2007 Arrowood Chardonnay, Sonoma: Sweet nose of artificial banana flavoring with a perfumey floral aspect we couldn't define further. On the palate, more nanoos along with a heavy malolactic custard note. Toasty oak flavors dominate the finish, though perhaps that's to the good as they do help disguise the bitter 14.9% alcohol. This actually had us wondering outloud if California winemakers might actually be deliberately using oak for that purpose--not that Arrowood wines have ever been shy about that, but this one seems like an exxagerated version of what I remember. Drinkable as a cocktail where it fails as a food wine, this wine possesses everything that people who hate chardonnay hate about chardonnay.
2006 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir: cherries, cola nut, spice, smoke (not power of suggestion: Bob found this before he was told what he was drinking) and a green tomato leaf aspect that I like but don't remember in the 2005, which seemed overall a bit riper. Balanced and beguiling nonetheless, and in fact the tomato leaf and the smoke which I did not know would be in the wine created one of those transcendant food-wine pairings when served with the filet of Copper River sockeye poached in mesquite butter over dill spaetzle that I made for our dinner.