Groot Constantia, Constantia Rood, 2004 (Langoed, south Africa) - Groot is a famous make of reds from South Africa and Constantia was once a very famous sweet wine only from there.  I don't know whether the two merged at some point or were always the same, but I did know this was a unique find and was excited to try the wine.  This dry red is a blend of 6 grapes with Shiraz the highest percentage but Pinotage is in there too.  Anyway, it was smooth and mild with nice fruit tastes.  A touch more elegant than what I usually call average so I'd score this 7 out of 10 for above average.

Bisson, Colline Del Genovesato Bianco, Pigato, 2005 (Italy) - The latest grape tried at our work group and one which was universally liked and rather interesting.  I'd read it gets mitaken for Vermentino and I can see that although Vermentino is much richer.  This was a light refreshing white with hints of peach and a slight mineral touch.  Good stuff.  Still I'd only call it upper average for a 6 out of 10 score.

Clos La Coutale, 2005 (Cahors, France) - I've only found this at a store in Salem, MA and the first bottle I had brought to work for us to sample the Malbec grape and I ended up instead giving it away as a gift to a co-worker.  So when I made it back to Salem almost a year later it was actually a fun rediscovery to buy another bottle.  I finally got to taste it.  And you know what, this is an excellent example of a Cahors Malbec.  It's mild and smooth like a French Malbec (vs. a fruit bomb style from South America).  I enjoyed it all the way to the last drop.  Easily this is a 6 out of 10 for upper average.

Donnafugata, Anthilia, 2006 (Sicily, Italy) - This is 50/50 of two grapes I hadn't tried before (Catarratto and Ansonica).  Although both Nancy and I found it fully acceptable there was really nothing remarkable about the wine.  Simply 5 out of 10 for lower average.

Vinaria Bostavan, Isabella (Moldova) - Ahh, now this gets an interesting story.  I found this bottle at the Russian Village store in Brookline MA.  Cheap ($12) and with a label saying it's sweet like candy I expected something nasty.  Also I was assuming the grape, Isabella, was some Old World East Europe beast of burden.  Well, I looked up the grape on the web and it turns out it's actually a New World creation.  Often described as foxy over here it doesn't get much play.  However, it handles the cold weather very well and for that reason it became very popular and successful in the old Russian territories.  So in my quest to try something Russian I'd actually found something from home and which the locals don't do much with anymore.  Anyway, the wine itself was mostly still a juice (only 10.5% alcohol, and I doubt even that much was alcohol).  As a juice it was mildly sweet (not candy at all like the label suggested).  I do get the hints of raspberries and strawberries they mention on the label, especially in the bouquet.  I'd assume with most grape juices that if you keep them intact with their sugars you'd get something with fruits like this one.  Well, all in all it's fine, nothing to seek out or write home about, and I'm glad I tried a new grape.  5 out of 10 for lower average.