Brand: Rugiada di Erbaluce

Winery: Cà Nova

Vintage: 2007

Appellation: DOC, COLLINE NOVARESI BIANCO

Varietal: 100% ERBALUCE

Winemaker: Gianluca Scaglione

Alcohol %: 12,5%

Average Price: € 8

Tasting notes: From the Northern part of Piedmont – “Alto Piemonte” – , the native grape “Erbaluce” takes its home. Very bright and light yellow on the eye, this wine shows fragrant and fresh fruits scents, with a typical perfume of quince. Then floral perfumes come out. The taste is definitely correspondent with the eye and the nose: dry and fresh, smooth and silky at the same time. Delicate and light.

Drink now through 2010.

Aging: 6 months in stainless steel, plus 3 months in the bottle before delivering.

Food Pairing Suggestions: enjoy that as aperitif, or pair it with young cheese, lake fish, white meat.

General rating: 4 tastevins.

Categories: “classic”.

Winery: Chapoutier

Vintage: 1999

Region: Cote Rotie

Designation: La Mordoree

Varietal: Syrah

Average Price: $170

Wearing my favorite Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran T-shirt, I find my self staring down at two glasses of deep ruby red wine. A battle in itself was about to ensue. The 2000 Chateau Margaux vs. 2000 Chateau Latour in a battle to the death, or should I say digestion! I learned a lot about these wines while tasting them over a one hour period. My initial thoughts were that the Latour was much more impressive and dense, and I felt that the Margaux was a bit lack luster on the palate but showed impressive aromatics. Over the next hour both wines saw improvement with the Margaux gaining ground on the Latour. The Margaux began to really show it true colors, this is a wine about aroma and flavor, there were layers of complex aromatics and tons of fantastic tastes to discover on the palate. There is a certain grace to Margaux that I don’t believe is matched by anyone else. The Latour stayed true to its pauillac Cabernet roots. This wine was dense and full of classic Cabernet backbone. The structure and quality of fruit were impressive to say the least. The Chateau Latour made a clear statement of pedigree and position among the greatest in Bordeaux and quite possibly the world. These wines do require a lot of thought to get the most out of them but I find that an equal amount of humor is required too. I was happy to be enjoying such wonderful wines and made it a point to laugh, enjoy, and relax to better savor the moment. Grand wines deserve adoration but it’s important to remember that having fun with it is just as much apart of the enjoyment of wine as tasting. Notes to follow:

Brand: CALESTAIA

Winery: ROCCAPESTA

Vintage: 2005

Appellation: DOCG, MORELLINO DI SCANSANO RISERVA

Varietal: 100% SANGIOVESE

Winemaker: Paoletti, Bernini, Schuster

Oak: Triple grapes selection. Maceration on skins for 20/25 days. Pre-maceration at 12 °C. Fermentation in steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation in wooden barrels. The wine lays for 24 months in French oak barrels (from 5hl up to 25hl capacity). Once bottled the wine stays in the cellar for a minimum of 12 months.

Alcohol: 14%

Average Price: EUR 23

Brand: Thalassitis Oak Fermented

Winery: Gaia Wines

Vintage: 2008

Appellation: Santorini A.O.C. (Greece – Aegean island)

Varietal: Assyrtiko

Winemaker: Yiannis Paraskevopoulos

Oak: 6 months in new 225 lit French oak casks from the Nevers forest

Average Price: EUR 15

Alcohol: 13,5%

Number of cases: 6.018 (bottles)

Category: Classic! A “banker”; the epitome of its class or ranking, region or country, grape or style

Rating: 4,6 (on a 1 – 5 scale)