And the 1999 Eric Texier Cô te-Rôtie , a wine that fooled all of us. Italy Chablis El Maestro Sierra Dagueneau Eric Texier Closel Robert Ampeau Loire Valley Burgundy Vincent Dauvissat Jean Vesselle Sherry Paul Bara Savennières Slope Farms Emidio Pepecannot tell you how excited I am about this. This neighbor raises pigs. Some wine too. MORE >>

And by the way, put this up against a lot of white Burgundy from the same year and this will come out ahead, as there is not even a hint of oxidation. 1999 Trimbach Gewurtztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre - an Alsace Gewurtztraminer with some bottle age.yum. Top notch wine. Really intriguing wine. Great Beaujolais. MORE >>

This wine can also do well with extended aging in bottle as the 1999 I recently tasted was fresh and delicious.) As the name of the grape (Melon de Bourgonge) suggests, it originally hailed from Burgundy. Muscadet gives pleasure when it is freshly squeezed. But aging the best examples can be worth the wait. French wine MORE >>

Wells Guthrie had his conversion on the road home from Burgundy. The lanky, California maker of pinot noir, chardonnay, and syrah told me at his Sonoma winery that he had his conversion in 2005, after returning from a trip to Burgundy and the Rhone. Saul had his conversion on the road to Damascus. Thus he decided to change his style. MORE >>

We tend to value the idea of vinifying individual plots separately, as in Burgundy, and increasingly now in Champagne. thought that the 1999 was the most perfect of the wines, objectively speaking, although it was clearly not mature enough to be at its peak. The company was great, and so were the food and the wines. Delicious. MORE >>