First, note that I'm making a blog format change.  The entry titles in the past simply said the date I made the entry, but looking back for older wine reviews is tedious that way because you have to open every entry and scan for the wine.  I'm going to try to put the label of the bottles in the entry title from now on.

1) Juliusspital, Wurzburger Stein, Muller-Thurgau Kabinett, Trocken Franken, 2006 (Germany) - This is the latest wine we tried in our tasting club from work and it was brought back in person by a German staff member.  This was special for many reasons - not only because it was brought back in person from the source but it's from a hospital owned vineyard, it has unusual historic tear-shaped bottle,  it's a unique grape varietal, and it had a wonderful taste.  We noticed right off it had a pleasantly sweet and stronger than average bouquet.  Each sip was a joy as it had not only exotic fruit flavors but a complex weave of them.  When I compare it to other whites I praised, like Matua's Sauvignon Blanc, I find this surpasses them with it's depth.  A really really nice wine.  I'm going 8 out of 10, and perhaps that is an understatement.

2) Toasted Head, Chardonnay, 2005 (California) - I'd seen this label in many stores and I'd even seen people walk around wearing shirts and hats with the label on it.  I figured it would either be very good or very bad, but it's moderately priced so I was leaning toward bad.  Anyway, when we popped it both Nancy and I immediately agreed we liked it, but not that it was outstanding - just OK.  I looked on-line and checked for other reviewers comments and apparently the big thing with this wine is the degree to which it is oaked.  Toasted Head is a reference to the degree of fire toasting on the barrels it ages in.  Some reviewers think it's tragic chardonnay is put through oak at all.  I can't say myself I've had a good unoaked chardonnay yet, and that sounds like a challenge for the near future.  One of my first reviews was a Sabastiani unoaked chardonnay and I don't think I was equipped back then to fully appreciate it.  Anyway, many other people do like oaked chardonnay, and like I said Nancy and I thought this was OK.  Oaking isn't a sin, it's just a different style, and clearly some people like it.  I'll give this simply a 5 out of 10 for low average (at this point I don't know any better with chardonnay).

3) The Big Red Monster, year? (California) - This ran a seri0us risk of being bad wine with clever marketing.  The label is huge and gaudy with a monster movie style, I didn't see the year on it anywhere, and the name suggests it's a standout wine (which can't always be the case).  The ironic truth is this is actually a pretty good wine.  Per label directions I let it breathe for half an hour and then when I tasted it was indeed a big bold fruit forward red wine.  Keep in mind it's a blend of many grapes so there wasn't any one flavor that lept out, but still it was enjoyable and would go with many foods better accompanied by big reds.  Was this "The Big Red Monster" of the wine world?  No.  I've had zinfandels and other wines which surpassed this monster.  But is it enjoyable and worth a repeat?  Absolutely.  In fact I think I'll buy a bottle to add to my to-be-shared set of wines.  I'm glad I tried this.  I'll say 6 out of 10 for upper average.