Some recently consumed wines, purchased locally and opened with meals:
2007 Gruet Pinot Noir "Cuvée Gilbert Gruet" ($20) nose: cherryish fruit, veering slightly to Vicks' cough drops, varietal character, later turning smoky palate: rich fruit, medium-full body, balanced acidity, slightly alcoholic
This is our second encounter with the still Pinot Noir made by Gruet in New Mexico (the first, logically enough, was at their tasting room in Albuquerque). It's fairly big and clearly New World but isn't overdone in any way and is quite nicely balanced. Very much in the vein of Au Bon Climat's lower end bottlings and nicely priced as a not-very-complex but tasty Pinot Noir.
2008 Domaine de la Garrigue Côtes du Rhône "Cuvée Romaine" ($16) nose: slightly meaty, kirsch-like Grenache fruit, garrigue palate: firm acidity and supple tannins, lots of fruit, earth
A classic CdR profile of cherry liqueur and meat with some herbs and earth thrown in for the '08 version of this wine. Having had the '06 and perhaps the '05, I can say that this year's version is a bit leaner and very food friendly. It'll probably improve with 1-2 years in the bottle. An Eric Solomon import.
Mark Lipton