Meadow Creek Dairy Grayson, paried with 2006 Pierre Frick Sylvaner Cuvée Classique , $13, Fruit of the Vines Imports. Frick's bone-dry Sylvaner is great with this cheese. We've been delving further into domestic cheeses lately with some very good results, mostly. It continues to fascinate me, the challenge of pairing wine with cheese.

In general, Gewurztraminer and Muscat make aromatic wines, whereas Riesling and Sylvaner are more mineral, and Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are more about fresh fruit. I'm one of those weirdos who likes Gewurztraminer. It's true, so many of the wines are very bad - sweet and unbalanced, too viscous, devoid of subtlety, crude.

I'll be pouring 2005 Boxler Sylvaner and 2007 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Gamay at my Thanksgiving dinner this year. All good bloggers are supposed to tell you about the wines they will open for Thanksgiving. First of all Did you know that wine can be corked even if it is sealed with something other than cork? It, oddly, was also corked.

cold December night, sausages, real sauerkraut, beef stew, cabbage soup, goulash, anything like that with a shimmering glass of Sylvaner? 2005 Albert Boxler Sylvaner , $23, Imported by Robert Chadderdon Selections. And now I read that Sylvaner is being systematically replaced by other grapes in Alsace. Do you meet in secret?

2005 Domaine Weinbach Sylvaner Clos des Capuchins R é serve , price unknown but about $20, Vineyard Brands Imports. As can be expected of an Alsace wine made using Sylvaner, this wine is very mineral. This is not a post about wines that are chaste. This has nothing to do with the new Republican Vice Presidential nominee. You decide.

It's a neat blend of mostly Sylvaner, but there is Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and even a bit of Muscat in there too. On Monday I posted a list of wines that cost $14 or less , about $15 including NYS tax. These wines come recommended by buyers at some of my favorite stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan. This might sound simple, and fine, maybe it is.

2005 Kuentz-Bas Alsace Blanc, $12, Kermit Lynch Imports (Blend of, in order, Sylvaner, Riesling and Pinot Blanc, Muscat). For several months now the Euro is comfortably in the 1.5 range. Yup, it costs over $1.50 to buy one Euro. This isn't going to change tomorrow or next month - we're going to live with this for a while I bet. So there.

also tasted Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Biancos, Gewurtztraminers, Sylvaners, Muller Thurgaus, and a few whites which were blends of some of the aforementioned varietals. I was fortunate to be able to attend the Alto Adige Grand Tasting this afternoon. For the most part it was salespeople/marketing professionals doing the pouring.

2002 Sylvan Cathiard Vosne Romanee , $25 (secondary market). Its been a really good wine drinking month. I've tasted a few wines that have been on my "wish list" for a while, others that I've been meaning to try and finally found a good excuse to open, and new releases of yet other wines that I taste each year. Buy carefully in 2001.