Robert Parker (or at least his Wine Advocate) loves this wine. They gave this vintage a 90; and the one before that, they gave a 92. So it's got to be great, right? Not terrible, but we didn't find it to be great, exactly. Here's what we found ...

The nose was vanilla, stems, red cherry, saw dust, and rose. There was also that barnyard smell -- hay and manure -- but it was very subtle. The taste was a combo of red cherry and raspberry -- not exactly sweet, or sour. The finish starts with the cherry and raspberry, flashes with pepper, and then dissolves into raspberry.

Most striking is how fruity this wine is -- I won't have guessed from the taste that this was an old world wine. Though the aromas were very interesting, the taste was fairly simple (fruit). In some ways it reminded me of some 2005 Oregon Pinots we've had recently -- a bit sweet at the start, and sort of overly acidic (perhaps this 06 was just a tad young?). It was, of course, more peppery than a Pinot, yet the body was similar: a light to medium body. Denise found it: "not that interesting".

Cost:   

Rating:   7.0

(70% Grenache, 30% Syrah)

Here's the last installment of our round-up of this years wines from Emerson Vineyard. If you don't know this vineyard, or didn't get a chance to read the other reviews, I'd encourage you to read those too -- these guys make very nice, affordable wine. So, on to the Chardonnay ...

White wines don't always smell like much, and often Chardonnay's can be especially lacking in strong aromas, making our job harder. So understand that what we smell can be -- especially in this case -- very much muted. So with that caveat, this wine smelled like tangerine. For me the smell reminded me of flat 7up -- that sort of light citrus smell. Denise said she smelled parsley too -- "no wait" she said, "it's narcissus flower!". She has a better nose than I.

The most predominant taste is tangerine and lemon -- it flashes tangerine, and then mutates into a soft (non-acidic) lemon. But, and there was much perplexing about this, there was something "green" in there. We agreed on that, even if we couldn't exactly agree on what that green thing was. Denise said it was grass. Hmmm. Not exactly that for me. But then, I couldn't quite get my head wrapped about what that was. Maybe peapods? Perhaps. And as a wine blogger, it seems silly to say this, but this tasted very much like the inside of a green seedless grape. But it really did -- that sort of light citrus taste.

The finish was also lemon, but also mineral. Denise said the finish was "rock"; sort of that gravel, basalt taste (and yes, we mean this in a good way).

But before you say this sounds Burgundian, this wine was also very heavy in body. The weight was really more like a heavier Chardonnay from California and from those from Burgundy; however, it completely lacked all that thick butter indicative of those wines from the south. So somewhat thick, but not buttery (which we liked).

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0

Madeleine: Madeleine is a part-time therapist and yoga instructor. She speaks fluent French and Spanish. When not working, Madeleine enjoys knitting, "date nights" with her husband, and playing with their three-year old daughter.

Andrew: Andrew works for a large corporation and frequently travels around the world on business. Ironically, unlike his wife, Andrew does not speak other languages. But to his credit, Andrew graduated with a Masters from Stanford University. When at home, Andrew enjoys time with his wife, and playing with their three-year old daughter.



Dinner:

• red leaf lettuce and sliced onions with blue cheese vinaigrette
• creamy carrot soup topped with crostini and parmesan cheese
• beets and orange wedges with cilantro and goat cheese
• homemade pasta with marinara and parmesan cheese
• pear and date crisp with vanilla gelato
• grapes

Wine:

• Novella, Paso Robles, Petite Syrah, 2004
• Dracula's Blood, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006
• Emerson Vineyards, Lodi Syrah, 2006

Oh my, this was an interesting wine. We had this following a decent California Petite Syrah, and a rather terrible "Dracula's Blood" wine from Transylvania (it was Halloween). And without a doubt, this was the superior wine of the bunch.

First, it was complicated and a bit enigmatic. I pulled it from my "cellar" and we opened up just short of room temperature. So the wine evolved a lot over the course of the hour we drank it.

The nose started with a damp oak smell. Following those other wines, Andrew noted immediately: "there's no turpentine!" ... always a good sign. There was also that saw dust smell (sort of similar to damp oak, I suppose), and pepper.

The wine started off by Andrew's description as a "nice, rich vanilla taste". Madeline exclaimed: "Rosemary chicken!" She then proceeded to explain that "It's like a meal right when it hits your mouth!" Yes, the consensus was that this was a hardy and chewy wine -- and really smooth and rich.

The fruit flavors were a bit elusive and mysterious. Black cherry maybe? Plum perhaps? Blackberry? It was hard to discern exactly. Denise tasted cranberry, pomegranate, and tangerine -- but that's misleading as this wine was not sour at all. A bit later, the wives were tasting melon -- cantaloupe -- sandwiched in-between the mystery berries. That is, the berry hits immediately on the taste, then some of the melon, and then back to the berries at the end of the finish. However, the men found this whole melon taste perplexing.

Maybe the wine was still warming, or perhaps opening up, but it definitely changed over time. We discovered that in that berry finish, there was a really nice liquorice. And a bit later still, there was a distinct molases taste. No, I don't mean it was sweet in anyway. Maybe it was slightly resinous (but not in a bad way). And the nose developed leather and definite tobacco aromas. At one point Denise exclaimed: "orange blossoms". Yep, this was one of those really intriguing wines.

A Syrah from the WIllamette Valley? Perhaps not unknown, but not typical either. Well done, and yummy. If you haven't tried Emerson wines, they are really very nice.

Cost:    ($18 ... a serious bargain)

Rating:    9.0