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).

2016 Denison Cellars Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $26. Under screw cap. Responsible bottle. This is a hold-over from my First Annual World’s Largest Blind Tasting of American Pinot noir. I liked it way back then in 2018, but I think I like it more now. Medium to dark in color with a dirty black cherry nose (it makes me believe there was at least a bit of whole cluster fermentation here). The palate is fruity, tart, and balanced. It is not the most introspective wine I have had, but it is pretty fantastic. Excellent. 91 Points.

NV Guy de Chassey Champagne Grand Cru Brut Cuvée de Buretel, France: Retail $55. Paid $36 at Vivino. 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. I bought six bottles initially of this wine from Vivino and I have to say that it has been one of the more consistent champagnes that we have had in a while (after the first bottle which was rather “meh”). That, along with its quality, of course, is why I am happy I recently bought another case when they went on sale for $30. Pale straw in the glass with Granny Smith and Golden apple bursting through the nose along with a touch of caramel and fresh baked croissant. Yowza. The palate is bright, tart, ebullient, and, well, fantastic. Great fruit, appropriate tartness, tons of the autolytic, yeasty goodness, and a lengthy finish. Whoa. Outstanding. 93 Points.

2015 Kaiken Cabernet Sauvignon Ultra, Mendoza, Argentina: Retail $20. 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec. Heavy bottle (715g). Under cork. Quite dark with black fruit (plum, blackberry), mocha, and anise on the nose, this is already close to a whoa. The palate is surprisingly fruity, lush, tart, and fantastic (I expected a much more brooding, introspective wine). At twenty bucks? This over-delivers, serving as both a crowd-pleaser and a more serious wine, a tightrope that is walked by so very few. Excellent. 91 Points.

NV Lanson Champagne Brut Black Label, France: Retail $38. 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier. Pale straw with a decided flinty, matchstick, dirty nose. Those aromas are so powerful, in fact, that it is near impossible to detect any sort of fruit here, initially. Eventually, I can find a bit of pear and lemon rind behind all that distraction, but this is still the funkiest nose of the flight. Another wine where the palate far outplays the nose: good fruit, nice acidity, complexity, and all the stuffing. Excellent. 90 Points.

2005 Saint Cosme St. Joseph, Rhône Valley, France: Retail $45. Bottle weight: 621g. 100% Syrah. Under cork. My wife described this as “an overly acidic barnyard” and she is not all that far off. But. This is a St. Joseph, after all and Bret is certainly part of the story. Medium color with some clear evidence of bricking, the nose has both red and black fruit, mostly baked cherry and blackberry. There is also a clear Bret element, but, honestly, for me it works. The palate is not on the tart side, it is the tart side. And while the fruit shows up, it struggles in the face of all that sour zinginess. Interestingly, the tannins are still alive and well on the finish, mostly silky, but not quite integrated. Again, not for my wife, but that is fine and good with me. Excellent. 91 Points.

2016 Wrath Pinot Noir Ex Anima, Monterey, CA: Retail $29. Quite dark in the glass with a bit of fruit, but there is a certain funkiness to it. The palate is big, but not really fruity. Dark and even brooding. Very Good. 88 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: With several bottles of champagne consumed, this was more of a normal week for us. I know I have mentioned it before, but if you are not drinking your fair share of sparkling wine, you might just be losing the wine game. Sure, there are a ton of great wines out there and limiting oneself to a singular style seems, well, limiting. But. Sparkling wine in general and champagne in particular have a much broader range than even some of the most experienced wine “professionals” acknowledge. As such, it is easily the most versatile of all wine styles and we serve it with everything from seafood to steak. There are some “classic” pairings for champagne, however, and we had this week’s Wine of the Week, the Guy de Chassey Champagne Grand Cru Brut Cuvée de Buretel, with fresh oysters. Yowza.

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