When it comes to Chardonnay, I have no middle ground. It either does the wet-stone thing with interesting fruit for me, in which case I want to drink bottle after bottle with chicken and seafood cooked in cream sauces; or it bores me and reminds me of fermented fruit cocktail, in which case it ends up in the sautee pan, no matter how much I paid for it. Happily, my first taste of a real Burgundian Chard falls into the former category. The remnants of a headcold keep me from picking out the exact fruit, but I think I taste bananas, and starfruit, and maybe some pineapple. But the real treat for me is that wet stone thing, which takes me back to those vinerows I walked through in Longvay, and the chateaux where I tasted and bought this wine, and their cellar with thousands of aging bottles. This is good juice.

One of the things I've been most impressed with during my months in France has been the quality of everyday ingredients. This vin de pays is no exception. Lots of smoke and blackberries. Damn good wine.

This wine explodes with black cherry, but also has a solid loamy backing that I really like. If it wasn't for the licorice hint I'd swear I was drinking a Paso red. Can stand up to just about anything you can throw at it, but it really wants garlic-heavy dishes. You can hear it moaning in your mouth - give me garlic motherfucker, give me garlic! When a wine like this talks speaks like that, I heartily recommend obedience.

Strawberries and cream in the nose. Big pinot candy when opened, mellowed over a few hours to show me all the truffles, morels and chocolate I could want. This wine reminds me of good sex on a warm afternoon, in that there might be better out there, but why bother chasing it? Simply one of the best bottles of wine I've ever had, and the turning point for me to (finally!) get what everyone's on about when they go ga-ga over Burgundian Pinot Noir. Enjoyed in my Paris apartment over several hours with a gargantuan meal consisting of, amongst other things, poulet frites, a nice morel tartine and beouf bourgogne.

I like blackberries & chocolate, yes I do. I like blackberries & chocolate, so will you. Could I use a bit more complexity? Sure. A bit less of the sweet stuff? Yes please. But that's just nitpicking what really is a damn good wine. And I've been lucky enough to drink a lot of damn good wine this week. Cheers to Dave Phinney,

Summer in a glass. Pure sex.

I like a great California pinot as much as the next guy... but it's sometimes hard to find really good California pinot (as in a solid wine at a good price). Wolff makes the most Burgundian pinot I've ever had - tasted blind, I'd have there's as a Frenchy ever time - and this year's is no different. A tiny hint of strawberries balances all sorts of earth flavors - tobacco, charcoal, pencil lead, granite. Extremely good friendly - though it wouldn't be my preferred wine, it even holds its own against spicy foods like Mongolian hot pot. Another solid wine from one of my favorite wineries.

Like cooking around an oak fire with friends, eating bites of meat and mushrooms and for dessert, a little cherry pie. Delicious juice, simply outrageous with roasted chicken. This is everything I like in good single-vineyard pinot.

Cherry. Vanilla. Pepper. And Dr. Pepper, too. A decently balanced Zin from an area famous for over-the-top examples. A little sweet for my palette, but not bad either, and delicious next to meat with a sweeter sauce.

And then four or five months go by without a note kept about a bottle of wine. Not always a bad thing. Wine is, after all, to be enjoyed. Geeking out to it should always be secondary. There's something sad though in losing touch with the wines you've drunk. In not paying the attention to a wine that you do when you're recording notes.

Tried at the Dunning tasting room, this wine stands out as a European dignitary amidst the flamboyant fruit bomb Cen Cal crew. A nose full of cherry and clove, a mouth full of crayons, chalk and other school-days memories. Opens beautifully after an hour or so. Heaven with oak-grilled beef short ribs.