So much so, at half time of game, I got on-line and ordered more Atwater Cab-Merlot and Syrah. Sometimes when you least expect it, you open what may becomes your new favorite bottle of wine. Tonight I opened one of my remaining bottles of Finger Lakes wine purchased at my last tour in December. blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 47% Merlot. MORE >>

had never heard of this town or of this producer, and I don't usually love Grenache wines, so imagine my surprise when the 2004 Domaine Henri Milan Clos Milan simply stopped me in my tracks. This wine is 80% old vines Grenache and 20% Syrah from gravel and yellow sandstone soils that Milan is fond of comparing to that of Château Rayas. MORE >>

Here are some of the wines that stood out for me: 1992 Edmunds St John Syrah Grand Heritage. 2004 Produttori del Barbaresco. 2005 Puzelat Touraine La Tesni è re , a lovely smoky and funky white made of Menu Pineau, and the 2004 Puzelat Touraine La Tesni è re , a red made of Pineau D'Aunis. Incredibly delicious wine. MORE >>

with the first course of shrimp, we enjoyed the Macabeo described above and Realce Crianza 2005, 100% Tempranillo with spice and concentrated red fruit. Michael Apstein. Have you heard of Manchuela? It is a very small, rather new D.O. in Spain that makes quality white, rose, and red wine. MORE >>

Somewhere among my 50 New Year's resolutions (99.9% failure rate) was to leave my wine comfort zone more often as I continue to expand my trapped palate. To do so, I will have to taste, I mean drink, more wines that I never tried or wines I just never liked. So, to start off the new year I opened one of my least favorite wines, Zinfandel. MORE >>