Yesterday I had a loooooonnngg pickup of Dave at JFK (flight was on time, but sat on taxiway for 45 minutes, then half-hour for luggage, then fighting the Sunday evening vacation traffic). What pulled me through was knowing Betsy was home trying to recreate the Ligurian pesto lasagna we had in Bordighera. While we are true foodies, and Betsy a devoted cook, I must confess this was the first time she ever used her pasta attachment. The results were great, and she is now planning pasta after pasta. I was out of Northern Italian whites, so when I finally returned from airport I went with unoaked Chardonnay, the 2005 Vrac Macon-Villages. As noted with their CdR, yes that's a stupid name. But I had tried at a Zachys store tasting, and thought ok for $9 wine. When Zachys flood sale offered bad-labelled bottles for $48/cs, I said sure. As with the Pesssac noted earlier, they oversold the flood bottles, and gave me pristine ones at same price. This is straightforward Chardonnay- white apple fruit, a hint of lemon, ripe but with enough zip to keep it fairly lively, no oak aromas. Nothing at all complex, but as good a $4 bottle as I've had in a while! B/B-
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency