Over the course of a week, I taste a bunch of wine, usually with friends, and almost always with my wife.  Here are some of the wines we tasted over the past few weeks. These are wines that were not sent as samples—in most cases, I actually paid for these wines (although a few have been given as gifts).

2015 Attune Chardonnay Station Ranch, Carneros, CA: Retail $36. Very Heavy Bottle (719g; 1lb 9.4oz). 175 Cases. I received a couple of bottles of this wine way back in 2017 as samples. I tasted the first rather quickly (within a couple of months) and really liked it (92 Points). This bottle? It became lost in the cellar, for the most part, on a rack that is around the corner and a bit of a mess. But I dug it out tonight to have after a meal at my in-law’s house. Well. The meal? Fantastic. The wine? It was pretty darned good as well. Near golden in color, but with no signs of oxidation, the nose emits plenty of citrus (lemon curd) and significant oak, which makes sense as it was aged for 15 months in French oak, 30% of which was new. The palate has a nice zing and lovely fruit, but it has may have faded a bit since 2017 when I tasted the other bottle. Sure, some might nitpick, but I feel this has developed nicely. Excellent. 91 Points.

NV Barbier-Louvet Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée D’Ensemble, France: Retail $55. Exceedingly Heavy Bottle (847g; 1lb 13.9oz). 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay. Another fantastic bottle. I will likely get more if I can. The winery is located in Tauxières-Mutry, a Premier Cru village on the Montagne de Reims, but the wine is classified as a Grand Cru, so the fruit likely comes from the nearby villages of Bouzy and Louvois. Pale to golden straw in the glass with plenty of green apple and fresh brioche. Yum. The palate is fruity, lively, and rich, with a lengthy finish–just delicious from start to finish. Very Good. 88 Points.

NV Gardet Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs, France: Retail $60. Ridiculously Heavy Bottle (836g; 29.5oz). 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier. This holds true with previous bottles. While certainly worth the $29 we paid at Last Bottle Wines, the $38 I was charged at Vivino? I would pass. Still, a great quaff for a Jason Bourne bingefest. Straw to slightly golden in the glass with lovely tree fruit (tons of golden apple) paired with that baked bread aspect that defines champagne. The palate is vibrant and tart with ample fruit and a nice finish. I feel like this cuvée could benefit from a lower dosage (i.e., less sugar, which is listed as 8g/l, right in the middle of “Brut”). Very Good. 89 Points.

NV Lacourte Godbillon Champagne Premier Cru Brut Rosé, France: Retail $50? $39 on Garagiste. Really Heavy bottle (837g; 1lb 13.5 oz). 100% Pinot Noir. Now the second bottle of this wine we have had and I still think it’s a solid wine, for $39 plus tax and shipping from Garagiste, I think there are certainly better values out there. A fairly intense orange-ish pink in the glass with fresh strawberry and cherry on the nose, quite refreshing. The palate is rather tart and even on the verge of austere, with good red berry fruit, an intense tartness, and a vibrant sparkle. I am not sure what the dosage is here and while I love me a low-dosage champers, this clearly could use a small shot of sugar. Maybe I nitpick, but this is austere even for me. Excellent. 90 Points.

2005 Bodegas y Viñedos Recoletas Ribera del Duero Reserva, Spain: Retail $25? Heavy Bottle (631g; 22.2oz). 100% (?) Tinto Fino (Tempranillo). I bought four bottles of this wine from WTSO back in 2013 and this is the final bottle. It has been more than a minute since the last bottle (no, not that Last Bottle Wines), but the most recent notes still stand: Dark, on the verge of inky, in the glass, with black currant, plum, allspice on the nose. The palate is pretty close to joyous with plenty of fruit (mostly dark), earth, anise, and a hint of spice. I really liked the first bottle (2014), loved the second (2017), and was close to over-the-moon with the third (2020) and this final bottle falls right in line. Outstanding. 93 Points.

2013 Château des Sarrins Côtes de Provence Rouge. France: Retail $25. Very Heavy Bottle (732g; 1 lb9.8oz). Two-thirds of the blend are Grenache and Syrah, the rest being Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carignan. I bought two bottles of this wine when I visited the winery way back in 2016. I remember this wine (red represents only 10% of the production in Provence) as a marvel. Fruity, but marvelous, with oodles of character and plenty of chutzpah. Today? Loaded with Brett beyond belief. I swirled. I decanted. I doubled-decanted. I swirled some more. And then some more. Offensive. Still. I let it sit for another 24 hours, but it was still Brett-y beyond the pale. Argh. So frustrated. 78 Points. And that is generous.

WINE OF THE WEEK: This blog is well into its thirteenth year and I have been writing about our weekly wine consumption for nearly each of those 700 or so weeks. I can safely say that this is the first time that I have selected a wine for the prestigious Wine of the Week for which I did not include an “official” review. So why buck that trend? Two reasons. First, the 2021 Château d’Esclans Garrus Rosé (~$250 in magnum) is quite possibly the best rosé I have ever had. I took the magnum over to a friend’s house to make dinner since we were (once again) without power and it was International Rosé Day (or some such nonsense). Since I was busy cooking, chatting, and drinking, I did not sit down and take a formal note, but I can say that this wine was incredible and easily in the 97+ point range. Oh, the other reason I went against the grain this week? I realized I had no photos of the other wines and the recycling truck has taken all the bottles away.

What was/were your Wine(s) of the Week?