2005 Château La Mothe du Barry (Joel Duffau) Bordeaux Supérieur [Merlot] (Bordeaux Supérieur AOC, Bordeaux, France) cork closure, 13.5% - imported to USA by Elite Wines - appears simple purple and clear, smell raspberry, very slight tar, very simple perky fruit, perfumed and nice, mouthfeel smooth with great tar texture, great flow, taste rich delicious fruit, on sweeter side but no cloying, delicious fruit—clean and rounded, finish is simple tar bit of dancing dryness, this wine started out as a delicious fruit quaffer but at the end of the second glass on the first day, I was quite bored with it and feared I had purchased a bottle that had that initial wow factor for the first half glass but then lost appeal, upon returning to it on day two, I found nothing exciting until I got about a glass in, then it was a very exciting juicy mix of grape skins and apple and pear cores, crunchy, delicious, interesting, the first glass and last glass were the best—though very different from each other, this was a fun bottle for $11
2007 Patton Valley Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Estate Rosé (Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA) screwcap closure, 12.5% - distributed in Virginia by Kysela Pere et fils – appears salmon color, reflective, bit of frizzante clinging to glass, smell perfumed and direct, strawberry, rose petals (hard to say what I would smell without the visual cues), floral and inviting, mouthfeel bit of frizzante on sides of tongue, great flow, taste wonderful fresh, one-half hour short of perfectly ripe strawberries, wonderful combination of intense yet light flavor and peppery acidity, underlying fizz, perky and refreshing, delicious, I loved it, paired very well with salad as well as with a pizza with garlic, ricotta, mushrooms, and artichokes. Tasty, zippy stuff, I was happy for $15