TABLAS CREEK VINEYARD ESPRIT DE BEAUCASTEL BLANC - 2007

A blend of three estate varietals with 13.5% alcohol. Made from 68% Roussane, 22% Grenache Blanc, 10% Picpoul Blanc. The vines were imported from the Beaucastel estate.

TASTING NOTES:

Pale golden color with a floral, lemon nose. Very viscous and oily with bright acidity. Lots of honey, caramel, apple-pear and citrus. There are spicy oak undertones and great minerality on the finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

90 PTS

A very polished effort with finesse and style. Vibrant yet not over-the-top. The alcohol is subdued and doesn't creep up like most white blends have a tendency to do. A really great wine that could pass for French rather than California. A terrific spring white wine.

E. GUIGAL CHATEAUNEUF DU PAPE - 1998

13.5% alcohol.

TASTING NOTES:

Reddish-brown hue with a nose of earth and mushrooms. On the palate it is incredibly soft and smooth with licorice, blackberry and cherry fruit juice. Some pepper and leather.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

90 PTS

The red Rhone blend has seen better days. Having tasted this a few years ago, the fruit was vibrant, grapey and was delicious. It was clearly at its best. Now, the wine has changed. It has become very subtle and more earthy. A very different experience and one that can't say I prefer even though it is still a very enjoyable effort. Purchased for $25 a bottle many moons ago. If you have this in your cellar, I'm not sure if you want to hold it any longer.

COLUMBIA CREST MERLOT GRAND ESTATES - 2005

13.5% alcohol.

TASTING NOTES:

Dark ruby color with mocha, oak and coffee on the nose. Red and black fruits are overshadowed by huge amounts of creamy vanilla oak. Cassis and blackberry on the mid-palate give way to black cherry candy on the finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

88 PTS

For $10 a bottle this is a screaming value. It overachieves its price category. It is a heavy on the oak but forgiveable given the quality, flavor profile and balance. Easy drinking crowd pleaser alert!

BORSAO CAMPO DE BORJA - 2007

From Spain with 14% alcohol. A blend of 75% Garnacha and 25% Tempranillo. Fermented and aged in stainless steel.

TASTING NOTES:

Vibrant red color with black pepper and grape candy on the nose. Raspberries and red fruit with licorice and liqueur. Meaty and ripe. Some back-end heat detracts a bit from the wine.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

87 PTS

For $8 a bottle it is pretty hard to complain about the quality. This wine has a great QPR. I wish it had a more finesse and a little less alcohol on the finish. That is all that is keeping this effort from being superior.

VINA ALMAVIVA - 2001

A joint venture between Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and Concha y Toro. A Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, and Cabernet Franc.

TASTING NOTES:

Black-red color with a nose of coffee and strawberry-raspberry. Intense, rich, incredibly saturated like a Spanish Rioja or an Australian fruit bomb Shiraz, but with more finesse. Good structure with black currant, blackberry-cherry liqueur and oak. There's even a bit of asparagus on the finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

90 - 91 PTS

I've had other vintages of this wine that were far superior. This $80 - $100 wine does not deliver the goods one would expect from this kind of price category. Although it is wine made with great quality and effort, for me it is a pass. You could buy two or three great wines for the price of this one.

EX LIBRIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON - 2006

13.5% alcohol. Cabernet Sauvignon with a dash of Merlot & Syrah. From Columbia Valley, Washington.

TASTING NOTES:

Purple in color with charred oak and a grape jam nose. A little candied fruit action reminds me of an Aussie Shiraz. Very jammy with cherry and charred oak as well on the palate. Black cherry candy finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

87 PTS

Retails for $16. A very solid wine with great concentration and vibrant fruit. Like an NCAA team on the bubble to make the March Madness Tournament, this wine is on the line of recommending. Enjoyable but not exciting or dynamic enough to warrant a full-fledged recommendation.

BANFI, BELNERO AND THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

From the dark fog of last year's Brunello scandal, Banfi has emerged sagacious and smelling as sweet as the rose petal and raspberry bouquet found in their Rosa Regale sparkler. For those of you who might not know, Banfi, as well as many other producers, came under fire from Italian authorities who claimed that varietals other than Sangiovese were being blended into Brunello di Montalcino. A violation of DOCG regulations, the accusation led to the US government blocking Brunello importation, a formal investigation, and a "wine headache" for all involved. Lab tests eventually cleared Banfi of any impropriety.

Instead of letting this be a thorn in the side, it has given charismatic Christina Mariani-May, the family proprietor and face of Banfi, the perspicacity to take on new challenges. The biggest of them all is the release of a new terrior-driven wine, BelnerO.

BelnerO Proprietor's Reserve 2005 is the debut vintage and retails at approximately $39 a bottle. It is made primarily of Sangiovese with small amounts of Cabernet and Merlot mixed in and has an alcohol content of 13.5%. Dark red in color, the wine is smooth, soft, and forward drinking. On the nose and palate, there's ample vanilla oak, black cherry, and mocha. It is an 88+ point effort that is ready to drink now but still has cellar aging potential. The wine is nitrogen bottled to minimize sulfites and unfiltered. It also underwent a unique patented fermentation process. The fruit is gravity fed into fermenters with French oak staves inside, but the cap and base are made of stainless steel. This allows for the best of both worlds. The must is able to to absorb oxygen and flavor from the oak, while the stainless steel allows for temperature control, health, and cleanliness.

The thirty year history of Banfi has also yielded a new book, The Pursuit of Excellence, which is a journey through the research, technology, and resources that led to the development of the "dark beauty" BelnerO.

Christina, who is as approachable as the wines she makes, has set forth to embrace the New World generation of wine by honoring Old World elegance, family tradition and values. Banfi was also awarded by the International Standardization Organization, the distinguished honor of being the first winery in the world certified for exceptional environmental, social, ethical and customer satisfaction.

What all of this means for the consumer is that Banfi's time honored dedication to excellence will allow for great Italian wines to continue to be brought to the marketplace.

The book is available for purchase from the Online Store at castellobanfi.com, in addition to other online retailers, including Amazon.com.