Tried these three over the weekend:
1. Roessler Chard AlderSprings/Mendocino (14.6%; www.RoesslerCellars.com) 2006: Med.yellow color; lovely/fragrant melony/ripe/Chard slight floral/earthy light vanilla/toasty/oak nose; rich/lush balanced/fairly acid spicy/ripe/melony/Chard light vanilla/pencilly/oak attractive flavor; long ripe/melony/Chard spicy/nutmeg/lush light vanilla/pencilly/oak finish; a very attractive balanced/spicy Chard at a very good price. $15.50
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2. Bodegas Callia Alta PinotGrigio Valle de Tulum/SanJuan/Argentina (13.5%; www.BodegasCallia.com) 2008: Pale yellow color; rather attractive floral/carnations/bit perfumed slight stoney/minerally PG nose; rather tart fairly tinney/metallic some minerally/stoney light/weak/floral/carnations rather lean/vapid/thin/eviscerated flavor; med.short metallic/tinney some minerally/stoney thin/vapid weak/floral finish; like biting down on a piece of aluminum foil between the molars; a pleasant AltoAdige-like PG but bit too thin & vapid for my taste. Avoid even at $10.50
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3. VIE L'Etranger SonomaCnty (60% Zin/35% Syrah/5% PS; 14.7%; www.VIEWinery.com) 2007: Med.dark color; rather strong/blackberry/Zin/spicy slight pungent/licorice light toasty/oak bit floral/perfumed very spicy nose; fairly tart very spicy/blackberry/Zin some tannic light toasty/oak light dusty quite interesting flavor; very long very spicy/blackberry/Zin light toasty/oak bit licorice/pungent some tannic finish; needs 2-5 yrs; has lots of spicy blackberry fruit of Zin but a structure on the palate that speack of very good Syrah; very good wine that should develop well w/ age. $39.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. VIE: We had this L'Etranger several weeks ago in a tasting. Then, I found the wine rather plodding/dull/simple and a rare klunker for BryanKane, especially at $39. I decided the wine needed a re-try, so this was it. I was far more impressed by this btl, far/far more character than the previous one in the tasting. Maybe the first one was borderline corked (no one picked up on that) and had just been robbed of its fruit. Beats heck out of me.
Tom