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).

NV Antoine Derigny Champagne Grand Cru Brut, France: Retail $55. 100% Chardonnay. Another bottle from our second batch from Last Bubbles (for which I paid $29) and this one is stellar. Great fruit, fantastic sparkle, nice zinginess, and wonderful yeastiness. Everything one looks for in a great champagne. My only quibble? The dosage could be a touch lower. Outstanding. 93 Points.

2021 Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $55. DIAM10. When one of my now favorite restaurants in my neighborhood opened, this wine was on the list for $38. A few months later it inched up to $41. Now? It is all the way up to $55, but that is still right at the suggested retail price of…$55. I have visited the winery a couple of times and the setting is simply amazing–it is a mere few kilometers from the coast, high above sea level with views for miles (when the fog is minimal). A rich nose of tropical fruit (tons of guava) and a decided citrus rind aspect. The palate is fruity, tart, mineral, not as memorable, perhaps, as the last bottle, but still Excellent. 92 Points.

2017 Domaine Vincent Girardin Meursault Les Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, France: Retail $90. Under cork. I love white Burgundy. Love. So much so that I would seriously consider accepting a few cases of the magical elixir in exchange for one of my sons (of course, certain limitations would apply, e.g., which son, which wines and vintages, but I am pretty confident that a deal could be struck and relatively easily). Except. When the wine is corked. Like this bottle. Argh. Deal off. Wait. What else youse gots? Unrated.

2008 Paul Clouet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé, France: Retail $80? 80% Pinot Noir (Bouzy), 20% Chardonnay (Ambonnay, Chouilly), 100% Grand Cru. It was a special occasion and my wife decided to pull this to celebrate. I hesitated since 2008 was possibly the best vintage this millennia and this wine could likely last for some time. She had also invited her parents over for dinner and, well, yeah, I love my in-laws and all, but, yeah. They will be happy with some Costco Prosecco, I’m pretty sure. And they’ll never know the difference. Whoa. Slightly golden in color with an enticing nose of lemon meringue pie, dried apricot, hazelnut, and freshly baked croissant. The palate has plenty of sparkle, an intense citric tartness, considerable verve, and that yeasty sinfulness that stokes my soul. I am shocked at the relatively low scores on Cellar Tracker, this is complete gangbusters. Outstanding. 95 Points.

2012 Straight Line Tempranillo, California: Retail $25(?). This was part of a mystery case from the kind folks at Last Bottle Wines for which I paid $180 (i.e., $15/bottle). While I much prefer to know what I am buying, both in general and in particular, this bottle, which arrived completely unbeknownst to me, turned out quite nice. While no one is going to confuse this with a Rioja or even a Bokisch, it is fruity, tart, balanced, and fun. And fifteen bucks? Nice. Very Good. 88 points.

2001 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste. Catherine L’Inédit!, Alsace Grand Cru, France: Retail $75. Under cork. I bought these an astonishing 15 years ago (almost) from an online auction house and this is the first bottle I have cracked. Should I have popped this a decade ago? Likely. Maybe a handful of years ago? Certainly. Yesterday? Yes! Today? Clearly, this wine has been affected by the evil demon of oxygen. But. It does not have an (overly) oxidative nose or palate. Sure, there is caramel and a nutty aspect (OK, maybe a touch oxidized), but there is still some fruit, a touch of sweetness, and an astounding acidity. Look. My wife won’t like this wine, and neither will any of my relatives from across the Midwest, but it is extremely tasty, with a decided dessert wine kind of vibe. Outstanding. 93 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: I am going to veer from my normal approach to this part of my (almost) weekly write-up of wines. Normally, I would choose the “best” wine of the week, which in this case was the 2008 Paul Clouet Grand Cru Champagne, a beautiful wine. But I decided to go in a different direction and select the 2017 Domaine Vincent Girardin Meursault Les Vieilles Vignes as this week’s Wine of the Week. Why? Well, first, I happened to take a picture of the bottle, but more importantly I wanted to bring more attention to the continued problem of corked wine. Paraphrasing my long deceased grandmother, “If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we figure out corked wines?” I fear like with many elements of the wine industry, there might be a relatively easy answer: wine producers fear change. There are at least a few options available to avoid cork taint altogether, namely screw top bottles or manufactured “corks” such as DIAM, but many winemakers insist on keeping the traditional cork. Why? I imagine they would say that it is consumer-driven, that people expect and want a traditional cork. I would contend that most consumers don’t think all that much about how the bottle is closed and they would much prefer to have their $80 wine not smell and taste like their grandparents’ wet basement.

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