Charles Shaw Chardonnay 2006

7 Screwcaps

I will start off by saying that "Two Buck Chuck" earns the best 7 Screwcap rating that I have EVER given. Sold in specific stores at the llllooooowwww price of $2.99 (Exclusive at Trader Joe's stores), this wine is a fantastic cult wine, not necessarily judged on character of the wine, but more character versus price. You will taste pear, apricot and cheap. Try it now. Don't hold on to it for more than 1 year. Just buy and drink. It will surprise you!

J. Lohr Arroyo Secco Chardonnay "Arroyo Vista Vineyard" 2005

8 2/3 Screwcaps

A delicious approach to an oaked chardonnay! Normally, I stick toward the unoaked chardonnays, being that I am sometimes sick of biting into an oak tree. Well, I needed a change of pace and this wine was a perfect pace changer! As though I were drinking birthday cake batter, this wine had intense flavors of, believe it or not, Golden Grahams. Needless to say, the wine was wonderful. The food I would match this up with, believe it or not, stuffed tortellini with a creamy marinara. Yes, I am suggesting a white with a red sauce....get over it and try it. I think that you will find out that I am right. In your face Chef Boyardee!

Celler de Cantella "Cervoles" 2004

7 1/2 Screwcaps

This is a nice wine. Medium in body with a nice amount of spice and blackberry. It just didn't really impress me as I had hoped it would, with the $30.00 price tag that I paid. While being fruit forward on the palate and the nose, there was a very short finish to this Tempranillo, Cabernet, Grenache and Merlot blend. Perhaps this could benefit from some aging. At most, I would drink it over the next 3 years.

Krug Grande Cuvee NV

9 7/10 Screwcaps

This is simply the best non-vintage champagne (let alone wine in general) that I have ever tasted, and for the price, it damn well better! Fortunately, we have wonderful people that look after the Wine Team, including the Wine Team itself and was gifted this bottle to taste when the ball dropped. Fortunately, the ball wasn't dropped when this champagne was made. It is easy to reminisce about the pear and candy apple tastes, but what really separates this bottle is the barrel fermenting/aging. See, most champagnes are fermented/aged in stainless steel, which mostly leave a good to great finish. Krug and your higher up champagnes will use oak barrels in the old traditional form. Thank God that some things just never change, because the hazelnut in this baby would leave the makers of Frangellico scratching their heads, wondering where they went wrong.
Now as said, the price can get up there (about $135), but let me tell you that if you regard champagne as a wine for special occasions and want to seal that occasion with something that you will never forget, then get this wine immediately! You will not regret it!