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 Caves de Bussy Crémant de Loire Rosé, France: Retail $25. Very Heavy Bottle (777g; 27.3oz). 100% (?) Cabernet Franc. I have always been partial to Crémants from the Loire (and also Alsace and the Jura), so when I saw this at Total Wine for around sixteen bucks, I took a flyer on six bottles. And it’s fine. Sure, I had hoped for a bit more, but there is decent fruit, a lovely mousse, and enough acidity to keep one’s interest, at least for one glass. Very Good. 89 Points.

NV Domaine Chandon Brut Rosé, Carneros, CA: Retail $27. Extremely Heavy Bottle (834g; 29.3oz). 57% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, 3% Pinot Meunier. It had been a minute since I had a bottle of this wine, but we had run out of “champagne” for when my father-in-law comes over. This was on par (price wise) with Mumm Napa, so I decided to buy a few of these. Similar notes, this is a solid sparkler, particularly for the grocery store price (around fifteen bucks). Nothing to get overly excited about, but this certainly scratches a bubbly itch and I’m not offended when a certain visitor drinks it from a straw. Very Good. 88 Points.

2010 Philippe Fourrier Champagne Brut Millésimé, France: Retail $70(?). Ridiculously Heavy Bottle (924g; 32.5oz). 100%(?) Pinot Noir. Purchased from WTSO for $30. OK. We love vintage champagne. Love. I love holding on to vintage champagne (my wife not so much). So much so that when I pulled this tonight, I was worried I was committing infanticide. Then I read one of the notes on CellarTracker that stated “It’s now or never” a while ago, meaning (I think) that you better drink it now (i.e., when the note was written) or risk having it decline into oblivion. Um, sure, boomer. One of the best aspects about vintage champagnes is holding onto them, allowing a touch of oxidation, risking the loss of fruit, but gaining considerable complexity. So yeah. We popped this too soon. It is still fabulous: tart, sparkly, full of life and driven by its acidity, but this is no where near then end of it’s run; in fact it might even improve. Good thing I have five more. Excellent. 92 Points.

2012 Flowers Chardonnay, Camp Meeting Ridge, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $85. Heavy Bottle (654g; 23.0oz). This is our last bottle of this wine, and I am very sad to see it go. And this just might be the best of the three bottles that I purchased from Last Bottle Wines nearly a decade ago. I have only been out to Flowers a couple of times (I am talking about the winery, not the Healdsburg outpost), and it is a commitment; a good hour plus driving challenging roads. But it is worth it. The views. The wine. Sure, it has become a bit more corporate since the Huneeus Family took ownership (under advice from counsel, I will not mention the scandal. Oops.). This wine was made after the transfer and it is utterly stunning. Brilliant, and on the verge of yellow in the glass with intense lemon curd aromas, a touch of oak, and just a dab of butter. Yowza. The palate is close to perfection with the fruit, the acidity, the wood, and the creaminess all in near-perfect balance. The story was much more interesting (at least to me) when the brand was still owned by the Flowers family, but the wines seem to have elevated and this CMR is absolutely stunning. Whoa. Plus. Extraordinary. 98 Points.

2007 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer, Alsace, Champagne. France: Retail $80(?). Very Heavy bottle (757g; 1lb 10.6oz). Under cork. Another fifteen months or so since I last cracked a bottle of this wine and while the last wine was a departure from the previous stellar bottles, this one falls somewhere in between. Beyond golden and well on the way to amber with aromas of petrol, lemon rind, and honey blossom, I have to say, I was more than a bit worried upon the first pour. But the palate still has nice fruit notes, some tartness, and just a hint of sweetness (7g/l RS), and it has a bit of verve, a spark that the previous bottle did not. I have no illusions that the remaining bottle is a crap shoot, but this wine gives me hope, no matter how fleeting. Excellent. 91 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: Back when I was teaching, students earning grades of 97 and above was fairly common. Sure, there were not a ton of them, but given a standard distribution (or more precisely, a distribution that was, admittedly, slightly skewed to the right) there were roughly 10-20% of the students in my classes that scored in the 97-100% range. Yet, in the wine scoring business (including myself, of course), it is exceedingly rare to see a wine rated above, say, 96. Why is that? Robert Parker famously started using the 100-point scale since everyone could relate. Yet, the scores of 98-100 remain remarkably elusive. But this week, we have one here, the 2012 Flowers Chardonnay, Camp Meeting Ridge, truly an exceptional wine. Should I (we?) be doling out more higher top-end scores? Or has the 100-point scale actually become irrelevant? I feel another post coming….

What was your Wine of the Week?