2008 Talty ZINFANDEL "Estate" "William Talty Vineyard" (Dry Creek Valley, Cal.)

A vibrant, fruity, direct Zinfandel.  Not overblown.  Very nice on its own or with dinner.  A bit pricey though.  Surprisingly, comes in a Burgundy-shaped bottle.

Dark ruby color.  Intense, perfumey nose of spiced blackberries (like blackberry pie) and steely, stony minerals.  Soft, balanced, and quite concentrated in the mouth, with loads of fruit and minerals, and very nice acids to boot.  Full-bodied, with good length.  No great complexity of flavors, but lots of character.  B/B+.  Was $21.99 from WTSO.com.

(Sorry, 2010 shown.)

2011 Domaine du Salvard CHEVERNY Rose (Loire Valley, France)

A full-flavored, juicy, dry, mouth-wateringly crisp rose.  Not a lot of complexity or elegance, but it's balanced and fun.  I think that the roses from this area comprise Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Pineau d'Aunis, but I'm not sure of which ones and in which amounts they're in this wine.

Gorgeous pinky/salmon color.  Tons of fruit on the loud nose, watermelon, grapes, lemon juice, strawberry, cherry.  A bit of minerality, but, mostly, this is about the fruit.  Great acids keep this very lively.  A great wine to have on hand for those May/June picnics.  B+.

Imported by Kermit Lynch, I got this wine for $13.99 from B-21 Wines in Florida.  Great buy!

2007 Domaine Haut du Terres Blanches CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE (Rhone Valley, Southern France)

A quick note on this amazing wine, which I had at the relatively new French bistro in Houston, L'Olivier.  In a word:  amazing.  One of the best CDPs I've had in a very long time.  A solid A.  Unbelievably fragrant, balanced, full flavored, and long.  Sweet berry fruit, loads of garrigue scents.  This is from memory, so sorry it's not more detailed, but if you see this wine, get some!  At its peak right now.  Will hold for 4-5 years.

BTW, the food at L'Olivier was excellent.  Classic bistro fare, beautifully executed.

2009 Domaine de la Janasse COTES DU RHONE (Southern France)

Well, my sinus infection has finally subsided to the point where my sense of smell has returned.  So I popped the cork on a Cotes du Rhone that turned out to be funky and have a lot of character.

Nearly fully saturated color -- black violet-tinged ruby.  Funky nose, but in a Rhone-y way.  Loads of faintly barnyardy earth, iodine, smoky gravel, and spicy black raspberry and black cherry.  Big and flavorful, but with excellent acids, this wine has full-throttle flavors but not a whole lot of elegance.  Ripe fruit, but very dry and minerally, with those liquid minerals clinging for dear life to the insides of your mouth.  Long finish.  B+.
Was a remarkable $12.99 from B-21 Wines in Florida.  That's a great buy for this much character.  Imported by Eric Solomon Selections.