It's too hard to get a real sense of the wines when you quickly taste 80 of them, especially amidst the cacophony of an industry tasting. tasted none of the Jenny and François Languedoc wines, almost none of the Rhône wines, none of their interesting Bordeaux selections, nothing from Italy, not one of Tony Coturri's California wines, etc. MORE >>

The point of view seems wrong to me as most California and New World wines are made for the market -- the most obvious taste--than the product of a carefully matched grapevine to land and climate and a passionate winemaker who is part artist/philosopher and part scientist. Are there exceptions to the awfulness of California wine for you? MORE >>

After all, no one has the money for $300 cabernet sauvignon from California, and even alluding to Cult Wines, let alone drinking them, is so out of fashion that one hesitates to mention the plethora of emails arriving daily intra-continentally. 85 Sloan 2005 $1100/3-pack OWC Blankiet 2006 $185 (old vintages of this wine sell for $85. MORE >>

The standout of the bunch was the Boulay Sancerre La Comtesse 2006, which has a subtle perfumi-ness, some nice minerality, and a fabulous mouth feel. But his 2006 Peillot ALTESSE (the name of the grape) de Montagnieu was very nice (as was his 2007). Making my way past the French wines I landed in the California section. MORE >>

The 2006 Canaan Red can be found here for $12 but is often priced at $13, $14 and higher. You will find both 2005 & 2006 vintages in stock. Both are great (as long as the '05's which have been out for well over a year were stored properly) but the 2006 were rated slightly higher by Israeli wine critic Daniel Rogov. category. MORE >>