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 may have been given as gifts).

NV Barbier-Louvet Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée D’Ensemble, Champagne, France: Retail $55. Extremely Heavy Bottle (853g; 30oz). 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay. My first note on this wine is still spot on: “The winery is located in Tauxières-Mutry, a Premier Cru village on the Montagne de Reims, but the wine is classified as a Grand Cru, so the fruit likely comes from the nearby villages of Bouzy and Louvois. Pale to golden straw in the glass with plenty of green apple and fresh brioche. Yum. The palate is fruity, lively, and rich, with a lengthy finish–just delicious from start to finish. Outstanding. 93 Points.”

NV Champagne Collet Champagne Brut, Champagne, France: Retail $42. Extremely Heavy Bottle (833g; 29.3oz). 50% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir. Well, apparently, after this bottle, we have another three bottles in the cellar. These were on sale at my local H-E-B (I love my H-E-B) for just under thirty bucks, so despite the fact that I have never been all that enthralled with this wine, you can never have too much “no need to think about it” champagne lying around. And this is certainly that. Nice tartness and sparkle, but not the most complex bubbles on the market, but that’s OK. Sometimes you just need a sparkle without the need to put much thought behind it. While it is fine, there is no real reason to hold onto these bottles anymore. Very Good. 88 Points.

2023 Fowles Wine Chardonnay Are you Game?, Victoria, Australia: Retail $24. Very Responsible Bottle (423g; 14.9oz). Under screw cap. 90% Chardonnay, 8% Sauvignon Blanc, 2% Riesling. I have Matt Fowles a few times now, and I would dare to say that we are friends? You’d have to ask him to confirm (more than likely the guy has no recollection of me whatsoever, but let’s move on). At one of our first encounters, he numerated the many ways that the winery was striving for sustainability and being responsible stewards of the earth (micro-bats!). And I applauded the efforts energetically. And I still do. Even though I have never visited Australia, much less Fowles, it seems like Matt is doing all he can to make the planet healthier while making some of the best wines in all of Victoria, not just the Strathbogie Ranges (which I have to mention since it is so fun to say). This Chardonnay (90%) blend is a ton of fun to drink as it maintains its Chardonnay persona, but the Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling (8% and 2%, respectively) give incredible lift, aromatics, and zing. This is an eminently quaffable wine, either on its own or part of just about any meal. Excellent. 92 Points.

2023 Pasqua Romeo & Juliet Passione e Sentimento Bianco, Veneto IGT, Italy: Retail $20. Responsible Bottle (503g; 17.7oz). 100% Garganega. I first received a sample of this wine several years ago and I was enthralled; it had great fruit, ample acidity, and plenty of what I call “verve”–a certain attitude that you want in a wine. Was it the best Italian white wine that I had ever tried? Certainly not, but it was fruity, fun, completely crushable, and relatively inexpensive. All those attributes remain true with this 2023 (although the cost has crept up a bit, thanks, no doubt, to the tariffs): brilliant straw with a green tint and plenty of citrus (lime) and tree (peach) fruit on the nose. The palate is fruity, rich, and robust, and while the acidity struggles initially to keep pace with all that fruit, it does get there right before the finish. Listen, this wine will not likely change your life, but when it is fresh out of the fridge during the dog days of summer? Yeah, giddy-up! Excellent. 90 Points.

2022 Pedernales Cellars Six Generations Texas White Blend, Texas: Retail $18. Responsible Bottle (506g; 17.8oz). I could only find that the blend contains “Rhône varietals [sic]”. I was writing an article for a local magazine and I was thinking about doing a brief “tour of the world of white wines” or something like that. In case you didn’t know, it is brutally hot and humid in Houston during the month of August and I have absolutely no desire to drink red wine (even if it’s chilled). I do have a strong desire, however, to escape the insane weather we have here, even if it is only through my imagination. Nonetheless, I thought I should include a Texas white since people here love products from their state. Love. LOVE. Well, I have a difficult time loving Texas wine. Heck, I have a really hard time liking Texas wine in general (please don’t shoot me). I grabbed this white blend from Pedernales since I seem to like their wines more than others… You may have an inkling as where this might be going by now… It’s fine. I mean, it has decent fruit, a bit of complexity, and, well, that’s about it. As one might expect from a really hot climate, there just isn’t enough acidity here. There just isn’t. It’s fine, but it didn’t appear in my article. Very Good. 88 Points.

NV Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Essentiel Extra Brut, Champagne, France: Retail $65. Extremely Heavy Bottle (870g; 30.6oz). Based on the 2016 vintage. 45% Pinot Noir, 36% Pinot Meunier, 19% Chardonnay. 23% reserve wine. Disgorged 2022. 6g/l dosage. Another bottle that we just opened without much thought, as we knew it would likely be stellar. This is now at my local H-E-B for just a couple of bucks more than the standard Brut, and there is really no question if it is worth it (it is). Straw to light yellow in color with tons of tree fruit (green apple, pear, a bit of peach) with hints brioche and fresh croissant, but there is more of a hazelnut here. The palate is tart, even quite tart, with a slight savory component on the finish and a fervent sparkle. As with previous iterations, this could use a little time, but it is Outstanding right now. 94 Points.

WINE OF THE WEEK: As I mentioned above, several of the wines here I purchased as “research” for an article I wrote for a local publication here in Houston. The main idea was “affordable” and well, usually that category doesn’t produce a Wine of the Week. That is not to say that there are not wonderful wines, worthy of acclaim for around twenty bucks (or less), but, well… Having said all of that, this week’s Wine of the Week, the 2023 Fowles Wine Chardonnay Are you Game?, was one of those wines. Sure, it is no Domaine de la Romanée Conté Le Montrachet, but at right around an Andrew Jackson, it would be tough to do much better. And Matt Fowles’ Aussie accent gets me every time.

What was your Wine of the Week?