TN: Northern Italy (not inc. Piedmont), 74 Mondavi (reg), 95 Foreau (reg), and a bubbly

yes, regular Mondavi, it's a bit smaller framed than the Reserve, but close to as good imho. Both are worth looking for in 74, but the regular is less than 1/2 the price, and almost as good.

This group are good friends, but while Fred is semi-geeky (and Alex and Marc have decent Francophilic cellars), rest are basically happy for boys night out, and while they take seriously during tasting, they hit a wine store this week with a list of possible regions. If you aren't go to CSW, you'll probably get a Valpo.

2 things I should have mentioned re the Fumin: 1) when wrapping for blind I noticed a little tearstrip on back label. Later, when unveiled, I tore it, turned out back label was actually a little booklet in Italian (with pictures, sections on philosophy, wine, geography, recipe (veal and onions in broth I think) etc. Never seen that before 2) I did offer a good bottle of good Bdx to anyone who guessed grape. Fred went with Lagrien, but most couldn't name a N. Italy indigenous grape other than the Piedmont big 3