The last few days

First on New Years eve, we splurged with an exceptional bottle of Schramsberg, J Schram 2000 Brut Rose. This was a creamy sparklers with hints of citrus, nice floral notes, and vanilla. Just a great bottle of wine, as one would hope for at $125 a bottle. Saturday night we had some friends over and served a great Zinfandel from the Downing Family called "Fly by Night" 2006. This was a very sophisticated Zin with a lot of bright fruit, but subtle notes of cedar and bramble, it was particularly satisfying for being as young as it was. I would guess that it will improve even more with more time in the bottle. This wine is in the $30 price range, but I think it is worth it. Finally last night we went to a BYOB open house last night and I took a bottle of Vinum Slow Lane Cabernet 2002. For those of you not familiar with Vinum, these guys have a real sense of humor. They like to challenge the wine establishment. Slow lane came about through a challenge they set upon themselves; to create a reasonably priced age able Cabernet. 2002 is the second Slow lane, the first, 2001, retailed for around $20 and the wine is still below $25. The 02 was pretty tight when we opened it, with graphite and tar, but a couple hours after opening it had begun to open up and was showing good black fruit and just a hint of spiciness. This wine is a keeper and Vinum is on to something, as this wine clearly has a number of more years of life and for the money is a great bottle of wine.