Volume 34, Issue 1: November 2009
SYRAH SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Big and brawny, balanced and spicy, expensive and priceworthy, Syrah covers the waterfront in almost any style you would like and is often well-priced to boot. Sonoma Co. Chardonnay SUBSCRIBERS ONLY No sooner does the world decide that California can't make balanced Chardonnay than up pops wine after wine with all the depth and energy that the variety is capable of mustering. Sure, there is a bright, fruity quality that marks the wines from Sonoma, and so is there plenty of bristling acidity. SPARKLING SUBSCRIBERS ONLY West Coast sparkling wine has become consistently good, incredibly priceworthy and the best value you can get whether you are spending $15 or $50. Best Buys SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Look no further for great values that will be pleasing to your palate and to your wallet.				SUBSCRIBERS ONLY CONNOISSEURS' FORUMS with edtiors Charles Olken and Stephen Eliot. 2001 Mumm Napa DVX Napa Valley 50% Pinot Noir; 50% Chardonnay. Here is another in the line of flinty, austere, steely yet deep, layered sparkling wines under this Mumm Napa nameplate dedicated to its first winemaker, Guy DeVaux. Every wine in the line is tight, convincing, brisk, loaded with an insistent stream of tiny bubbles that are perfectly in tune with the cracklingly crisp character of its flavors, and, they are, perhaps, more than any others made here in California, distinctly reminiscent of the tightest wines from Champagne. This one begs for a platter of fresh-shucked oysters. $55.00 Score: 91