2004 Bogle "Phantom" (California)

This blend of 54% Petite Sirah, 43% Zinfandel, and 3% Mourvedre was fairly deep and nicely-balanced.

Eye: Dark garnet with ruby highlights.

Nose: Sweet-smelling, with high-toned, lemon juice-inflected cherries, gingerbread spice, and chalk dust.

Mouth: Very nice fruit and concentration -- black cherry, balsa wood, and smoky ashes. Fair amount of soft tannin still perceptible. Nice balance and length.

Cellar or drink?: Drink. While there's substantial tannin, the fruit is so mellow (as opposed to vibrant or youthful) that I think leaving this wine to allow the tannins to settle out will be at the expense of the nice fruit present now.

Score: 87.

Price/Store: $18.79 at Richard's on Richmond.

2006 Borsao "Tres Picos" GARNACHA (Campo de Borja, Spain)

This was an AMAZING wine for the money!

Eye: Very dark ruby/mulberry with violet highlights.

Nose: Gorgeous and exuberant nose of spiced, oozing raspberry syrup, sweet cream, and baked stones.

Mouth: Focused and densely-fruited, but with a sense of lightness and balance, this wine features rich, salty, minerally raspberry flavors. The finish is like a dry port, with great length, and full body, and showing a bit of heat and tannin (but in a good way!).

Cellar or drink?: This is drinking phenomenally well now, but my guess is that it wouldn't hurt to leave it a year or two in a cool cellar.

Score: 92.

Price/store: Was $15 and change at Spec’s on Smith.

2005 Chateau de Lancyre PIC SAINT-LOUP "La Coste d"Aleyrac" (Coteaux du Languedoc, Soutjwest France)

This Grenache-Syrah blend really needs lots of air (decant it a few hours), but then is very nice.

Eye: Nearly saturated black ruby with purplish-mulberry highlights.

Nose: Exceedingly earthy-meaty at first, with increasing air time these characteristics were replaced by lush black raspberry scents, with undertones of walnut oil and earth.

Mouth: Ripe and concentrated, with very nice earthy-saline and blackberry flavors, leading to a long, slightly tannic finish, though the tannins are soft. Excellent balance, and medium-full body.

Cellar or drink?: Drinking well now (with air), this wine should improve over the next 2-3 years.

Score: 88.

Price/store: Was $13.50 at Spec’s on Smith.

2006 "Bitch" GRENACHE (Barossa Valley, Australia)

Immediate gratification personified: Very fruity and hedonistic, but with virtually no structure for aging.

Color: Medium-light ruby garnet.

Nose: Wonderfully jammy, fruity nose: crushed black raspberries, and spring flowers.

Mouth: Broad, voluptuously soft, and ripe, this had richly fruity raspberry and black cherry flavors, framed by hot, gravelly tones and a bit of a peppery alcoholic bite. No tannin whatsoever to speak of.

Cellar or drink?: Drink now. I mean it.

Score: 88.

Price/store: Was $10 and change at Spec’s on Smith.

2006 Pierre Boniface APREMONT (Savoie, France)

This wine is usually fresh, crisp, and minerally, and in some vintages can have some nice apply fruit. This one was pretty good, but would have scored higher with more fruit.

Color: Light, vivid yellow-gold.

Nose: Lively, bright aromas of lime, limestone, pungent minerals and hay.

Mouth: Minerally, fresh, bone dry, and medium-bodied, with green apples, tart lemon-lime, and mineral flavors. Long, pure-tasting finish.

Cellar or drink?: Drink now.

Score: 85.

Price/store: Was $11 and change at Spec’s on Smith.

2004 Domaine de la Sauveuse COTES DE PROVENCE Rouge (France)

This wine, made from organically-grown grapes, was OK, but that's it. Made of roughly equal parts Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Color: Dark black ruby with purply highlights.

Nose: Medium intensity nose of scorched earth, sweet cream, and ripe blackberries and grapes.

Mouth: Ripe, but tight and peppery, and a bit tannic. Flavors of grapes and hard cherry candy, with steely minerals underneath.

Cellar or drink?: While the color looks youthful, I don‘t think this one‘s got the stuffing to improve much, if at all. Drink now.

Score: 83.

Price/store: Was $15 at Spec's on Richmond.

2004 Poggio Salvi CHIANTI COLLI SENESI (Tuscany, Italy)

This is a terrific, rustic Tuscan wine -- loaded with flavor -- from the region in Chianti that is closest to the adjoining and much more prestigious Brunello di Montalcino DOC.

Color: Opaque dark black ruby.

Nose: Big, deep, fruity/earthy. Cherries, balsamic notes, old barrels and gravel.

Mouth: Lots of dark chokecherry syrup flavors upon entry, with earthy minerals and iodine flavors. Full-bodied, with some fairly soft tannins making themselves known.

Cellar or drink?: With air, this wine drinks well now, but should keep and perhaps improve for another 2 years.

Score: 90.

Price/store: This wine was a gift from my friend Robert Finley, and I’m not sure where he got it, but Spec’s on Smith lists this one for $12 and change.

2006 Pascual Toso MALBEC (Maipu Vineyards, Mendoza, Argentina)

An outstanding value, this wine had loads of flavor for under $10.

Color: Dense purple-tinged ruby.

Nose: Interesting nose of buttered wheat toast, gravel, and ripe plums and cassis.

Mouth: Round, ripe, soft, and concentrated. Persistent flavors of blackberries and sandstone. Full-bodied, with a long, balanced finish, and lots of soft, ripe tannin.

Cellar or drink?: Drinking very well now, but will age nicely for the next three years or so.

Score: 90.

Price/store: Was $9 and change at Spec’s on Westheimer.

2006 Steele Vineyard "Pacini Vineyard" "Old Vine" ZINFANDEL (Mendocino County, California)

This was a terrific youthful Zin that is really good now but will benefit from another year in the bottle.

Color: Very dark black ruby color.

Nose: Gorgeous and intense -- spicy black raspberry fruit, sweet cream, and a background note of pine forest.

Mouth: Intensely concentrated, but not overblown, with a youthful angularity in the mouthfeel. Lots of focused fruit and black pepper flavors. Some heat in the long finish (which didn't seem to jibe with the relatively low 13.5% alcohol listed on the label).

Cellar or drink?: It will be hard to resist this focused, yummy, concentrated Zin now, but the angularity should settle down over the next year or so.

Score: 90+.

Price/store: Was $16.99 at Spec's on Smith, making it an excellent value in the brave new world of inflated-price Zins.

2005 Domaine Massamier La Mignarde "Cuvée des Oliviers" (Southwest France)

This wine, from the Coteaux des Peyriac region in southwest France near Minervois, was cheap but just so-so.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Cinsault, and Grenache, this wine has a dark ruby color, but only a medium-intensity nose of very bland berry fruit and stones. Medium-bodied and balanced, but with almost non-descript flavors of generic berries and minerals. Not bad swigging at a party (it was only $7 a bottle), but little else. Got it at Spec's on Richmond. 79.

2005 Domaine du Bouqueteau CHINON (Loire, France)

Just when I finish a post about how unusually ripe the 2005 Loire reds are , I get an unripe one. Figures.

This 100% Cabernet Franc was too unripe and vegetal for my taste.

Dark black ruby color. Interesting but not altogether pleasant nose. On the good side, there were some nice cherry and underbrush scents. On the bad side, there was a persistent vegetal (bell peppers and green beans). Surprisingly full and concentrated given its unripeness. Soft-textured as well, but the overriding impression is that of the unripe flavors. With several hours of air the vegetal scents receded just a tad, but still was disappointing. 79. I believe this was about $14 at Central Market.

2006 Commanderie de la Bargemone COTEAUX D'AIX EN PROVENCE ROSÉ (France)

This was a light, fresh, but very austere rosé.

Very light coppery/cantaloupe color. Light intensity nose of tomato skins, tropical fruit and bananas, and some pungent briny stones. Crisp and very minerally in the mouth, with fruit in the background instead of in the fore. Focused and austere, this rosé isn't so great on its own, but would be a nice foil to a sweet, unctuous seafood like scallops. 84. Was $9 and change at Spec's on Smith.

2004 San Felice CHIANTI CLASSICO (Tuscany, Italy)

This wine is downright cranky at first, but after a few hours of air time, really opened up into a very high class Sangiovese.

Very dark ruby garnet. Nose very closed at first, but after it opened, it displayed some real elegance, with scents of spiced, sweet balsa wood, cherry, granite, and earth. Concentrated, medium-bodied flavors of cherry liqueur, menthol, and lots of liquid minerals. Long finish, with substantial, but fine-grained, tannins. 89. This will will likely age and improve over the next 3-4 years. Was $18 at Spec's on Smith.

2006 Domaine Dupeuble BEAUJOLAIS (France)

Nice nose, but a bit thin in the mouth.

Crystalline ruby with bright magenta highlights. Lively nose of crunchy, grapey cherry fruit and smokey granite. Crisp and light in the mouth, with dry, dry cherry and stone flavors. Lacking concentration, even for a Beaujolais, which is supposed to be somewhat lighter in style. Lean, medium length finish. This was refreshing to drink with a meal, but was meager on its own. 82. Was about $14 at Central Market.

2006 Doña Paula MALBEC "Los Cardos" (Mendoza, Argentina)

This was a very ripe, well-balanced red with a lot of character.

Saturated black ruby/mulberry color. The nose needs a lot of air time to develop, but then displays deep fruit (crushed, oozing blackberries, sweet cream, coffee and balsa wood. Rich, spicy black raspberry fruit, with a smokey granite component as well. Full-bodioes and mouthfilling. Substantial tannin in the finish, but it's relatively ripe for Malbec. Reminded me of a very ripe, old vine Zin from Contra Costa County like Rosenblum or Cline make. Very nice. 89. Was about $14 at Whole Foods on Bellaire.

2005 Frederic Mabileau ST. NICOLAS DE BOURGUEIL "Les Roullieres" (Loire Valley, France)

2005 looks to have been a terrific year for the Cabernet Franc-based reds (Chinon, St. Nicolas de Bourgueil) of the Loire Valley. This is a region where, traditionally, the reds struggled (not always succesfully) to fully ripen. But one convenient truth about global warming is that recently, this region has experienced warmer summers, and, consequently, the reds have been more consistent (and good!). There are still many good reds under $20 to try, and I have a few in my wine closet I'm going to be opening in the next few weeks.

This one is very good -- lots of flavor but with alcohol levels much lower than reds from other regions around the world. The lower alcohol levels create a really elegant, almost ethereal mouthfeel.

Black ruby color with bright purple highlights. Medium intensity but gorgeously perfumey nose of black cherries, stony minerals, and a briary/walnut-oily scent in the background. Concentrated and bright, with flavors of dry cassis extract and briary underbrush. Very light-feeling in the mouth, but with good concentration nonetheless. Long, balanced, lithe finish. Very distinctive. 88. Was $16.99 at Central Market.

2005 Morgan PINOT GRIS "R & D Franscioni Vineyard" (Santa Lucia Highlands, Cal.)

California Pinot Gris -- which is sometimes called Pinot Grigio -- to my taste can frequently feel and taste too flat and lifeless to me. From Italy, they're a bit livelier, but frequently have virtually no taste. From Alsace, they have lots of flavor, but can be overbearing buttery or cloyingly fruity. I've had quite a few from Oregon that I've liked over the years, however (like this WillaKenzie one).

This here's one of the classic California flat ones.

Very light and amazingly transparent gold color. Interesting nose of creamed minerals, spiced pear, and quince. Broad, flat mouthfeel, with almost cloying flavors of earthy marzipan and pear, that grows more bitter in the long, but not particularly pleasant, finish. 78. Not gonna tell you what I paid for this -- it's embarassing.

2006 Castaño MONASTRELL (Yecla, Spain)

Made from organically-grown grapes, this wine is a steal -- a gutsy, full-bodied, soft red for $8.

Dark black purply-ruby color. Needs a bit of air time after opening, but then reveals big, fruity nose of crushed blueberries, with strong minerally scents in the background. Soft, round, ripe, and full, this wine sports flavors of smoky, loamy raspberries, underbrush, and iodine. Lots of soft tannins indicate that this wine will last and improve over the next 2 years or so. Tremendous value. 88. I got this at Whole Foods on Bellaire (case stacking near the meat counter).

2003 Domaine Ehrhart RIESLING GRAND CRU HENGST (Alsace, France)

This was a fully mature, complex white.

Medium dark brassy gold color -- which led me to think this might be past its prime. But it wasn't. Deeply honeyed nose, with minerally, marzipan-y, overripe pear and honeysuckle flavors. Excellent concentration, yet in a medium-light bodied frame, with nice acidity to keep things tasting fresh. Long finish, showing just the barest hint of oxidation at the tail end. Drink this right away, as it is certainly at or just past its peak. Very nice. 88. Got this several months ago at Richard's on South Shepherd for $24.

2006 Milton Park SHIRAZ (South Australia)

This was a good value in a soft, ripe, reasonably complex red.

Very dark black ruby with violet highlights at the rim. Ripe, soft nose of spiced, sweet plums and warm cream, with some sweet, toasty oak as well. Soft, round, and balanced, this wine featured very minerally flavors (hot, salty stones) together with cassis and graphite. Pure, long, but somewhat warm finish, with no discernible tannin. 87. Was about $12 at Central Market.