re: Calling Resident Oenophiles......

IN regards to Italian wines and your system....I honestly think the correlation of total sugars us what hurts the most and takes your body longer to process. A lot of classic Italian wines are very far removed from the syrup you refer to. Try some Altesino Brunello for some true funk.

I've had some wines from Mauro as well, but they are tougher to find. its either Skurnik or Canaan who bring those in. Sold them st churchills years ago. Those wines are great for the dollar. Another region I'm stuck in is priorat and the truth of terroir in their wines (recently had the Porrera Vie de Villa from Vall Llach and their less expensive wines). The surrounding area of Montsant is a great value with similar topography but slightly different soil (they don't have the famous llicorella slate present in priorat).

This afternoon I have a bottle of Francoise Bedel "Entre Ciel et Terre" NV Champagne (RM-Recoltant Manipulant/grower producer). Majority of this wine is from Pinot Meunier in Vallee de la Marne and primary premier cru vineyards. The average age of the reserves in the bottle is 6 years, far beyond that of your traditional NV producers. Loads of autolytic/yeast driven complexities of toast, marcona almonds, poached apples and pear, cherries, pluot...a remarkable champagne off the traditional path.