Found some good wines lately

Of my recent good finds, these wines stand out:

1. Tamarack '09 Syrah: 94 points and well-deserved. Great dark fruits; great complexity.

2. Kir-Yianni Akakies Rose: This dry pink wine, made from the Xinomavro grape in Macedonia (NW Greece), has full body and great flavor, and is far superior to most rose wines of the world. "Akakias" are the acacias that grow near the vineyard.

3. '08 Elyse Morisoli Vineyard Zinfandel: Mind-blowingly rich. Unctuous, drippingly heavy Zin. Curtains of velvet.

4. Vietti 2010 Nebbiolo Perbacco: One of the faves at my recent tasting event. A youthful cousin of Barolo.

5. Scholium Project's NV "Gardens of Babylon": Wonderful wine (Napa fruit: Petit Syrah with Zin, Syrah, and Cinsault) made by a professor of Greek and the Classics. Tremendous effort! Violet nose, raspberry glass.

Somebody's list of Oregon's Top 50 wines

This list, like all such lists, is, of course, condemnable for the many good wines it leaves off.

However, it's useful to peruse it, for several reasons. First, some wines you may not have had are listed, and those would be fun to try. I know White Rose pretty well, including its winemaker Jesus, but W.Rose hasn't gotten a lot of press recently; however, they hold down the #1 and #2 Pinot Noir spots!

Also, notice the high score given to Gamay (the '11, by Division Winemaking Company). Gamy is a grape grown between Burgundy and the Rhone, which suggests it could be grown here, in the warmer parts of the Willamette Valley, because there is good Syrah made here now, too.

The list is here.