle if you see one (unlikely), and invite me to join you.  Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  The current Gallo of Sonoma Pinot release carries the broader Sonoma County appellation, not Russian River.  Gallo of Sonoma offers several excellent estate and single vineyard Pinots, but I don't know when a wine this good will be offered for $13 again.

I like a bottle with a story behind it, and this is one of the more interesting ones I've come across.  A couple of months ago me and my coworkers were visited by a team from Harris Interactive, an online research provider.  Over dinner it came out that I had a background in the wine biz, and that one of their VPs had his own vineyard in upstate New York.  Well...  last week guess what showed up at the office!

Like many wines grown on the East Coast, Knight is made with a native American grape.  All of the wines we know (Cab, Chard, Merlot...) are from the European genus Vinifera.  But several American species can make good wines, among them Catawba, Concord, Mustang...  and Elvira?

I had never heard of this one, and really had to dig to find any mention.  Nothing to do but chill it and try it.  Elvira is a full bodied white wine with a creamy, Chardonnay texture, a Riesling sweetness, and a pungent herbal flavor.  This flavor, typically called "foxy" in wine literature, is common among, and unique to American varietal wines.

Still tasting very well.  See Dec. 27 archive review.