I attended the American Idol tour stop in Raleigh last Wednesday (many, many Scotty McCreery fans there.)
Stayed overnight in a Hampton Inn off I-40 and went to 3Cups the next day. 3Cups specializes in organic wines, coffee, tea and chocolates. They also have a few sandwich items brought in from a local bakery so I had the chicken salad sandwich for lunch with a flight of three wines (2-oz. pours) followed up by a coffee (can't remember if I went with the Honduran or the Ecuadorean but I didn't like it as well as I liked the Peruvian coffee on a previous visit. I also ended up purchasing seven or eight wines to take home including the Spanish wine in the flight, 2 Bugey Cerdon, a half-bottle of Condrieu (which I rarely see) and some others. P.S. Just remembered I also purchased the Occhipinto SP68 red wine. The shop had three different wines from Occhipinto. (David B. has posted notes on the SP68 before and I tried it at a Raleigh restaurant.)
2009 D. Ventura Pena do Lobo Spain (100% Mencia grape) Deep scarlet color with some transparency. Fruity, quaffable wine exhibiting bright cherries. Medium finish. Paired nicely with the chicken salad sandwich on French-style bun. Nice as a summer wine. From Riberia Sacra in Northwest Spain. Sells for about $23 a bottle.
2009 Clos du Grailles, Minervois Darkest and most opaque of the wines so I sampled this third. Slightly funky with barnyard odor. Viscous. Slightly Brettish taste but not entirely offputting--still enough funk to make the Spanish wine my favorite. Dark berries mixed with the funk. Short finish. I don't have much experience with Minervois wines but have liked previous samples better than I did this one.
2009 Goiset Pinot Noir Burgundy (possibly Domaine Goisot with an 'ot' ending.) Lighter weight than the Minervois wine. First impression was tartness--due to less phenolic ripeness of the grapes or youthfulness of a 2009 vintage in 2011? Tasted better on the first sip after trying the Minervois and reverting back to the Pinot Noir. Bitter on the second sip. From better to bitter in one sip. Would not purchase.