Great Western Champagne Cellars, New York State Champagne Extra Dry (Hammandsport, NY) - This was such a curious find.  I was grabbing cheap and different wine labels from the tiny liquour store across the street from home and I saw this label in the cheap champagne section.  I figured what the heck, why not, at least it seemed to be a different New York winery than I had before.  Actually studying the label closer I'm not sure which winery it is because the bak lists what I entered above but the front has a gold emblem which says  Pleasant Valley Wine Co. in Rheims NY.  Anyway I wasn't expecting much.  But when I popped this cork and poured I wasn't disastisfied at all.  Sure you get the standard dry champagne yet there also was a very mild bitter unique taste to it, and although I usually mean something negative when I say bitter in this case it was pleasant and actually added to the experience.  My suspicion is it contains some strange new world grapes (after all, New York State being older grows some very different varietals).  Anyway Nancy really liked this too and was eager to ask me to get it again.  And I've never seen it anywhere other than the stick in the mud store across the street.  Very odd.  Oh, and they claim on the label the were "The First American Champagne to Win a Major European Competition".  Of course they don't say where or when so it could have been in Finland in 1935 and basically prove nothing, but I will admit I like this wine enough to score it a 6 out of 10 for upper average.  Naturally since it's not from France it really shouldn't have champagne in the label but otherwise New York has done us proud with this wine.

Casal Garcia, Vinho Verde Branco (Portugal) - This is a mass produced and relatively easy to find cheap white ($6) which I avoided until recently because I'd assumed it would be junk.  Surprisingly not so.  Sure it's just a low average cheap white, but it still has hints of lemon lime, a crispness, and a slight bitterness which actually isn't unpleasant.  My only negative is one night I had more than one glass and the next day I had a persistent headache, so I'm suspecting they were generous with the sulfites in the bottle.  But all in all for $6 this is an OK wine.  5 out of 10 for low average.

Domaine des Causses, Reserve Syrah, 2006 (Lirac, France) - This was highly recommended in a Brighton store I seldom make it to.  Frankly it was no big deal, just OK for 5 out of 10.  A drinkable old world style Syrah but hardly bursting with fruit like the store had claimed.