OK, I'm back with a handful of newly tried wines to comment on.

1) Sebastiani Sonoma County Chardonnay 2004 (California) - The compliment to this is it's different.  Not your typical smooth graceful chardonnay.  I'd say it's somewhat green or smoky.  However... I'm so used to the smoother style that I really didn't enjoy this much.  I respect the vineyard.  Apparently it's old vines and family owned.  Maybe after more experience I'll have an appreciation for this chardonnay.

2) Rodney Strong Sonoma County Merlot 2002 (California) - I bought this because I'd read a recommendation in a restaurant that Rodney Strong Pinot Noir was good.  Of course this isn't their pinot noir.  I did want to try a decent merlot.  I thought this would be it because it wasn't a young  bottle and I'd heard of the brand.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't special.  I'd say it was smooth, it had some fruit but not as much fruity as I'd expect in a merlot.  I was rather bored with it until the last glass in the bottle, which must have been somewhat concentrated because I like it a lot then.

3) Baron Herzog Black Muscat (California) - I bought this for two reasons.  I found a store with a good sized kosher wine section and I wanted to try something from it.  Also it was the strangest grape I'd run across.  Muscat wines after all are almost always white.  Anyway I'd assumed it might be sweet and need chilled so I got it really cold in the back of the fridge.  I looked up their website and found it quite interesting.  Jewish society may be the oldest in the world to cultivate wine and it's required in their religious ceremonies.  Apparently they weren't always sweet wines although in the present day US they're notorious for being that way.  The explanation was when the Jewish immigrated the grapes they found weren't always the ideal ones to turn into wine, but they had to improvise, and sweetening the "foxy" grapes as they called them made the wine enjoyable.  Now with all that said how did I like the wine.  We loved it.  It's exotic.  Sweet and tart.  Served really cold it's a treat.  I get the sense if you let half a glass warm up you might be suspicious to drink what's left.  Also I wouldn't drink a lot in one setting because it could overwhelm digestion.  But I recommend this as an exotic and occasional treat.  Nice job Baron Herzog!

4) La Chapelle de Bebian 2001 (Languedoc, France).  This was a pleasant surprise.  I hadn't tried another French wine in a while and I don't find many from Languedoc in Boston.  The last one I tried  was a rose' I didn't like too much.  But this one as soon as I pulled the cork had me interested.  It's the first wine I'd describe as having a bit of a tobacco smell.  It was smooth and tasty, medium bodied, with no bitterness.  I'm pleased.  I found this at Brookline Liquor Mart which has a huge French wine section.  Haven't seen it anywhere else.

That should do for now.   Thanks for your interest.