Greg scored this wine: 100/100

This wine was made from mostly Chardonnay, with a dash of Riesling, to add acidity. It is a Charmat (ie: tank fermented) and has a touch more sugar than a brut. They classify it as an extra dry. Moderately persistent bubbles, and with a beautiful white hue, it is pleasant and balanced. Aromas of honey, white flower, nectarine, quince, and pie apple. The flavours are juicy and the wine is soft. Apple, pear, some slight citrus, and an easygoing finish. Pair it with tilapia or catfish.

Greg scored this wine: 100/100

CVNE stands for: Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España. This is an historic wine company with some very bold and delicious wines from Rioja. The reason to go after this little beauty is because it has tremendous value. This Crianza (pronounced cree-AN-tha) is built mainly around Tempranillo with a dash of Grenacje and Mazuelo. It has some rustic aromas to it, but it is all about the fruit you can coax out of this wine. When yo first open it, it has loads of tobacco, loam, leaves, mushroom, cherry, and red licorice. After it breathes, some plum, mulberry, and coconut come out. On the palate it is aggressive, but that is just its youth showing throught. Not many wines on the marlet are built like this guy. Built to withstand some aging. Most wines are built to be enjotlyed right now. Especially from Spain, where wines can have had loads of cellar time already. Once it breathes, there is a lot more fresh fruit jumping out at you. Lots of cherry and mulberry. Plum, coffee, coconut on the finish. Buy a few, drink one now and tuck the rest away. This one would be fascinating to watch evolve. A great little Rioja with a lot of spunk. Drink it over the next 5-7 years. Put it with some lamb burgers or bbq sausage.

Greg scored this wine: 100/100

Yum. Perfectly executed style for MacLaren Vale. Heavy on the shiraz blend of Shiraz/Grenache. It was aged in several different formats (hogshead, barrique, and heavy foudres) of oak to achieve balance. It has purity and aromatics. The sort of wine you put away and are surprised it kept so well. Deep purple amd ruby. Beatiful ffruity and floral aromas. Lavender, petunia, and earth. For the fruit, a lot of plum and cassis. Lip-smacking and delicious. It is richly textures, but neither too much or cloying. Tons of red licorice, damson, vanilla, chocolate, sarsaparilla, and pepper. A great barbecue wine to stock up on. It'll cellar easily for 5-7 years, but it is great now. Writer's choice.

Greg scored this wine: 100/100

This is a cool wone from Featherstone. They've been advocating the differences in Canadian oak versus oak from other origins (U.S., France, Slavonian, Slovenian, Hungaroan, Black Sea etc...). This Chardonnay is a great toasty, oaky Chard. Medium to full bodied. Softer in style than prior vintages. This one resembles a toned down American oak, which often has notes of brown sugar and coconut, like this. Soft and smooth. Decent acidity. Keep 3-5 years and see what happens. For an introduction to Canadian oak, think of it as the same as American oak from the U.S. They're mostly the same species. What differs is the climate the oak grew in. Colder climes means a less intense or sugar laden oak. Canadian oak is more subtle than American. It shares virtually nothing woth French oak, despite what you read online.

Greg scored this wine: 96/100

Top winemaker from an undervalued region. This wine belongs on the must-try list alongside Clos St. Hune Riesling and Landelin. It keeps with the Alsatian field blend style. though it is at least 50% Riesling by AOC law, it has about 12 other varietals also. Even Pink Chasselas makes an appearance in this wine! Conservative ageing estimates for this wine are 20 years. Deep, almost impossibly golden. Glasscoating, with considerable alcohol. The aromas are apparent before the glass approaches your lips. Dry-ish, but with explosive honey, mango, quince, strawberry, lactic hints, mace, pencil shaving, chalk dust, and pot pourri. The flavours are still really lithe. There is still tons of refreshing acidity. Lemon and lime juice, mint, saffron, appleskin, buckwheat honey, cream, mango, dried apricot, and pineapple. It would be easy to overdo describing this wine. The Deiss family care more about the soil in each of the parcels of land they utilize, rather than the grapes they choose. Alsace has an unusual diversity of soil types, for one region. In case you were wondering, this wine was made in clay, calcareous limestone in an overexposed area regularly hit with botrytis.