Now here is a truly diverse batch of wine to review.  One we poured out, two we're still drinking, and one we finally finished after many months.

1) Pomegranate, Semi-sweet red wine, Anahit Selections, Year ? (Armenia) - This was the 2nd experiment tried from the Russian Village store in Washington Square/Brookline MA.  I was genuinely excited to try this one because I was certain whether I liked it or not I was definitely in for something totally different.  I was right.  Unfortunately though, I didn't like it (nor did Nancy).  Now, I definitely did taste pomegranate, and I know that can be an acquired taste but I do like regular pomegranate juice so I know my turn off wasn't that.  Nancy thought she could taste rotten fruit.  To me the extra weirdness in the taste was more like thistle, like something wild and pungeant.  Yes, it was a little sweet, and the wine had an alcohol level on par with sherry and a general style like a sherry.  I only had a little and it set strange in my stomach, and Nancy hated it as I said, so sadly the rest of this got poured out.  I'll score it a 1 out of 10 mainly because for my tastes I know I'll never buy it again.  But let's face it, this might be a stellar example of pomegranate wine and I'd never know it due to lack of comparison.  Also, I can think of a scenario, albeit rare, when I would buy it again.  If I was ever throwing a weirdo exotic foods dinner party and wanted to serve a strange drink with dessert I could see myself passing out little glasses of this and then letting the guests try to guess what it was.  So, like everything else in life, it has it's place.  But in likelihood that's the only bottle of it I'll ever try.

2) Fleur du Cap, Chardonnay, 2006 (South Africa) - A totally standard average chardonnay.  Enjoyable just unremarkable.  Nancy drank the majority of this bottle.  Note  it's a $10 import so I do think it is a good value.  5 out of 10 for lower average.

3) Layer Cake, Shiraz, 2006 (Barossa Valley, South Australia) - What's neat about this part of the review is I've finally been sampling wines long enough that I've come across my first "repeat" in a new year, meaning the 2005 vintage had been on the shelves up to now but I just saw the 2006 pop out so I've been able to sample for comparison.  And there's a lot of interesting comments to make about what's going on with Layer Cake.  First, the bottle presents differently.  Same glass, same twist off, but the lable tripled in size and appears to be a cheaper paper stock.  At first I suspected they had been bought by a major lable and now were being marketed based on their cult following of the past but I looked up the old label and it's the same maker, just a bigger lable.  So yeah, it's marketing, but at least it's the same people.  Second, how does it taste?  It still has the smoothness, and the rich layers of flavor.  I think this one has even more cherry and mocha tones than the 2005.  Yet, I liked the 2005 better.  The prior had more elegance and I think more red fruit to it.  So whereas I gave 2005 an 8 out of 10 I'm giving this just a 6 out of 10, which is still very respectable because that's upper average.  Keep in mind a little more time left in the bottle makes a difference so maybe the fact I'm trying this right after release is a factor.  Third, as I looked up info on Layer Cake on the net I found an article that they're actually expanding to offer a variety of classic wines in the Layer Cake style and they'll be coming from around the world.  Watch out for Layer Cake Primitivo from Italy, Cotes du Rhone from France, and Malbec from Argentina.  I'll enjoy trying all of those.  I just hope as this lable expands it doesn't lose that magic winning style which triggered their cult following.

4) Leacock's Madeira, 5 Year Full Rich Malmsey, Year? (Portugal) - I looked back through a dozen wine reviews to see if I'd covered this one and I couldn't believe it wasn't listed.  I bought this bottle last spring after reading an article in an airplane magazine about the unique and historic charms of madeira wines.  So far Boston has a limited selection of madeiras, most often all you'll find is madeira "rainwater", but I was lucky to find a Leacock's, which reportedly is one of the very oldest madeira lables on the island.  I could retell the whole story of how madeira's cooked sherry style came to be but you can read that easily elsewhere on the net or actually on the back of almost every bottle of madeira marketed.  Anyway, both I and Nancy were completely charmed by this wine.  It has the alcohol and weight of sherry (and it is primarily white grape based so that makes sense) yet the heat exposure imparts sort of a molasses and brown sugar essence, as well as coffee, mocha, or a whole mix of other complex flavors.  There really is nothing else quite like it in the wine world.  Plus since it goes through oxidation during heat subjugation there is really nothing to spoil in the bottle after you finally open it so your madeira can sit months if not years after being opened and still drink the same the next time you try some.  I'm writing this review now because we finally finished this one bottle (and Nancy drank 3/4 of this one which says a lot about how agreeable it is) and I know I'll be going out to find another madeira to replace it.  In fact in the world of major fortified wines I'd put sweet sherry on top, then madeira, then marsala, and port at the bottom.  Nancy would probably put the madeira before the sherry.  Really this is exotic fun stuff.  Try it but if you do please read about it first and then go buy a real madeira even if it takes you $30 to buy it.  I'm going 9 out of 10 for this because it's a classic.  I haven't had other madeiras to compare it to so I'm reluctant to go 10.  I know there are much older samples.  A whole world of madeira awaits.