750 mL An independent public journal of tasting notes for wines from around the world--750 mL at a time. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 133 2879

Articles from 750 mL

03 Fattoria di Felsina, Fontalloro 2007-05-16 18:13:00 Felsina is putting out some tremendous sangiovese. Everyone likes it--from Parker to Gambero Rosso, who has given his rare Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses) award to Felsina (over 20) times. Like the '00 Fontalloro (which left me breathless), the 03 is so Tuscan it's anti-Tuscan. Today, at least, when some Tuscans have all but physically moved to Napa and Bordeaux. It's ...

05 Magnificent Wine Company, Columbia Valley House Wine 2007-05-14 06:27:00 Man, the House Wine has become such a commodity. What was an unbelievable bargain has "matured" to become just another everyday table wine. A good one, mind you, but nothing like the ones of a few years ago, which gave every northwest cabernet at three times the price a run for the money (Andrew Will, Walla Walla, the list goes on). Now, its competition is more in the class of cheap Spanish ...

05 Bodegas Naia, Rueda Verdejo Naia 2007-05-13 16:28:00 If Chablis, with all its Loire-like limestone and Kimmerdigian clay, can be considered a part of Bourgogne, maybe this is Rueda's claim to the AOC. Second only to Naia's own Naia des, it's a legendary verdejo that does more with the grape than most would ever think possible. Fresh and lemony, with notes of sea salt, honeysuckle, and flint, it's every bit as simple as it is complex--a wine that's ...

05 Domaine de Pouy, Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne 2007-05-05 13:06:00 In the same vinosphere as the tart alvarinho-, loureiro-, and trajadura-based wines of kindred Vinho Verde in northwestern Portugal, Domaine de Pouy has stood out every year--unpretentious, satisfying, and deceptively complex. It is the best ugni blanc (trebbiano) on the market--a reason (the only reason) not to distill this grape down to brandy--lean and green with flinty acidity, refreshing ...

05 Les Jamelles, Vin de Pays d'Oc L'Etang-Vergy Pinot Noir 2007-05-04 20:09:00 Wildly ripe and acidic to the point of acetic, this is a confused, confusing take on pinot noir--an "I'll be damned if you tell me how to grow my grapes" wine, where "terroir" takes a backseat to "whatever the hell we could do." Boisterous. Spicy. Loud. Frappant (only for its violent French root). These are some of the words that come to mind. I think the Les Jamelles was startled when I opened ...

04 Chateau de la Dimerie, Muscadet de Sevre et Maine sur Lie 2007-04-17 18:14:00 This wine is a broken watch--time stuck inside as the world ticks on without it. Oh, I can be so cheesy. And that would normally just be a lame metaphor, were there not some truth to it. This review takes place 24 hours after pouring the wine in my glass--a point at which most wines would have at least begun to turn. But this powerful, stubborn white stayed put through the night. A half-glass ...

04 Clos la Coutale, Cahors 2007-04-14 20:59:00 A squirrel lived here once. Not in Cahors, but in this bottle. A squirrel wearing a leather jacket. Why a squirrel? I don't know--because there's something fidgety about this wine, something quick, lean, and gamey. The 80% malbec--far better than its cousins from South America-- is wild in that way, a damp soil midden full of bitter chocolate, flint, fall leaves, and campfire embers. All of which ...

NV Aveleda, Vinho Verde 2007-04-12 23:26:00 This tastes like Slice--a pallid metaphor for lemon and lime that would pair fittingly with cocktail shrimp or canned salad nicoise. Slightly fizzy, slightly flabby, slightly dull, and completely satisfying on a warm day. A reason to mow the lawn. Or move to Miami. Glasses optional. Sleeveless tees required. ...

04 Celler Can Blau, Montsant 2007-04-04 22:08:00 Straddling Priorato like fresh legs around an untamed horse, the innocence of Can Blau's Montsant is what makes it so good. You expect it to fall off, but then it locks in its heels. A depth-charge of fresh blueberries, muddled raspberries, and chalky mineral, the fruit explodes, as if atomized through a cloud of eraser dust. There's syrah down there. Deep. And it bleeds slowly over an hour, ...

01 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Leognan Blanc 2007-03-24 11:52:00 Maybe it's the taste of chalkboard and mint-eucalyptus cough drops, but I feel like I'm back in school, sitting by the back window on a breezy fall day. Proving that terroir absolutely exists, the 01 Chevalier tastes first like Bordeaux--before we even consider the sauvignon blanc (70%) and semillon (30%) varietals that grow widely in this region of France. From the heavy drainage and gravel ...

01 Luis Pato, Baga 2007-03-17 11:39:00 Here's yet another bad bottle of Pato's (young vines?) Baga. While I have a rule to not write up spoiled bottles, it seems relevant to talk about this one because more the half the bottles I've had have been off. Though never particularly complex--a dumb cousin, in fact, of the legendary old vines version--it's at least plush and fruity when it's right. It's just a crapshoot, though, and I'm sick ...

01 Chateau Montus, Madiran 2007-03-09 19:55:00 It's like the start of a snowball fight. All the flurry and excitement keeping you warm, while the ice seeps slowly into your shoe. That's what's going on here--a gorgeous, powerful showing of 80% tannat and 20% cabernet from southern France that tastes of every speck of dirt these grapes grow in. On first taste and smell, I'd swear there was a pig's leg pickled inside the bottle (in my ...