Catching up from a busy post-Labor-Day week:
Stolpman Vineyards 2014 Ballard Canyon Roussane. This was in the bargain bin at a local shop for $12, and it's worth twice that. Forward, ripe stone-fruit, rich and slightly floral, but also has some mineral depth and enough backbone to keep it lively. I can't imagine why this didn't move, since it's got enough oomph and enough finesse to appeal to a pretty wide crowd, but maybe it was neither fish nor fowl, or fell between two stools, or whatever the expression is. Anyhow, a definite success and worth going back to see if there's any left.
Walter Hansel 2005 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, North Slope Vineyard. I bought three of these almost 10 years ago for reasons I can't recall, but without tasting. Tried one, found it almost undrinkably oaky, and tried to forget about the others in case they "integrated" with time, though I suspected I'd be more likely to get petrified wood. I'd say there's some slow progress happening: the first impression is still overwhelmingly of vanilla sugar on burnt toast, but with a lot of air, one can detect some good, persistent black-cherry RRV fruit under there; worked well with a very strongly flavored butterflied rosemary and garlic chicken under a brick, but it still makes me marvel at the diversity of human tastes. $37.
Domaine Jamet 2013 Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes, Syrah. Thought this might be a worthy successor to the 2001 Ogier La Rosine we opened recently with such success, especially at a dollar less than that wine had been a dozen years ago ($25). Good but not great; there's a bit of thin, sour fruit and earth up front at first, and the wine takes some time to open up, although with air and food it shows more flowers and bright purple fruit, and proves tasty enough; it might just be in a bad mood, so, as before, I'll stash the other bottle away and see what happens, though I don't think I'll rush back for more.
Le Vigne di Zamó 2010 Colli Orientali del Friuli Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. Wine of the week, for sure: Deep, rich dark-berry and plum fruit levitated by zippy, Chianti-like acidity, made complex by layers of mineral, herb, and earth. This could surely age, but it's also absolutely delicious now, and it's the kind of fresh-but-deep Italian red I could drink nightly.