Carpene Malvolti nv Viognier

Pale straw color long-lasting streams of medium-sized bubbles.

Smell of peach and pear,

Off-dry to dry apple flavor, peach, toast, long-lasting crisp tart finish. Yummy peach jam.

Very good light-bodied bottle, $19.47.

Porzia 2009 Gavi

Pale straw color, very slightly petillant.

Mild peach smell, fruity.

Off-dry apple / peach taste, floral flavors, minerals, slight petillance, pleasant tart acid finish.

Very good light-bodied bottle, $18.99.

Colleluce 2005 Vernaccia di Serrapetrona dolce

Cherry red wine, vigorous bubbles raise a short=lived purple head.

Prune smell, more distinct red-wine smell than any other sparkling red I've tasted.

Sweet plum and prune taste, oak, bitter tannic end.

Interesting and unusual medium-to-full-bodied bottle, $19.47.

Terre de Trinci 2003 Montefalco Sagrantino

Deeply colored opaque wine, red at the rim.

Leather and prune smell, woodland leaf litter at the end.

Plum/prune flavor, deep fruit over leather/organic stuff flavors.

Excellent full-bodied bottle, $26.50.

Carpene Malvolti nv Rose Carpene Cuvee Brut

Deep orange pink. Long-lasting streams of small bubbles.

Strawberry smell.

Off-dry berry flavor, lingering dry finish.

Very good light-to-medium-bodied bottle. Good to bring to a party: simple fun!. $19.47.

Michel Guignier 2007 Morgon vieilles vignes

Medium-dark ruby color.

Blackberry smell, strawberry, some alcohol warmth.

Blackberry and cherry and strawberry flavors, hints of oak in the finish.

Very good medium-bodied bottle, $17.00. A nice modern interpretation of Beaujolais.

Szigeti nv Gruner Veltliner Brut

Pale straw color, many vigorous long-lasting streams of tiny bubbles.

Yeasty bread-dough smell, green apple, citrus.

Off-dry to dry green apple flavor, lemon, white pepper.

Very good, if simple, light-bodied bottle. $17.52.

M. Cosentino 2007 Lodi Tannat

The darkest, most completely opaque wine I remember seeing.

Raspberry smell, new oak.

Raspberry flavor, black cherry, a bit of a sting from tannin.

Excellent full-bodied bottle, long ending, $22.99.

Liefman's nv Fruitesse Fruit Beer

"contains Acesulfame K"

Medium cherry-red color, medium-to-large bubbles, long-lasting chalk-pink head that leaves a rim of lace after each sip.

Cherry soda smell, a bit of band-aid.

Cheap artificial-flavored cherry/berry candy flavor, soda sweet, thin tart finish.

During the first glass, I thought "drinkable", by the end of the second I thought not. Dumped. $10/750 ml. I won't buy again.

Fattoria Colsanto 2002 Sagrantino di Montefalco

Quite thoroughly opaque, cherry red at the rim.

Smell of cherry, raisins, leather.

Flavor of black cherry, black plum, tannic finish.

Very good medium-to-full-bodied bottle, big flavor, $34.99.