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 this last week that stood out:

2008 Argyle Brut: Retail $20-25. Mostly some muted citrus on the nose and quite bright on the palate. Perhaps not as acidic as the 2006, but this wine shows that Argyle really makes an outstanding sparkler every year. Very Good. 88-90 Points.

2011 Blockheadia Ringnosii Pinot Noir: Retail $30? I opened this to drink while cooking dinner, only planning to drink maybe a glass–we ended up finishing the whole bottle. The fruit was a bit over the top and there was perhaps too much heat (14.4%), but the fruit was enticing–blackberry and blueberry jam with the just right amount of acidity. Is this a great food wine? Probably not. It is a great Monday-evening-watching-60-Minutes-on-the-DVR-wine, however. Very Good to Outstanding. 88-90 Points.

2002 La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion: Retail $35? Initially, quite vegetal with a bunch of green pepper coming through–understandable since ’02 was not the greatest of years in Bordeaux. After a bit of time, the pepper subsided, exposing a bit of raspberry, leather, and heat. The last of which surprised me (given the weak vintage) and then I noticed the “13%” on the bottle. The heat was only slightly noticeable on the palate, but the wine seemed a bit disjointed. Still, not bad with the skirt steak. Good to Very Good. 85-87 Points.

2012 Couly-Dutheil Chinon Rosé Domaine René Couly: Retail $20. I have had a few of these now, and I am a fan. Great fruit, lacking a bit in the acidity department, but every time I pop one I think of Chinon, a town that I dig…. Very Good. 86-88 Points.

1995 De Loach Zinfandel Gambogi Ranch: Retail $30? I am an unabashed fan of older Zins–this was our second bottle of this one and the first was very good but for whatever reason, this was noticeably better. Tons of rich fruit and great balance. This was incredible. Outstanding, even. This is exactly why I look for the older Zin. 91-93 Points.

2005 Faiveley Rully Les Villeranges: Retail $25. I got these in an online auction and I was a bit worried. As soon as the UPS guy got here, I plunged one into some ice and scrounged for a cork screw. On the nose, well, not really a lot of fruit other than lemon and a bit of hazelnut. On the palate, all kinds of tartness and just a rumor of lemon. The hazelnut is there, though, and it is not all bad. Very Good. 86-88 Points.

NV Knot Wines Sinnet Sparkling Rosé: Retail $25? Quite rich, and a bit lacking in the bubble department, I nonetheless liked this wine. It seemed closer to a Kir Royale than a straight up sparkling wine, but hey, I like me a Kir Royale…. Good to Very Good. 85-87 Points.

2010 Martin Pasler Pinot Blanc: Retail $15. No one will confuse this with a blockbuster. No one will plan a meal around this wine, either, but when this wine is in your fridge and it is Friday at 5:00, there might not be a better wine in the world. Good acidity and ample fruit. Very Good. 86-88 Points.

2000 Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel Carla’s Vineyard: Retail $25. I decided to pop this after the De Loach, and there is no doubt that it would have shown better if I had done it the other way around. The fruit is a bit muted, resulting in a rather austere wine. Still Very Good. 87-89 Points.

2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese: Retail ~$35. I pulled this out to serve to a German riesling connoisseur (thewinegetter.com) so I was a bit nervous, but I found it outstanding—intense petrol on the nose with great fruit on the palate. Ample, but not bracing acidity and a rather good match for the Korean barbecue. Outstanding. 90-92 Points.

1989 Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel Hendry Ranch: Retail $25? I just got this shipped to me the day before and I knew I should wait for it to calm down a bit before popping one. But I could not wait. There are not many people out there that would look forward to a 25 year old Zin (much less have any) but that is right in my wheelhouse–with age, good zins start to resemble Pinot. This was no different. Earth and fruit on the nose, with great rich red berries on the palate, but in a restrained way. I was only planning on drinking half the bottle watching the game, and I will likely pay for it tomorrow at work–but damn this was good. Outstanding. 90-92 Points.

1976 Deinhard Winkeler Hasensprung Riesling Auslese: Retail ??? I had no idea what to expect with this wine—a near 40 year old white. The cork came out without much struggle and I only lost a tiny bit at the very end. One of the darker whites I have had in a while, but there was still great fruit on the nose with only a hint of petrol. On the palate, quite a bit of sweetness remains, but no doubt has mellowed considerably. Outstanding, but I have no idea how to score it….

WINE OF THE WEEK: Even before I pulled the cork, I knew what the wine of the week was going to be. Even if the wine stunk and ended up down the drain, it was going to win. There were certainly several wines that would have been wine of the week in any other week, but when you pop open a 37 year old white wine, well, come on. As I often do, I try to think back to what my life was like when this wine was harvested and I was trying to think of the best way to express that my life pretty much sucked when I was a kid. Then, while I was out for a ride I realized that I was ten in 1976, the same age as one of my sons now. This caused me to re-evaluate: no, life did not suck back then–long summer days of playing outside, still not really worried about girls or politics, eating seven peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without the slightest worry of weight gain (in fact, probably hoping for such a result!), and listening to “Philadelphia Freedom” over and over again on the 45 that I got for my birthday. Yeah, 1976 did not suck all that bad at all and neither did the wine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhJHL34DiBY

What was your wine of the week?