Loire Valley (Touraine). 12% abv. Louis/Dressner Imports. Under Nomacork. $15.00 or so.
This was somewhat of a surprise. Very plush and elegant mouth feel. Does not taste anything like Bordeaux (and certainly not Cali Cab)-this has that red plum "French Hippy Wine" character, but with very plush tannic structure, good earthyness. The green pepper did come out a little more towards the end, but overall a pleasant quaffer. Somewhat controversial wine, though: some people actively disliked the red plum, which is a distinctive flavor
Others loved it. 86 points. 2006 Geode Chardonnay Santa Barbara County. This wine was somewhat controversial also. It had a very sharp and to me unpleasant caramel sugar note-I thought the oak really stuck out like a raised middle finger. On the other hand, this wine definitely showed a pronounced minerality which was very interesting. I can't get past that spike of caramel oak, though. 78 points. http://www.geodewines.com/geode_chardonnay.html Those that liked it have a higher tolerance for oaky chardonnay than I do (I can't really drink Rombauer. Rich Black loves it)
2007 Cartlidge and Brown Pinot Noir. This cheapie negociant bottling quite surprised me. Not over-extracted, not sweet, not particularly oaky, balanced alcohol (13.5%). Very drinkable lighter surprisingly "basic Burgundian" style Pinot. Not an awful cherry candy and alcohol wine. Bravo! 83 points.
2007 Schug Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Lighter color. A little more cherry fruit. But...otherwise my notes would be very similar for the C&B above. Mixed reviews, some preferred this and some preferred the above. Both were drinkable. I liked this slightly more, but at twice the price the QPR comes in. 82 points.