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