We've written about the wines of Rafael Cambra before. His old-vine Monastrell, called "Uno," was one of the first modern Spanish wines to unflaggingly win us over with its perfect balance of power and elegance.

Cambra's follow-up bottling, called "Dos", is another stunning wine, packing incredible depth of flavor into a bottle that's priced to drink any and every night. This wine is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc; a Spanish rendition of Bordeaux-meets-Napa Valley with a concentrated nose that comes out of the bottle complex, yet smoothes out to present a balanced spectrum of cassis, dark fruits, herbs, tobacco and a fine-grained minerality. The palate is saturated with layered, palate-staining fruit, much more effusive than the nose, both delineated and layered with great definition and length.

At under $20, it's a no-brainer value Cabernet with power and class.

The 2005 vintage in Burgundy has elevated wines that are ordinarily great to absolutely outstanding. Case in point: Comtes Senard.

While the domaine has glorious parcels in some of Corton's best climats, their past efforts to coax out the full potential of their Grand Cru fruit have been uneven.

2005, however, is another story. This vintage gave Senard, as it did most Burgundians, near-perfect fruit, and winemaker Lorraine Senard took full advantage of this gift. While the domaine's 2005 lineup is very, very good across the board, two bottlings distinguished themselves with such authority that I had to buy them: The 2005 Corton-Clos du Roi and Corton-Bressandes. These are absolutely top notch Cortons. For those looking to put a few 2005s in the cellar before they disappear, look no further.

It was a lot to chew... eh, swallow, but we lined up for it anyway. As comprehensive an overview of the 2006 Austrian Gruner Veltliner vintage as a few weary mortals could put together with the idea of keeping our pocket books, and livers, in some form of reasonable health. It was considered enough that the big boys were collected together to guarantee some form of authoritative stamp: FX Pichler's Kellerberg, Hirtzberger's Honivogl and Knoll's Vinothekfullung. At the same time, a rationed dose of chaos was heartily welcome - young Michael Moosbrugger's Schloss Gobelsburg, wiley Wachau legionaire Jamek, under-the-radar Holzapfel and even the esoteric Setzter, unabashedly seeking top quality in the otherwise maligned Weinviertel. Trestle on Tenth kindly hosted us and did a great job of putting together a thoughtful menu; a great group of people were in attendance, and many thanks go out to all for helping to make the night what it was.

This is going to be an insanely long post, covering both some big-picture issues but also delving into the fine points of the 18 wines encountered. Click below to read the entire post at your own risk.

When you're in retail, November and December are nothing short of manic. The store is constantly flooded with people, deliveries are being shot out the door machine-gun style and the phones ring with such constant abandon that the noise almost begins to feel a soundtrack for the holidays.

January, however, is a much different season; the phones grow quiet, the staff collectively exhales. Then - housecleaning. This week has been inventory week - counting all the bottles in the store, making sure that the computer's inventory is at least as close to accurate as possible - an impossible task it seems, but necessary nonetheless.

With the "wall wines" inventoried last Sunday (these are the wines in the front 2/3s of the store - the ones not in our temperature-controlled room), Tom, Ian, Dan and I (Stephen) took to the cube last night to do the inventory; naturally one does not work till 3am+ without cracking open a few bottles. Here's the lineup:

1989 Foreau Vouvray Moelleux Reserve
Though the wine started out slow and decidedly funky, with dark, syrupy and confusing fruit skins, earth and an undeniable scent of wetness that flirted with the idea of TCA, over the course of maybe two hours the wine came into its own - it cleaned up its act, gained focus and poise, and was nothing short of very, very good. Chenin Blanc is just miraculous in the cellar - big, burly and clunky when young, with a decade or so behind it the wine really becomes so elegant, with a sort of dainty tip-toeing step to it, though in the hands of a producer like Foreau, in a vintage like 1989, the concentration is immense - as if every molecule of the wine has been stained with flowers, dark figs and honey. Great stuff.

2005 Jean-Noel Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Caillerets
Undeniably closed down - even after being dumped into a decanter for an hour or more. That said, the raw material is there: A concentrated entrance, full of flair and plenty of green apple and flowers, very powerful stuff. Over the midpalate the wine tightens up, though it remains broad and gushing, a core of sea shell minerality pushing itself forcefully across the palate - great salinity and a mineral-dried-herb finish that clamps down so strongly, it leaves reverberations that echo on an on. An excellent use of wood - totally integrated into the wine. The verdict? Very, very good Cailleret, though it will be most rewarding for those with patience.

1990 Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin
Eighteen year-old village wine showing such class and charm! To my palate, this was the wine of the night, even though the Foreau was probably the better wine - it's just that Burgundy is so precocious, and visits with it always seem to be too early, too late, too this or too that... Well, it's memorable when the stars align and you visit a bottle when it's in the mood to be visited, as this Bachelet certainly was. Right out of the bottle it was just glowing with great top soil, moist earth, truffles, saw dust, a river bed minerality of rocks and pebbles, all peppered with dark red fruit skins and a lively perfumed strawberry note - the soprano to the bass of earth and truffles. At once delicate, supple, absolutely open for business, though with a lazy and friendly finesse, a soft embrace not at all too aggressive and forced, or too tired. Great length and purity.

2002 F.X. Pichler Sauvignon Blanc
This one just showed up at the store and it was probably a mistake to open, simply because the bottle was definitely shut down and probably a bit shocked from its travels. That said, any time an F.X. Pichler shows up at the store, my first inclination is to open it, and to open it quickly. Though closed down, wrapped in all sorts of bees wax, lanolin, mashed up stones and the like, the wine, as Ian said, definitely shows class and breed; it's linear, very suave, the concentration is evident even if it was inward-turned this night... Good length. My guess is this wine will come out to play in the next year or so, and when it does, it will be just gorgeously minerally and cutting, lithe and elegant... Fans of Pichler should grab some 'cause we don't have much!

Today, we're pleased to offer one of the best red wines of 2007 - a wine that will transcend every other 'Cotes du Rhone' you've ever had: Eric Texier's 2005 Brezeme Pergault VV.

Texier's 2005 Pergault has a shocking combination of elegance and vivaciousness, with shavings of tart red fruit, lean, sinewy cranberry and raspberry, beautiful dried herbs, black olives, smoke, bramble, earth and that oh-so-classic plum-violet-black-pepper-bacon-fat thing that I look for in great Rhone bottlings.

This is the most serious Rhone value on the market today. Texier's 2005 flaunts the depth of this extraordinary vintage and drinks so far above its class it's almost absurd. Today we're thrilled to offer it in two formats - regular bottles and magnums - at the lowest prices in the nation.