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).

2018 Bryn Mawr Vineyards Blanc de Noirs, Willamette Valley, OR: Retail $85. Extremely Heavy Bottle (842g; 29.6oz). 100% Pinot Noir. I last tasted this for the 7th Annual Blind Tasting of American Sparkling Wine back in December, and it was stellar then. Not much has changed; this remains an impressive bottle of bubbles. I’ll be honest, in my mind, there are not a lot of wines that can compete with the overall best wines from Champagne. And I get it, by any measure, Champagne had a century head start on any other region and remains the yardstick for bubbles worldwide. Sure, this bottle costs around the same as many a vintage champers, but this is stellar in its own right; near golden in the glass with honeyed citrus on the nose and a fine, persistent sparkle, this is an Excellent offering from perhaps the U.S.’s top region for premier sparkling wine. Excellent. 92 Points.

2022 Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne, Burgundy, France: Retail $30. Responsible Bottle (568g; 20.0oz). 100% Pinot Noir. An uninvited and unexpected guest called at around 9:00, wanting to know if he could come over for a glass of wine. I responded that my wife’s family was in town and I thought I heavily implied that it wasn’t a great time, but he did not pick up what I was putting down. So he was over in 15 minutes and requested “anything red” so I opened this. I originally bought these for a tasting that I conducted in the Spring, and with four bottles left over, I figured this was a perfect match. Rich, with good fruit and acidity and an ounce of verve, this is a solid choice in the “I want a Burgundy without taking out a second mortgage” kinda vibe. Excellent. 91 Points.

NV Michel Genet Champagne Grand Cru MG BB Brut Nature, Champagne, France: Retail $65? Extremely Heavy Bottle (822g; 29.0oz).100% Grand Cru Chardonnay. Disgorged Feb. 2022. While I realize that two-plus years is hardly “more time” when aging champagne, I did hope that this wine would have evolved more than it has. Make no mistake, I am very high on this wine; equally as enthusiastic as I was in 2023, but there is not much evidence to suggest that this wine will develop further. Medium straw in the glass with some golden delicious apple, fresh peach, some Asian pear, and a lovely “biscosity” (see what I did there?). The palate is equally impressive with great tartness and a lengthy finish. Very close to a whoa. Still stellar, still Excellent. Still 92 Points.

2009 Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Côteaux Nobles, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $75. Stupidly Heavy Bottle (910g; 32.0oz). Under cork. Luc Morlet has firm roots in Champagne (I believe his family still owns a winery there), but he came to Northern California to open his own shop, and he has been producing stellar wines for well over a decade. I visited him a while ago, shortly after he opened his tasting room, and I was incredibly impressed. So impressed, in fact, that I purchased several bottles and actually paid full price (this was roughly a year before I started my blog). I had feared that I had waited too long on this Pinot, but… Whoa. Inky dark, super rich, and loaded with all kinds of black fruit. This is concentrated and muscular, pretty much the antithesis of what most people would consider “Pinot Noir”. But. I like it. Even love it. Yes, I am a Pinot traditionalist, and this wine is nothing like a Corton Grand Cru, but it is compelling, thought-provoking, and, well, tasty. Yes. It is big. Huge even, but this type of well-made wine needs love, too. Outstanding. 94 Points.

NV Mumm Napa Brut Rosé, Napa County, CA: Retail $25. Extremely Heavy Bottle (867g; 30.5oz). 76% Pinot Noir, 22% Chardonnay. 2% Pinot Meunier. We bought a few of these for when the father-in-law comes over and wants “champagne”. Well, he no longer drinks (at least for now). Good thing this is a good quaff. Always a solid wine at a reasonable price, this is quite fruity with tons of strawberry and cherry all over the place, with enough tartness to hold it all together. Excellent. 91 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: Every once in a while, it is fairly easy to pick a Wine of the Week. While all the wines we opened were above 90 points, the 2009 Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Côteaux Nobles was an easy notch above the others. There is an interesting story about how I ended up acquiring this wine from Luc Morlet, one that my wife still brings up regularly, but that will have to wait for another time. The only reason this wine didn’t make the cut as the week’s top wine? I neglected to take a picture of it (the image to the right was copied from Morlet’s website). Oh, and the bottle is ridiculously heavy. So, I guess that makes two reasons.

What was your Wine of the Week?