2002 Louis Jadot Volnay Clos des Chenes

The 2002 Clos Des Chenes is a light and lovely wine. Nice balanced fruit taste - pommengranite perhaps, a light strawberry nose, and a thyme floral note with a medium finish that is pleasant. The color is beautiful transuscent light red. Perfect aperitif wine, with lovely "drinkability" that is near perfect start to the end of 2009 - 90 points.

2000 Mario Marengo Brunate

The Marengo is a real delight. The wine is complex, exploding with vanillin, with a sweet praline nose. This wine balances sweetness with almost mint-like tannins that delight from start to finish. The wine is a medium brick color, that is drinking marvellously - especially with pasta, italian sausage , and pommegrante. Bottom line this is a lovely wine that I think is generally underated. 94 points.

2000 Paolo Scavino Cannubi

The Cannubi is a nice wine filled with sweet light cherries, hibiscus, and a surprising rosemary thyme nose. The color is auburnish brick. The finish is very tannin and a bit astringent, though overall this is a very nice wine worthy of 90 points.

2000 Elio Altare La Morra

The Elio Altare is an explosive, exhuberant wine with very ripe dark red cherries. The taste is as the nose - with fantastic deep black cherries with a very, very long and supple velvety licorice finish. The color is deep brick. This wine has aged beautifully and deserves at least 93 points.

2000 Don Melchor Concha y Toro

The Don Melchor was disappointing right from the start. The nose was diesel and latex with an oily finish. The black color, long austere finish, and brie-like flavor result in a generous 75 points.

2000 Elio Altare Arborina

The Elio Artare Arborina is sensational. It is filled with high top red cherry notes with long dark cherry finish. 92 Points.

2000 Bois de Boursan Cuvee Felix

The 2000 Cuvee Felix was simply a great bottle. The garnett color, complex nose of black fruits and long fennel finish just work, remarkably, memorable, like great wines. This one certainly is. 92 points.

2000 Shafer Relentless

I have not tried Shafer Relentless in a while. The color is dark red, and the flavor is unctuos, syrupy, and almost "Nyquilian" (Cherry Nyquil) aromatic. Like its name its finish is relentless. I liked this wine better younger a few years ago. 88 points.

1999 Pomerol Vieux Chateau Certain

This wine is drinking beautifully right now. The wine is balanced, structured, complex, blooming with cassis, and black fruits. The color is deep red. The finish is velvety. Overall a fantastic showing, that is nearly perfect with passion fruit pork loin with aromatic cous-cous. Love it. Love it. 95 points.

2002 Ken Wright Pinot Noir Wahle Vineyard

The 2002 Wahle vineyard flavor is surprisingly acidic, musty, and tutti-fruti floral - sort of a Smith & Hawken meets Beaujolais. The finish is medium tannin, with lateral astringency and minerality and a final residual chutney-like sweetness. Though I cannot say I love it, I still like it. 89 points.

2005 Soter Beacon Hill Pinot Noir

The Soter 2005 is complex and delicious right out of the bottle with blooming lavender, tarragon, and aromatic raspberries. The color is lighter ruby than I remember. The long finish is both burgundian and willamettetian and evolves sip after sip and finally resolving as a caramel creme brulee. I have tasted this wine nearly every quarter for the past 4 years, and have enjoyed every bottle - especially with mediterranean branzino with dill, fennel, capers, " a la sal". and close venezuelan "panas" in this upcoming north east snow blizzard - 92 points.

2001 Rioja Valsacro Dioro Seleccion

The 2001 valsacro nose is pleasant though not remarkable. The color is deep red, and the flavour starts with some unidentifiable cassis derrivative with a finish that is still tight, tannic, and undecided. Like my rating - 88

2001 Termanthia Numanthia-Termes

The Ternmatia is sensational right out of the bottle, reminiscing the very first time I tasted it in an unmarked bottle at Charleston in Baltimore with Dr. Jay Miller, nearly a decade ago, provided by a gentleman introduced as Jorge Ordonez. The nose is chocolate cherry mocha - like the massive taste yet sweeter versions of Pomerol's finest, with a beautiful velvety long lasting finish that you don't want to end. Viva Espana. 98 points .

1994 Pomerol L'Evangile

The woody nose of the L'Evangile 1994 is at first musty. Taste is earthy, ashy, and strong finish. The nose that eventualy emerges is as I remember it - old world - all the way - as if it was a Conterno Monfertino. 90 points. Probably deserves more. A second bottle atwo weeks later showed much more sweetness and fruit - all worthy of 2 extra points - 92 points

2002 Dujac Gevrey Chambertin Aux combottes

This is a lovely, pretty wine, floral, light red, strawberry with long strong finish. 90 points

2002 Jouan Gevrey-Chambertin

Oil of Bergamont earl grey nose with hibiscus pollen, light ruby color with pleasant and almost swollen tanninish finish. I give it 92 points

2008 Lewis

The Lewis is extraordinary. Chocolate, Moccha exhude. This one is a keeper. 93 points on its way to 95 points. Love it.

2002 Capitain Gagnerot Aloxe-Corton Les Moutottes 1er Cru

The 2002 Les Moutottes is a lovely wine straight away. Light bright red color, rose and cotton candy nose with light refined red cherry finish make it a perfect wine for grilled salmon, spinach/shitake/parmesan/mushroom quiche, and asparagus cous-cous. This is an effortless wine to drink that is deliciously light. 88 points. May even deserve higher points - I am glad to have a case to see how it evolves.

2003 Dog Point Pinot Noir Malborough

The 2003 Dog Point tastes like it sounds. The color is fine, the nose is strawberry shortcake sweet - like its flavour and the finish is cheap, flat and not so cheerfull musty. I suspect I should have tried it earlier. 80 points.

1999 Barbaresco Giorgio Pelissero Vanotu

The 1999 Pelissero is drinking beautifully. The maroon red color, precocious red cherry nose is filled with currants and the finish is filled with long lasting concentrated cherry cassis flavour. Perfect with Prosciutto, Funghi, Spinach, and anchovie pizza. This forward muscular wine delights right out of the bottle and evolved enjoyably though the evening. 92 points.

2002 Peter Michael Les Pavots

The 2002 Peter Michael "Les Pavots" is simply sensational right off the bat. Dark intense color, full complex nose of blackberry, plum, figs, dark cherries. The finish is long, satiny, velvety, and remarkably easy to drink with dark fruits that seem to last forever. This is one of the best wines I have tasted this year. 99 Points. Maybe 100.

2001 Domaine Raymond Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape

The 2001 Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape is auburn red out of the bottle. The nose is vegetal fennel, earthy, and woody with an initially unrecognizable aromatic top note that reveals itself later as cigarette ash. The first taste is full, suprisingly richly sweet with cola and anise. The finish is long though mono-dimensionally cedar-like syrup. Seems like it works reasonably well with Thai food. 88 points.

2001 Morey-St-Denis Lambrays "Les Loups"

The 2001 Lambrays "Les Loups" excudes an aromatic floral nose right out of the bottle, with a recessive sweet cooton candy mint after note. The color is light and mature. The taste is sharp vegetal with an almost astringent bi-modal finish that lasts like gravel and fades to an egg-shell aftertaste... I would stick with the nose. 88 Point Rating

1999 Barolo Falletto Bruno Giacosa # 2369

The Falletto 99 is drinking beautifully with dark brick color, intense eucalyptus-like black cherry nose, astringent tannin (still) and long lasting spicy woody finish. We are tasting it with wild fall mushroom and swiss chard gnudi, served with extracted mushroom broth, and it shows as an earthy muscular barolo. 92 points.

2002 Dujac Clos de la Roche

The Dujac Clos de la Roche 2002 - aromatic, delicate, with a long tannic "bordeausian" finish and a lingering delicious "sweet chery" note. The wine is perfect with Branzino, grilled zuchinni, and avocado salade. The open lavender floral note and balanced flavour show very well today in 2009 - though additional cellaring will round out the wine even more. 92 points and worth it.