Is CVS or Gristedes really going to sell Clos Roche Blanche, Chandon de Briailles, or anybody's Hermitage? We needed sunblock and diapers, so we drove to CVS, what I think of as a pharmacy, but I now understand is really a grocery store in San Diego. They sell everything, from lawn chairs to perfume to wine. just can't see it. MORE >>

He told Mary that I would be in Burgundy and boom - we had an invite to Domaine des Croix for dinner. She served an excellent 2007 Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg Grand Cru with a lively green salad, and a dark and stormy, and still probably too young, but layered and delicious 1999 Alain Graillot Hermitage with the boudin noir pie. MORE >>

So when the Aussies regain their senses and start using corks again- warts and all, and I am no great fan of TCA-tainted wines- not to mention all of the premature oxidation issues with recent vintages of my beloved white Burgundies, which in my opinion may well be cork-related- then I will start tasting Australian rieslings again in-depth. MORE >>

I'll begin with the red Burgundies, because the white table was jammed when I walked in so these were the first wines I tasted. have never tasting anything like it: 1990 Guigal Hermitage - Nose of road tar - lots of road tar! was the only person in this crowd (including Deetrane) who had never before tasted a Cheval Blanc, for example. MORE >>

On Wednesday there was a Crozes Hermitage flight, a Portuguese red flight, a New- World Sauvignon Blanc flight, and a flight of local wines from the Willamette Valley. Other by the glass options included mostly younger wines from South Africa to Burgundy, and there was a 1993 Leoville Barton for $16/glass, if you like that kind of thing. MORE >>