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:

2011 Cosentino Winery Cabernet Sauvignon The Cab Lodi: Retail $22. Rich blackberry pie on the nose along with some noticeable heat. On the palate, a tad thin after the black cherry Kool-Aid. This is by no means a bad wine, in fact I like it, but once again, this is a clear step down from the Cosentinos of old. Good. 85-87 Points.

2005 Faiveley Rully Les Villeranges: Retail $30. This was our fourth bottle of this wine and while this was not flawed, it was certainly low on the fruit spectrum. Really low. Think snake belly kinda low. There was still good acidity and if you squinted really hard, you could tell that it was a Burgundy (or at least been there once). It was still wine, and I think I even liked it. Average to Good. 82-84 Points.

2011 Bodegas Escorihuela Gascón Don Miguel Gascón Colosal: Retail $15. I picked this up in an online auction and it cost me about $11. Meh. I overpaid. Sure, there is a bit of fruit both on the nose and the palate, but there really is not much else. This is one time that I was hoping that it a wine was higher alcohol–14.1% is really not high enough to add a bit of redemption. Good, I guess. 83-84 Points.

2008 Jermann Vinnaioli Sauvignon Blanc Venezia Giulia IGT: Retail $20. I decided, after writing my review of a couple Italian wines last week, that I thought that I should break open one of the two white Italians that I had in the cellar. Great nose of lemon zest and a bit of heat. The palate is immediately coated with a viscosity of lemon curd and buoyed by impressive acidity. I am not a huge fan of Sauvignon Blanc, but this is a mighty impressive wine. Outstanding.  90-92 Points.

2007 Novy Family Wines Syrah Rosella’s Vineyard: Retail $28. Blackberry jam a go-go here. I am a big fan of the Siduri/Novy and this is a really fun drink. There is not much on the backend in the way of tannin, but there is that blackberry lingering and a hint of earth. Very Good to Outstanding. 89-91 Points.

NV Simonnet-Febvre Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé: Retail $15. Great red berry flavors and plenty of sass. We opened this with some take-out Chinese and it was close to ideal. The fruit helped mellow out the spice and the acidity went to work on those sauces. Very Good. 87-89 Points.

2008 Domaine Vindemio Côtes du Ventoux Regain: Retail $15. This note from way back in February still rings true: I am kicking myself for not buying more of this. Great fruit and balance with a QPR off the charts (I paid $8 through Last Bottle). I would drink this in the short term, though. Very Good. 87-89 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: This week was a rather difficult one in the Drunken Cyclist household. Our younger son was sick on Friday and Saturday, my older son’s basketball team (which I coach) got trounced, and then yesterday, both my wife and I caught what had been afflicting our younger. Looking back over the week, though, we still managed to go through a fair amount of wine. There was not a bottle that was clearly above the rest, so I decided to go with the 2008 Jermann Vinnaioli Sauvignon Blanc Venezia Giulia IGT in part because it was a really nice wine, but also because I am trying to make amends with white Italian wines. It will be a long road, but I am determined to give it a try.

What was your Wine of the Week?