Poggio al Tesoro 2007 Toscana Vermentino Solesole

Pale yellow color.

Fresh clean aroma, capture this smell for a fabric softener FTW.

Mild lemon flavor, apricot/peach at the end, refreshing, a bit frizzante.

Very pleasant light-bodied bottle for $24.99. This calls for shellfish.

Joh. Jos. Prum 1988 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese

Medium orange color, had to dig out a wet cork that broke up on a ScrewPull.

Ripe peach smell, mango, iced tea. Touch of diesel exhaust.

Sweet peach/mango flavor, rich, sugar in harmony with acid in the long finish. Traces of petillance on the tongue.

At 22 years, this is fully mature, but I'll delay opening my two further bottles to see if there's anything to my suspicion that this still has room to improve.

Villa Rosa 2005 Barolo

Medium-dark garnet color

Plum and prune smells, blackberry, leather, tar.

Black cherry, herbs, minerals, little bit of menthol at the end.

Excellent bottle for $29.99, full-flavored, I believe this'd pair very well with a good steak.

Dr. F Weins-Prum 1988er Wehlener Sonnenuhr Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling Spatlese

My favorite local internet wine store recently uncovered a mixed case of 1988 & 1989 German Riesling for me that very much takes me back to when I was first learning about great Riesling, with the added benefit of 20 years or so of age.

Orange color, bright as an early Spring sunrise.

Smell of orange and peach, trace of diesel exhaust.

Sweet peach, orange flavor, rich, well-balanced with acid. Trace of petillance on the tongue, hint of coconut in the finish.

Very good bottle, not the best I've had from this Einzellage, but I don't think I've ever had a bad Wehlener Sonnenuhr!

Kim Crawford 2009 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Pale straw color, petillance forms on the glass.

Bright lemon and lime smells, herbaceous notes.

A noticeable amount of residual sugar in this citrus-tasting wine. I feel condescended to, and not in a good way. Tingly petillance is apparent on the tongue.

Inadequate bottle for $17.99. I mark down severely for a normally dry wine presented with significant residual sugar. Your mileage may vary, this isn't technical incompetence, this is a marketing decision of which I disapprove.

I tried to enjoy a second, later, bottle knowing it was off-dry and to not prejudge, but then become distressed as the herbaceous, vegetal, smell and taste. Still a negative.

J.u.H.A. Strub 1989er Niersteiner Olberg Riesling Spatlese Rheinhessen

Golden color, petillance forms on the glass.

Ripe peach and apple smells, diesel stink is apparent (and much welcome!)

Rich off-dry peach flavor, petillant on the tongue, seems to have less than the optimum amount of acid.

An interesting bottle, good but I don't greatly regret the absence of further bottles, fair to say this is in decline.

Vina Aquitania 2007 Malleco Valley Traiguen Chardonnay Sol de Sol

Pale straw color, green highlights.

Apple, pear, pineapple, and oak smells.

The first taste is tart lemon which is soon joined by fruit-sweet pineapple, peach, and pear flavors, smoky oak, a big tropical fruit-bomb. Much better acid finish than is often seen in such exuberant Chards.

I admit, a heavily-oaked (partially) malolactic Chardonnay is one of the wines I can least appreciate, but I do recognize that this is an excellent $32.99 bottle for the style and it grows on me as the bottle gets empty.

Heribert Kerpen 1988er Wehlener Sonnenuhr Reisling Auslese

Golden orange-brown color (I see I've already done the "I'm Brown, from the Sun" bit, so I'll refrain from repetition).

Bus-stop diesel smell. Here's a most esoteric tasting note that strains "organoleptic" beyond any reasonable breaking point: this wine reminds me of seeing F1 cars streaming through a chicane at Spa-Francorchamps, and a crisp Belgian day, rain threatening after a rain-soaked qualifying jumbled the starting order. Spa as it was before 2004. Or so I hear.

The sweetness inherent to an Auslese has diminished while a rich flavor, characteristic of well-aged Riesling, has developed. Way tangerine, peach, coconut.

Excellent bottle, medium-bodied, a one-of-a-kind example (well, today it is!) from the sundial, a famous Moselle vineyard, delicate, powerful.

Domaine Pichot 2008 Vouvray Domaine Le Peu de la Moriette

Pale yellow straw color, glints of green.

Smell of green apple and lime, elementary-school erasers freshly clapped.

Off-dry fruit flavor, ripe apple and pear, sweet lime pie, pumpkin-pie-spice.

Good light-bodied bottle for $19.99, a food-friendly little trifle that keeps pouring for a light dessert. Lime pie with whipped cream at the end.

Update: Another bottle proved a wonderful accompaniment for an off-season roast Turkey dinner, with suitable trimmings.

Peter Geiben Karlsmuhle 2005 Kaseler Nies'chen Riesling Auslese

A very tight cork in this bottle, required the use of a sharp knife and, eventually, passing a wine / cork-crumb slurry through a coffee filter.

Straw color, petillance is noticeable on the glass.

Sweet peach smell, more than a hint of Botrytis edelfaule.

Sweet noble-rot-infected peach and apricot flavors, petillant on the tongue, rich dessert treat. Impressive for such a young Riesling, but I'll come back for another bottle (which I hope is easier to open) in five years more.

Pricey bottle for $56.99, but good!