Current recommended wines: Q3 2007

I'm a slave to you, the reader of this blog. So in response to your demands (that I imagined you might have made) here's the long awaited for matrix of recommendations. Err. a matrix that looks like a list.

Upto $10:

1. Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot 2004 ($8 TJ) - big, smooth, fruity with berry and oak. 60,000 cases? Broadly available. Also recommended but not quite as nice is the 2003 version. (The 2002 is more vegetal and ends with some leathery notes I didn't like. And the 2001 isn't available any more and hasn't aged too well, tasted tired and stewed in many cases.)
2. Razor's Edge Shiraz 2005 ($9 Costco) - let it breathe for 45 minutes, and you get a rich, smooth dark fruit with spices (20,000 cases) Seen 8/2005 at the Mountain View Costco.
   
3. Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz ($10 Wine Club) - smooth plum with a bit of spicyness.
   
4. Cycles Gladiator Cabernet ($9, Wine Club, King City Gas Station) - decent dark fruit with some oak and vanilla. Should be available at BevMo.
5. Perrin and Fils Cote du Rhone Reserve ($6 TJ) - good solid red with dark fruit and dirt with acidity, and minerals. I use this for cooking, too.
   
6. Kali Hart 2005 Monterey Chardonnay ($9, WC) - smoky, big, oaky, ripe, slightly sweet.
7. Columbia Crest 2004 Grand Estates Chardonnay ($7, TJ) - oaky with buttery notes amidst the pear and other fruits. Not for everybody, but it's my guilty pleasure. Don't drink it too cold or the flavors will be muted. The 2005 is not quite as good, with a bitter oak edge, but still quite nice.
   
8. Any inexpensive Perrin & Fils or Vieille La Ferme wine. Trader Joes sells a red, a rose and a white Vieille La Ferme. They are all $under $6 and all from the Cote du Rhone area and are very solid French table wines that should go nicely with food. The Perrin & Fils Reserve Rhone is equally nice.
   
9. Any Sauvignon Blanc for under $10. The NZ ones all taste largely the same to me (yes, I'm admitting this), and they are all pretty good. If you like more grassiness, try the Chilean SB's, say Veramontes or Casa Lapostolle.
10. Santa Ema 2004 Reserve Cabernet or Merlot $9. Big solid wines with obvious oak.
11. Any George Dubeouf 2005 (not 2006) Beaujolais. The year 2005 produced massive wines for this region and while I normally don't like this style of wine, I bought four 2005's from this producer, and they were all superb. It might be hard to find these as of 9/2007, but snap them up if you do find some. They are $9 to $15. Common names are Regnie, Morgon, Chiroubles, and Brouilly. I bought a mixed case and have had 5 bottles so far.
12. Rosemount 2005 Diamond Label at $7-10. I've had the 2005 Shiraz and it was quite nice with some complexity. Many years back this was the best $7 wine you could buy, but as they have increased the production 10-20X, the grapes just aren't the same and it's a bit hit or miss. The 2005 (Shiraz at least) comes in an octagonal bottle, so that should make it easy to spot versus the not so good 2004.
13. Four Emus Australian Shiraz, $6. I think this was the 2005, from the arid and remote W Australia. This was surprisingly good after breathing for 45 min, even better than the Rosemount.
    

From $10 to $18:

In this price range, you start to get a lot of variety for pretty good wines.

1. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah ($15, Costco, and more) - my favorite wine for the summer/fall of 2007. Tremedous fruit, spice and loam flavors in a very well balanced, complex wine. Intense nose. I used to hate Chilean wines, but this wine has completely won me over. Also got 92 from Wine Spectator.
2. Beringer 2005 (or 2004 or 2003) Alluvium ($12 Wine Club)- a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion. A refreshing complex white with both acidity and smoky richness. I've been very pleased with this white the last 3 vintages. I just snapped up 4 more bottles when I saw this...and I probably should have grabbed at least 6.
3. Marquis Philips 2005 Shiraz ($12 Costco, San Luis Obispo): a fruity, spicy shiraz with some earthy notes too. It needs an hour to really open up with a rich lush body along with the intense flavors.
4. Rosemount 2001/2/3 GSM $12-18. These have been consistenly good with a nice smoothness.
   
5. Thorn Clarke 2005 Shotfire anything or Barossa Cuvee anything. These wines have all been quite nice with strong fruit, some spice and a decent acidity. I just bought a case of the Shotfire 2006 Ridge Shiraz, blind.
   
6. Tait Ballbuster 2003/4/5/6 - a big fruity, spicy shiraz blend with a thick long finish. Notes of chocolate, oak, vanilla, sweet spice and leather. I just bought 8 bottles of the 2006 blind. Like the name implies, there is no subtlety but the wine is surprisingly balanced and interesting.
7. Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand SB's are consistently very good, priced well, and which one you like is a personal preference. Noted for their bracing tanginess and acidity. I often get citrus or unripe fruit notes. This pretty much gets you the high end stuff, which runs between $12 to $18. I've bought Babich, Drylands, Matua, Kim Crawford, though there are many, many more good ones.
   

Best wines I can remember having recently.

These aren't wines you (or I) can necessarily buy anymore but it's what I thought was really nice.

1. Neyers 2005 Old Lakevile Road Syrah - like many wines, it was the last 1/2 glass that did it for me. Smoky bacon amidst swirling purple fruit in a rich luxurious body.
   
2. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah - the first authentially Chilean wine that I've liked. I was NOT a fan of chile and this wine may have single handedly turned the tides. Though I've discovered many other wines not from Chile also have the loamy funk I associate w/ Chile. A complex, fruity, spicy wine. At $16, just buy it.
3. Calina 2005 Carmanere $8 - had at a wine tasting at Sam's in Chicago. Dense fruit, with spice in a lush finish. A steal at $8. Too bad I only had that tasting.

The hunt for red centobers

Don't waste your time looking up "centobers", since I just made the word up after 45 seconds of hard thinking, to mean the best 100. There are not many words that rhyme or even sound like "October" to begin with, let alone that mean the top or best. A better but less interesting title would be "The hunt for the Wine Spectator Top 100, which for me is mostly reds". So now you see, maybe "red centobers" doesn't sound so bad.

Every year, the Wine Spectator puts out their top 100 wines in Feb. It's a diverse mix of wines chosen based on: score well, represent their region well, have something special about them, are good values and have good availability. Like most of the top XYZ lists put forth, it is an arbitrary decision by the authors. Oenophiles debate the list I'm sure. But more importantly it has and continues to serve useful purpose for me. It lets me know when I'm drinking world class wines.

I have no illusion the WS Top 100 can be even remotely authoratative or even comprehensive. It is their arbitrary picks. But the wine world is so diverse, how do you know the stuff you like or are buying is any good? So it is nice to have a simple sign post that essentially says: this wine is world class for its price, region and varietal. That's what the WS T100 tells me.

I remember when when I was first starting to get into wines on my student like budget, I would hunt down any 90 pointer for under $10. The Top 100 list was filled with strange, exotic and mostly expensive wines I'd never heard of. The eight or nine that were under $10 were magnets, if I could find them. Some of the more memorable ones were the Rosemount 1990's Shiraz and the Hogue 199x Merlots. I would be happy to find two wines on this list.

Since the value wins in the Top 100 tend to appear in the second half, when paying at most $10, I rarely had any wines ranked higher than say 60. But that started to change once I was willing to pay a bit more and spend more time searching these wines out.

Anyways, back to today. Here's what I have the 2007 list, where the number is where the wine was on the WS list.

• 1 - I ordered this Italian red before the T 100 list came out, but after the 96 score was known. When it came in, I hadn't realized this was the #1 wine. Only 1 bottle. $48. I had forgotten why I was buying this expensive bottle and questioned if it was a mistake. The seller said he "would gladly take it back, heh, heh". And I found out what it was.
  
• 4 - Got two bottles of the Don Melchor Chilean cab. $35
• 11 - Paid a good $65 each for 3 bottles of this Chateauneuf du Papes
• 16 - Loaded up on the Langmeil Aussie Shiraz for only $20
• 35 - Costco had this Jos Jos Prum Riesling for $29, so I got several
• 37 - Matua Sauv Blanc for under $18.... obvious
• 40 - Kim Crawford Sauv Blanc for under $16... also got a few of this
• 64 - A 91 pt Aussie Shiraz for under $10... a case... though I haven't liked the one bottle I've tried, though I really liked the previous years, this one needs some time
  
• 66 - this Italian Pinot Grigio remains in the cellar for now
• 76 - this Italian Falangina white tastes like sour peach pits...and almost has a sparkly feel....I don't care for it but have 4+ bottles left
  
• 83 - I've liked the Perrin and Fils Cote du Rhone's a lot and this Vacqueyras was only $18.

Based on my increased buying since then, I think I'll have at least 10 wines on the 2008 Top 100, again, if not 15.

Wine Spectator Online outage for the last week

The winespectator.com website went down completely for many days (Thu 9/14 to Tues 9/18). Initially there was just nothing at the site. Then by Sat, they put up a new home page indicating they knew the site was down. There was no information, but there were three links in case you wanted to buy a ticket to some WS or Cigar event. Beyond that the page said little else. Why these links and no other content? I supposed, it was most important to keep the money flowing in to M Shanken's sites.

Now the big question is whether they will extend our online subscriptions by at least the number of days the site went down. So far nothing... but we'll see. It seems to me that if you sign up for a newspaper for a year and they don't deliver for 6 days, you should get those 6 days back. Same with a paid online subscription to an online community.

But WS is an old world media with a new world, aka online, presence. We'll see what they do. If after a week there is no mention of extending our online expiry, I'll step up to the plate.

Wine Buying in Chicago

I had the pleasure of visting Chicago for 3 days last week. Of course I checked out the wine scene, visiting a wine friendly restaurant and visiting the two biggest wine sellers, Binny's and the Sam's. Someone once told me you can get anything you want in Chicago... though it might cost a pretty penny. I took that mean that Chicago was big enough to have a market for everything.

So I was foolishly surprised at how good the shopping was at both Binny's and Sam's was. Both were impressive, having as good a selection and prices as anyplace I've ever been. I found bottles I can't find here in northern California where I reside, with wine growing regions both north and south of us. The bigges tlocal wine specialists retailers are the The Wine Club and K & L Wine. Among the chains, Costco, Safeway and Trader Joes, also sell a lot of wine, here.

The summary for the impatient is that I liked Binny's a bit more than Sam's and I thought Binny's prices were better, roughly $1 cheaper on $15-20 bottles. I bought quite a bit of wine at both, which were both world-class wine retailers.

Binny's

It turns out Binny's is a local chain in that they have many locations (10+) throughout the Chicago area. I went to their store on Grand in downtown, which has a forboding parking lot surrounded by a low brick wall and metal security fencing. The store itself was slighly below ground level and about twice the size of a 7-11. Not huge. But the wines were packed densely on 7-11 type shelving, so there were a good number of wines to choose from. And the prices were exemplary. I'm an Australian nut, so I spent a good 30 minutes browsing that isle. Some of the gems I found were

• Jim Barry 2005 Shiraz 2005 $15
  
• Neyer's 2005 Old Lakeville Road Syrah $27, I didn't think I'd find anymore, so this made me very happy as I bought all 3 bottles available. I took only 2 bottles home, forcing me to do checked luggage and it was this wine, the Neyer's Syrah.
• Kangarilla 2004 Zinfandel (Aus) $15, a lighter, juicy delightful raspberry-ish wine, bearing no resemblence to Calif zin.
• Tait 2005 Ballbuster $16, anybody who carries the Ballbuster is in my good list.
  
• Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah $15, my favorite widely-available wine for under $20; this equals the best price I've seen at Costco.
• George Duboeuf 2005 Regnie $10, I find the 2005 Beaujolais to be astonishingly wonderful and Matt Kramer in WS just agreed with me.
• Perrin and Fils 2004 Cote du Rhone Villages $13
• Yangarra 2005 Cadenza GSM $24

They also had a decent selection of Spanish wines and a few Portugese wines, something I don't find at the Wine Club.

Sam's Wine and Spirits

I took the red line from Binny's, from Grand/State to the North/Clyborn stop and walked the remaining 1/2 mile to Sam's. Sam's is a a huge brick building a bit northeast of downtown, this looks like a large Costco, but it's filled with just alchohol and mainly wine. At first it appears overwhelming due to the size, but the selection is just slighly more than Binny's due to much lower density shelving.

There were 8 wine distributors setup with with small tables pouring 2-5 of their wines. Naturally I hit a few of them up upon walking in. At the first pour, I found the wine of the night, the Calina 2005 (?) Carmenere from Chile at $9. A fruity, spicy with a smooth rich body, this was a very nice wine. I got a bottle, not wanting to load up too much. However, an hour later when I revisited the station and found the wine to be still that good, they had sold out, so I was glad I got the bottle when I did. Look for this!

Overall, Sam's was a very fun experience. If I were force to buy all my wines there, I would still be a happy person. Some of the wines I got were

• Babich 2006 Sauvignon Blanc $13, hard to go wrong with Babich anything
• Calina 2005(?) Carmenere $8, the wine of the night... wow
• Santa Ema 2005 Cabernet Reserve $9, I'm about to start buying Santa Ema wines like crazy again
• a bunch ofSpanish wines that Robert Parker rated 89+ points for under $13
  

The one thing that annoyed me at Sam's was a sign saying the Columbia Crest Grand Reserve Chardonnay $9 got a WS 90 point rating, which it did not. An exaggerated rating calls into question all their other quoted ratings.

Blind Guessing Sep 2007

1. Marietta NV Old Vine Red Lot 43
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah
4. Thorn Clarke 2005 Barossa Cuvee
   
5. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah
6. Marquis Philips 2005 SE Australia Shiraz
7. Castle Rock 2006 Pinot Noir Sonoma
   
8. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel
9. Rosemount 2002 GSM
   
10. Root 1 2005 Cabernet
11. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
12. Columbia Crest 2004 Merlot

9/12/2007: A sweet berry nose with light spice. A taste of sweet red berry.. a zin I thought. The only non-Rosenblum zin was the Marietta Old Vine Red... Yes, got it in one. The wine goes down easily. Wine: 87. Guessing: A-.

1. Seghesio 2003 Venom Sangiovese
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah
5. Marquis Philips 2005 SE Australia Shiraz
6. Castle Rock 2006 Pinot Noir Sonoma
   
7. Dashe 2005 Zinfandel
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM
   
9. Root 1 2005 Cabernet
10. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
11. Columbia Crest 2004 Merlot

9/14/2007:

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah
5. Marquis Philips 2006 Sarah's Blend
   
6. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve
   
7. Dashe 2005 Zinfandel
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM
   
9. Root 1 2005 Colchugua Valley, Cabernet
10. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
11. Castano 2003 Solanera Vinas Viejas
12. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel
    

2/18/2007: A quandry. The sharp smell of Chile but not spicy and elegant enough to be the Montes Alpha. The wine went down easily implying a bit of an older wine. The wine also wasn't especially big and tasted like a Granache. Many choices... I went the Las Rocas Granache? Nope. Hmm.. the smell won out... Root 1 Cab from Chile? Yes! The wine is surprisingly good. Flavorful red berry in a juicy light weight body that finishes smoothly. Wine: 90. Guessing: B+.

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah
5. Marquis Philips 2006 Sarah's Blend
   
6. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve
   
7. Dashe 2005 Zinfandel
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM
   
9. Castano 2003 Solanera Vinas Viejas
10. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel
    

9/19/2007: Cabernet-like in aroma with dark berry and nice spices. A lush, intense wine. I didn't think the Thorn Clarke was this rich, but it's the only cab.. Thorn Clarke? no. Marquis Sarah's? No. The Quivera Petite? Nope. What else could this be? The Castano? Nope. I retasted for yet again and it suddenly hit me that this could be a zin... Dashe? Yep. A super wine: 91. Guessing: F.

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah
5. Marquis Philips 2006 Sarah's Blend
   
6. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve
   
7. Rosenblum 2005 Monto Rosso Zindel
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM
   
9. Valentin Bianchi 2002 Cabernet
   
10. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
11. Castano 2003 Solanera Vinas Viejas
12. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel

9/20: Red berry, acidity, spice... Sarah's blend? Nope. Dusty dark fruit, closing down after 15 minutes. Las Rocas Granache? Nope. Turning smoother, but leaner after 20 min, with no more lush fruit. Rioja? Nope. Rosemount GSM? Nope. OK, this is getting ugly. Castano 2003 Solanera? Yes. A decent food wine. Wine: 87. Guessing: C-.

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz ; AU WS 90
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial ; WS 89
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah ; Chile WS 92
   
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah; Sonoma
   
5. Marquis Philips 2006 Sarah's Blend; AU
   
6. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve; AU WS 90
   
7. Rosenblum 2005 Monto Rosso Zindel ; Sonoma
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM McLaren Vale; AU
   
9. Valentin Bianchi 2002 Cabernet Famiglia ; Chile WS 91
   
10. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
11. Fairview 2005 Shiraz ; Africa WS 90
    
12. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS 92

9/22/2007: I just opened the Bianchi Cab, since it was supposed be nice and it was nearing the 2008 drink by date the WS recommended. It was fine but nothing special. Moderate dark fruit with sporadic chilean funk, oak, spice in a dark but medium body. Smooth, short finish. Just not as good as it should have been. Wine: 88

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz ; AU WS 90
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial ; WS 89
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah ; Chile WS 92
   
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah; Sonoma
   
5. Marquis Philips 2006 Sarah's Blend; AU
   
6. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve; AU WS 90
   
7. Rosenblum 2005 Monto Rosso Zindel ; Sonoma
   
8. Rosemount 2002 GSM McLaren Vale; AU
   
9. Rosenblum 2005 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS ??
   
10. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
11. Fairview 2005 Shiraz ; Africa WS 90
    
12. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS 92
13. 
    
14. Ole 2005 La Mancha Monastrell 3 (not in contention)

9/23/2007: Fresh black cherry with dark stony fruit. Short, juicy finish. Not complex but nice. Could almost be a "dark fruit" version of a mid-priced Cote du Rhone. It tastes young with the fruit and acidity. Thorn Clarke Cab? No. Las Rocas Garnache? No. Fairview Shiraz? Nope. Marquis Philips Sarah's Blend? Yes. Even though it took me 4 guesses, I thought I didn't do badly.. the granache was probably my only bad guess. Letting it breathe, it has gained complexity and some softness. Wine: 89. Guessing: B-.

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz ; AU WS 90
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial ; WS 89
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah ; Chile WS 92
   
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah; Sonoma
   
5. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve; AU WS 90
   
6. Rosenblum 2005 Monto Rosso Zindel ; Sonoma
   
7. Rosemount 2002 GSM McLaren Vale; AU
   
8. Rosenblum 2005 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS ??
   
9. Las Rocas 2005 de San Alejandro Garnacha
10. Fairview 2005 Shiraz ; Africa WS 90
    
11. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS 92
12. Ole 2005 La Mancha Monastrell 3

9/26/2007: smells and tastes like an older wine. Mild purple fruit with some earthiness and minerality. My gut was granache for the grape. Not a new world wine... 2001 Rioja? Nope. Los Rocas Granache? Yes. Wine: 87. Guessing: A-.

1. Razor's Edge 2005 Shiraz ; AU WS 90
   
2. Sierra Cantabria 2001 Rioja Cuvee Especial ; WS 89
   
3. Montes 2005 Alpha Syrah ; Chile WS 92
   
4. Quivera 2003 Wine Creek Ranch Petite Syrah; Sonoma
   
5. Thorn Clarke 2005 Terra Barossa Cabernet Importers Reserve; AU WS 90
   
6. Rosenblum 2005 Monto Rosso Zindel ; Sonoma
   
7. Rosemount 2002 GSM McLaren Vale; AU
   
8. Rosenblum 2005 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS ??
   
9. Tuttobene 2004 Toscana Rosso IGT
   
10. Fairview 2005 Shiraz ; Africa WS 90
    
11. Rosenblum 2003 Richard Sauret Zinfandel ; Paso WS 92
12. Sebastiani 2004 Cabernet Sonoma Reserve

9/28/2007: subdued fresh berry with some leatheryness.... ugh, I can't remember the whole story now (7 days later) but the wine wasn't that good and it was the Rosenblum Richard Sauret 2003, which had gotten a massive 92 from WS. Wine: 85.

Wine tasting in the Midwest Sep 07

This post captures some of the wine I've had in an ongoing trip to the midwest (Cincinnati, Chicago and W Lafayette). These will be quick notes, so I can get them all down. My ratings are in [brackets].

1. Lynn bought a bunch of wines before I got to Cincin (why hasn't this name caught on?) and they were all inexpensive Aussie reds. Lindemans Shiraz 2006 (?) was simple, a bit dilute but drinkable [83 (WS87)]. Rosemount 2005 Diamond Shiraz had some complexity and more intensity [88 (WS87)]. The Four Emus Shiraz or Cab from Western Australia was chilean with spicy fruit and opened up quite nicely [89] after an hour; this should be a bargain under $8 most places.
   
2. We went to Jungle Jim's in Cincy and they had a very good wine selection. The Marquis Philips 2005 Shiraz $14 was fruity, spicy, and peppery and was a bit hit w/ Lynn [89 to me]; this is one of my favorites. The Vitiano 2005 Falesco $9 was lighter than I remember with med red berry, cherry and balanced acidity with a hint of rock [87] The Thorn-Clarke 2005 Barossa Cuvee $12 was fruity and solid but not complex [87, (WS90)].
   
3. I found a Montes Alpha 2002 Syrah $16 at Party time in N Kentucky but was too tired to really try it. Sigh.
4. A Boony Doon 2003 Cigare Volant (like a GSM but actually an MSG) $26 from the Chicago Trader Joes that stayed open until 10 PM, was earthy and spicy but just wasn't that good [84].
   
5. In Chicago at several restaurants, including the still wonderful Cafe Ba-ba-reeba, I had some delightful Spanish and Portugese wines. So I bought more of these when I was leaving Chicago before visiting friends at Purdue.
   
6. At Binny's off Grand in Chicago, they recommended the Casal de tonda 2005 Vinho tinto "Grilos" for $12. Smooth, fruity with sweet spice, a dash of olive, in a rich long body [90]. Nice stuff. I also found 3 more bottles of the Neyers 2005 Old Lake Syrah $27, which blew me away (just the last glass) a bit back. So I snatched them all. It started out with thick fruit, spice, and smoke with many layers [91] but after it opened after 2 hours (we had gone out to eat) it had lost complexity [90]. The next day the last glass was thick, fruity verging on sweet in a nice way [90].
   
7.