For these tastings I try to provide wines that are available within the Pennsylvania State system so that readers can find the wines, but sometimes I get to taste wines people have brought from elsewhere. Where the wines are available in the PA, I have indicated the PLCB's product code.

Wine notes for the week of July 13, 2009:

 Bouza "Las Violetas" Albarino 2007, Uruguay (PLCB code 28884) - Even with its recent vintage printed right on the label, this wine tasted like it was too old. The aroma of an oxidated wine dominated the bouquet--it reminded me quite a bit of dry sherry when I smelled it. It was medium bodied, and had a light, dry finish that was pretty brief, but there were few identifiable flavors--honey? Maybe even Honeydew melon, but these subtle flavors could not offset the harsh nose and uninspired experience of drinking this wine. At any price, I wouldn't buy this wine again, so seeing that it cost $15 is a little tough to swallow, no pun intended. Hopefully there are other Uruguayan wines out there that show more promise.

Mark Kreydenweiss "Partager avec Toi" Alsace Grand Cru Weibelsberg Riesling 2004, France (PCLB code 21490) - This was an interesting wine tasting experience. It didn't have a lot of those floral and peach aromas in the nose that we often associate with Riesling (even when they are dry)--in fact, there was little to distinguish the nose at all. And at first taste, the flavors were sour lemon, honey, and mineral notes. It seemed sort of blah and uninteresting. But considering the wine's age, we opted to let it open up a bit and try second tastes, to find that there were very sublte dry peach flavor in the wine. It definitely grew on me and was worth the $10, although as with most dry Rieslings, it would be better suited to be consumed with food than alone.

Montevina Terra d'Oro Moscato 2006, California (PLCB code 18111) - Now THIS wine had all that fresh peach and flowery aromas I was (perhaps mistakenly) expecting from the Riesling. It was very full-bodied and bordered on syrup, as it tasted like the liquid found in canned peaches. There was not much balancing acidity, which added to the syrup quality, although I will say it stopped short of being cloying. My best suggestion for serving this wine would be to serve it by itself as dessert--even though it wasn't really a dessert wine, I thought it could easily serve as such--or pairing it with a creamy, not-too-sweet dessert like cheesecake. Originally $10, now $7 in the PA state system.

 Guenoc Petit Sirah 2002, Northcoast California (PLCB code 54401, SLO, for 2006 vintage) - This red was pretty light bodied, and its nose made me first think of Cabernet Sauvignon. In spite of it's light weight, it packed lots of dried red fruit flavors as well as tobacco and leather. Not having the current available vintage to compare it to, it's hard to know if this wine developed these flavors over the course of the past 7 years. Regardless, it aged nicely and really was a dry, firm, well-structured red. Current release sells for $14.50 in PA

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Week of June 29, 2009 

Week of July 6, 2009