Mike de Maria

Castello Di Neive Barbaresco 2005, Docg

Opened in August 2011. Red fruits, floral, and showing some leathery/age induced notes. Tannins are still there but tamed. Finesse/elegance is certainly an accurate description of the style.

Maycas Del Limarí Especial Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Limarí Valley

This wine packed well above it's price point and was delicious. This beats the pants off many a $40 bottle of Napa Cab in my mind. Only wish I had more...would be really interested in seeing how this one would age.

Brotte Château De Bord La Croix De Frégère Côtes Du Rhône Villages Laudun 2009, Ac

A wonderful example of 2009 Cotes Du Rhone with all the flavours you'd expect and a nice rich texture with balancing acidity tannins to keep everything balanced.

Casal Di Serra Verdicchio Dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico Superiore 2010, Doc

Apples, pears, some minerality and a hint of white flowers. Nice concentration and mouthfeel. Mouth watering acidity. A very nice wine for the price.

Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Columbia Valley

If you run out of vanilla extract, you could probably substitute this wine. There's some black fruits and some spice, but you have to work to get past the vanilla to smell/taste them. Maybe in two years it will be better integrated, but it's almost undrinkable at this point.

Domaine Des Fées Côtes Du Rhône 2010, Ac, Unfiltered

Bought two bottles of this on a recommendation from one of the wine consultants. I tasted and returned both bottles. There seems like there's a good wine hidden in there but I couldn't get over the 'bitter' note at the end that Mr. Lawrason mentions. It alone makes this wine undrinkable, but then you add a very pronounced and evident 15% alchohol and it becomes even more undrinkable. I thought the first bottle might have been off, so opened the 2nd and it was the same. Awful.

Luigi Bosca Malbec Lujan De Cuyo 2009

This is a big step backwards from last year's vintage. Disappointing, and not worth the price.

Xavier Côtes Du Rhone 2010

I really wanted to like this wine for two reasons. First, Rhone is my favourite wine region. But mostly because my son's name is Xavier. That being said, this didn't quite live up to what I was hoping. I've had the Chateauneuf from Xavier and it's much better bang for the buck. This wine at $16 certainly isn't overpriced, but it's just very average. It's red fruit dominated, with some of the Rhone garrigue/savoury type notes. Lively, juicy, a little bit of alcohol heat. I was really hoping it'd be better.

D'angelo Aglianico Del Vulture 2008, Doc Basilicata

I'm not sure what to say here, but I tried 3 different bottles and they were as far as I could tell corked. All three tasted different (one was exceptionally - rinse your mouth out - bad).

Perhaps this is the way the wine is supposed to taste like, and if so, my rating stands. Or maybe it they received a really bad lot of corks tainted with TCA.

Ónra Negre 2009, Do Costers Del Segre

Took John's advice and had this with BBQ smoked ribs with roasted beets in a bacon thyme vinaigrette. Worked wonderfully. Very solid BBQ wine.