Vacation wines -- Day 2

2006 Ferrando Erbaluce di Caluso "La Torrazza" -- This was a very refreshing, dry white. Stylistically like a good Sancerre or Chablis, this wine had great minerality and refreshing dry fruit.

2005 Tenuta San Leone Bardolino Superiore "Montesalionze" -- This wine, which I previously raved about, is still drinking wonderfully, and has lots of life left. An amazing Veronese wine.

2004 Edmunds St. John "Rocks and Gravel" -- This was a really French-styled Rhone blend from California. The label doesn't give info about the varietal(s), but from the spicy blackberry, olive, iodine, and gravelly-earthy scents and flavors, I'm guessing that this has lots of Grenache and a bit of Mourvedre and maybe some Carignane in it. Very elegant.

2005 Guigal Cotes du Rhone -- To see just how French the previous wine actually was, we opened this one next. Though tight upon opening opening, it developed a rich, spicy cassis fruitiness, with earthy, iodine, and herbal undertones. It was really good, and, if anything, it was even more Californian in style than the previous (California) wine.

Dinner: Pollo in potacchio Marchegiana