2010 Marqués de Montañana Viura - $4.50

A crisp, dry, easy drinking white. Not much on the nose, and no real predominant flavors, but nicely balanced. Make this your go-to table white for under $5.

thumbs up

2010 Eco Vino Chardonnay - $12

1.5 liters of rich golden colored Chardonnay with a mellow, rounded flavor that's not too buttery and finishes pleasantly. Alas, it's a bit ho-hum. Nothing exciting, but a nice value and would make for a fine party wine.

thumbs up - 82

2009 Ryan Patrick Vineyards Naked Chardonnay - $6

Nice crisp prototypical Chardonnay taste without a wiff of oak. Exactly as its billed. Kudos. 

thumbs up - 84

2007 Picket Fence Chardonnay - $9

This smallish production (9400 cases) golden Chardonnay hails from the Russian River Valley. It's light golden, nearly transparent in color with a thick, fruity nose. Then, the bad news comes on the taste - all oak with a dab of buttery pear and another giant scoop of oak. There's a hint of redemption with a dabble of acid, but it's simply not enough to balance out the oak bomb.

Bottle bonus: there's a pull tab on the label so you can remember what wine it was you had if you ordered this in a restaurant.

thumbs down - 74

2008 Jacques Bourguignon Chablis - $8

Light and pale in color. No nose what so ever. Flavor is pretty light too - a bit citrusey, some hints of pear and apple, not a ton of finish... nothing offensive, just not a ton to get excited about

thumbs down - 70

2008 VINTJS Chardonnay - $6.99

This Russian River Valley Chardonnay has a great golden straw color but a real stingy nose. Flavor wise, however, it packs a big punch of tart Granny Smith apple. Strangely, on the finish, we're back to almost nothing. In all, too many ups and downs for me.

thumbs down - 78

2008 Vin-Koru Sauvignon Blanc - $5.99

Proposed by the nice new wine lady at my local Trader Joe's as a cheaper version of the King Shag, that's exactly how this feels. Similarly fruity and tropical on the nose and citrusy and acidic in taste... but something here feels hollow and generic. Spend the extra $2 and get the King Shag.

thumbs down - 71

2008 Contadino Pinot Grigio Vivace - $4.99

With some unexpected bubbles on the pour, this light colored white wine hits the nose with loads of toasted coconut and toasted pineapple, like a relaxing Hawaiian vacation. Tropical on the tongue as well with both lemony and acidic flavors.

thumbs up - 87

edit: added 'Vivace' to the title to distinguish this from the non-sparkling version

2007 Cellier du Rhône Côtes du Rhône white - $5.99

This wine hits a bit sweet on the palette right after being opened, but by day two it's dried up a bit. Strange. Hints of spearmint on the nose. Some green apple flavor hiding here. A passable wine, but nothing mind blowing.

thumbs down - 72

2008 Trader Joe's Chenin Blanc - $4.99

Green apple on the nose. Nice weight and body in the mouth, but a bit hot on the finish. Don't recall the taste too much, but it wasn't offensive, and that's as much as I hope for these days from wines made from organic grapes. I approve for now, but I'm getting another bottle to double check myself.

thumbs up - 75

2007 Project Happiness Chardonnay - $5.99

Feint, but enjoyable nose with a hint of apple. Taste is buttery, gloopy and over oaked with a burning finish of alcohol. Pretty hard to enjoy much here. This bottle's going back.

thumbs down - 70

2007 Barnard & Griffin Fumé Blanc - $8.49

Smells like grapefruit. Lemoney lime on the flavor spectrum. A bit of frizzante (that's fancy wine speak for lightly sparkling) action just after cracking the bottle open. Nice and dry. Deliciously drinkable. Go grab some for your sunny weekend.

thumbs up - 88

NV Eola Hills Pacific Blanc - $7.49

Big fruity nose of melon and citrus. Sweet, almost syrupy mouthfeel, with flavors of apricot and melon. Nice long finish with a good hit of acid at the end. All around solid effort, but too sweet for my preference. Give it a try if that's your thing.

thumbs down - 79

2007 Condesa De Sarabella Viura - $5.99

Faint smell of banana bread. Tastes like green apple and kiwi strawberry. Not bad, just not overly great.

thumbs down - 80

2007 J.W. Morris Gewürztraminer - $3.99

For some reason, prior to drinking this cheapo Gewürzt, I thought the label contained the adjective "dry." Once the wine hit my mouth, I learned otherwise. Much too sweet for my enjoyment.

thumbs down - 71

2007 Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux - $5.99

Huge nose full of spearmint. Light and citrusy taste, but a bit too basic for my liking.

50% Sauvignon Blanc, 50% Sémillon

thumbs down - 75

2007 La Ferme Julien Côtes Du Luberon - $5.99

Nose to light for my liking. I sniff and I sniff and I get nothing. Shouldn't have to work this hard for the nose, but it gets worse in the mouth and I see where this is going. Watery with barely noticeable hints of apples. Very little overall flavor... like what I imagine generic 10 calorie apple juice would be.

thumbs down - 68

2007 R.C.T.J.W.F Sauvignon Blanc - $4.99

A big nose, full of tropical melon and passionfruit. Nice weight and initial mouthfeel. Extremely acidic with much less flavor than the nose leads you to think. Even with just 12.9% alcohol, there's still a bit of bite to the finish. For $5, this smells great, but it's not enough to get me coming back to drink it.

thumbs down - 77

2008 King Shag Sauvignon Blanc - $7.99

An instant Easter weekend recommendation from my local TJ's wine guy. Pale in color. Gorgeous nose - full of kiwi fruit, star fruit and citrus. In your mouth, it's just as good as expected. Light bodied, nicely acidic and full of lemon-lime citrus flavors.

thumbs up - 89

2007 Pancake Cellars Big Day White - $4.99

I'll admit, the creative label suckered me into trying this one. A day after being opened, it's real tight on the nose and kind of boring and blasé on the palette. Not even sure what to think of this since I can't accurately discern any unique flavors from this wine. Little bit lemony on the initial attack. Nothing after that. Some friends that tried this right after it was opened were a bit more impressed than I (but only a bit) so I'd suggest drinking the bottle within a few hours of opening.

thumbs down - 75