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).

Just a quick update: we finally got power (and internet) back last week, so we are ready for the heat of summer (which is already here–95 and humid today).

2017 Cà Maiol Lugana Molin, Veneto, Italy: Retail $24. Very Heavy Bottle (720g; 1lb 9.4oz). 100% Trebbiano di Lugana. I picked this up way back in 2018 at a conference and it has been waiting patiently in my cellar ever since (well, I think it has been patient). Brilliant straw to yellow in the glass with an aromatic nose of basil, apricot, and a touch of pear. Lovely. The palate is tart, even quite tart, with plenty of fruit (kiwi and lime) with an interesting almond aspect on the lengthy finish. Excellent. 90 Points.

NV Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Réserve Exclusive Brut`, France: Retail $40. Very Heavy bottle (862g; 1lb 14.4oz). 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier, 20% Chardonnay. We are finally getting to the end (thank goodness) of the six bottles my wife bought on sale (~$25) from our local grocery store (I love my H-E-B). Sure, at the sale price of $25 it is tough to find any champagne these days, much less a “good” one, but I would rather save a few bucks and have a Gloria Ferrer Brut at $15. Still, Very Good, I guess. 87 Points.

2013 Fields Family Wines Tempranillo, Lodi, CA: Retail $25. Very Heavy Bottle (701g; 1 lb 8.7oz). Under cork. Fairly dark to dark in the glass with a load of dark fruit in the glass: blackberry, plum, a bit of cassis. Sure, this is nothing like a Rioja but why should it be? This has fantastic fruit, a touch of earth, plenty of tartness, and loads of verve. Yeah, if you are looking for a Central Spain comparison, you are barking up the wrong tree. But. If you are searching for a tasty red with tons of character? Well, we might have precisely what you want right here. Outstanding. 94 Points.

2009 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir Ramal Vineyard, Carneros, CA: Retail $40. Very Heavy Bottle (726g; 1lb 9.7oz). Well, this is the last bottle of this wine in my cellar, and that is a sad thing. While the previous bottle I popped was nearly two years ago, the tasting notes hold true: “Sadly, several years ago, the very kind folks at Gary Farrell decided to stop making wines with fruit from Carneros (thank you global warming) and that is a shame on so many levels. Great red and black fruit on the nose with a tangy richness and a spice note that is quite remarkable (clove, basil, whoa). The palate is equally impressive, if not more so, with fruit, yes, but also a ton of verve and near impeccable balance. Whoa. This was in the running for wine of the night, and fared well, but the lineup was impressive.” Outstanding. 94 Points.

NV Mailly Champagne Grand Cru Brut Réserve, France: Retail $50. 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. 100% Grand Cru. It has been a while since I have written a note on this wine which is partly due to the fact that I just don’t buy it anymore (funny how that works). It is now north of fifty bucks and while we still love the wine, spending $50+ on a bottle that once cost us twenty bucks is hard to swallow. Mailly Grand Cru is one of the few wine cooperatives left in France, let alone Champagne, which produces roughly a million bottles a year. Always rock-solid in quality, this is simply fantastic: slight golden color with citrus, pear, and freshly baked croissant. Really close to a Whoa. The palate is fruity—perhaps as rich in fruit as any NV Brut I can remember with near perfect acidity, the yeasty goodness that separates champagne from most other sparklers, and a delicate yet vibrant bubble. Excellent. 92 Points.

2016 Troon Vineyard Vermentino Cuvée Rolle, Applegate Valley, OR: Retail $20. Responsible Bottle (516g; 1lb 2.2oz). 90% Vermentino co-fermented with 10% Marsanne. I first (and last) tasted this wine nearly six years ago and I loved it then (91 Points). Well, it may even be better now. Still a brilliant straw in the glass with plenty of white peach, beeswax, and a slight herbal note. The palate oozes plenty of that beeswax, intense white flower, and a zingy tartness. Yowza. Even another half dozen years out? I need to bump this up a notch. Excellent. 92 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: Being without power is always taxing and when you have close to two thousand bottles of wine in the house, it becomes even more nerve wracking when the outside temperature climbs up into the mid-90s (and beyond). The best way to cope with that situation? Open some of that wine, of course, which is certainly what we did this week (we do it every week, but I am trying to create a little drama here). And the best of those wines we popped? Certainly, one could make the argument for the 2009 Gary Farrell Ramal Pinot Noir, but instead, I opted for the 2013 Fields Family Tempranillo as this week’s Wine of the Week. I chose it not only on its merits, but also as a reminder that I need to get back out to Lodi. Soon. 

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