Foxglove Central Coast Chardonnay 2009, $12.99

OK. By now, if you've been following either of my blogs for any amount of time, you probably know that I am a big chardonnay fan as far as the non-red, non-sparkly wines go. I know, I don't get it either. But this bottle, which I picked up at Stew Leonard's, has a 91-point rating. That's a pretty high rating for a pretty small price.

For a white wine, this wine is so heavy that it almost, almost forms legs on the glass. Yeah, baby! That's the kind of white I like to drink, heavy. On the nose, I get a sweet, happy aroma, a bouquet of apricot, pineapple & peach. To be more specific, it smells like you took the juice that covers the pineapple rings & mixed it in with canned, artificially-sweetened apricots in that sugary syrup. I can also sense the teensiest scent of a sauvignon blanc in there. It's a tight, complex nose.

This wine tastes exactly how it smells. It doesn't fake you out or pull any punches. What you smell is what you get. And this wine goes down like water. Water. It's smooth, light, and clean. I don't even feel that alcohol-laced tingle on the underside of my tongue or the back of my throat as I swallow. Which is quite a feat, considering the 13.9% alcohol content.

This wine is great: well-priced, easy-drinking, highly-rated, and tastes just damn good. With a respectable alcohol content, to boot! Now, I know that I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but this one is a winner. Go look for it, it's a can't-miss! Find out more at www.varnerwine.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling Columbia Valley 2008, $10.99

OK. I am a sucker for Pacific Rim, and I'm not even a riesling fan. Whatever it is they do to these grapes, it is nothing short of astounding.

First off all, this wine gets major points from me because 1) It's got a screw top - love that, and 2) The bottle is accented in purple, my favorite color. So right away, it's hard to go wrong.

This wine is so light & pretty in the glass, with a graceful thin sheet gliding down the side of the glass. On the nose, it smells like a beautiful bouquet of mellow fruits & flowers - cantaloupe, peaches, honeysuckle. I am in love with the smell of this wine.

The taste is exactly as it smells. What you smell is what you get. I love the lingering honey notes on the aftertaste. Make no mistake, this is a sweet wine, even though the back of the bottle proclaims that it's only "medium-sweet." BS. It's sweet. Not sickeningly sweet, but sweet enough. I could see this wine being amazing paired with a creme brulee or an almond/pear tart or a fruit crisp. A delicate, understated sweet dessert, not chocolate - chocolate would completely overpower this riesling.

My only disappointment is this wine's low alcohol content. It's a miniscule 8.5%. That's something Julie would laugh at. Normally, I would too. But I love this wine, I do. And I'm so glad it's available at the Cost Cutters Liquor Store (affectionately referred to as the "packey") right across the street from my office. I can get out of work, swing by, pick up a bottle for a low price & head home a happier camper.

Learn more about this sweet riesling and more at www.rieslingrules.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Bogle Vineyards 2007 Phantom, $21.99

OK. I am a complete sucker for wines that come in a limited shipment. It's like Christmas: it only comes once a year, and when it's gone, it's gone. Stew Leonard's sent out an e-mail saying that the supplies this year were so limited that they couldn't take any phone orders for or hold any bottles of this petite syrah/old vine zinfandel/mourvedre blend. So you know I had to hustle my heinie down there and pick up a couple of bottles.

Disclaimer: I nearly killed myself to get into this bottle. The neck of this bottle is so big that I couldn't get the foil cutter around it, and had to resort to a corkscrew to rip the foil off. The foil is so frickin' tough that I slipped and almost cut my finger off. Well, not really, but my index finger is still throbbing.

This wine looks exactly like a cup of purple grape juice in the glass. It's pretty. On the glass, this wine forms a thin sheet with just a couple of thin legs running down within the sheet, so you can tell it's pretty medium-bodied. On the nose, the first thing that hits me is the scent of alcohol, which shouldn't come as a surprise, given the 14.5% sucker punch of an alcohol content.

Now for the taste. At first sip, I get this incredible deluge of flavors in my mouth, blackberries and raspberries with a hint of strawberries. I get a taste of rubbing alcohol in there, followed by a bitter component in the aftertaste, where the flavor of the old vine zin shines like the star of the show.

Hmm. I keep sipping this wine, but I'm not sure how much I like it. Straight-up red zinfandel makes me puke. It's the only grape I can't stomach. Granted, I've been sick on cheap wine before, but red zin in any quality makes me throw up. (FYI: the wine that got me bad was called Plungerhead. It came really well recommended and had a really cool bottle, but I threw up for hours.) I suppose that doesn't make me the best wine reviewer, it makes me sort of prejudiced against this grape and any blends that contain it.

All in all, this wine could probably use an hour or two of decanting. The tannins are harsh & bitter, and I really need a more mellow feel on my tongue and palate. Ask me again when I've decanted the entire bottle. Oh well, at least I bought two bottles. Maybe I'll open up the bottle in the cellar next year & report back.

Cheers!

Kate