(drumroll) No. 100: Chateau St. Jean Fume Blanc '06

And here we are. The century mark: achieved.
Country: USA
Region: California
Thoughts: Well, we made it. Every endeavor gets a fair amount of help along the way, but I'll save that for after the review here. This was the first wine of the night with Andrew and Rebecca, celebrating my wife's birthday. I was tasked to pick the first, and this was the only one that jumped out at me (well, others did, but they were over $45). We had decent enough success with the only other fume blanc out of the 100, so this seemed wholly appropriate. The nose was interesting - sweet and very grapy, like one would expect from a whiff of Welch's. As I tried to delve deeper, there seemed to be a hint of grassiness as well, but that seemed rather fleeting. The taste was an interesting dance; as I swirled and tried to get a feel for it, distinct tastes darted about too. "Was that caramel?" I wrote in my notes, as silly as it sounds. As an overall impression, it was fresh and melon-like with an intensely dry finish - though it toned down quickly in subsequent sips. It's hard to say this was the most exciting wine I've ever had, but I kept coming back to it. In that regard, the wine passes just fine.
Do-over? When I'm looking for a good fume blanc, whenever that might be
Final Grade: B+

-- ANYWAY, THANKS and gratitude go out to my wife, who got me hooked on this. May we share many more drinks together... You guys, for sticking it out with me even though sometimes I felt like I hadn't a clue what in the hell I was writing about... Special thanks to my brother-in-law, Mark, who has always been a valuable resource; and to Matt, my non-drinking friend who is always around for support... And big thanks to the bartenders and servers at our neighborhood haunts (tonight it was Carlyle, as you can see, but that also goes for our friends at Clyde's and the good folks at Portello's Winecafe in Bend). It was they who put up with my questions - would they mind if I just borrowed the bottle a second to snap a pic - in stride. Thanks to all of you; here's hoping we can find some more winners in the next hundred and beyond.

-- MILESTONES: I've also added a new tag, appropriately named Milestones. It's for pure fun, but it includes every 25th wine. I'll try to keep up with that as we move forward...

-- AND, LASTLY, it appears Blogger has moved this up in the order. If you can count, you realize I tried three wines on Saturday night; the fume blanc is the official No. 100, while the viognier was No. 101 and the chard was No. 102. I try to post in the exact order they were consumed and I'd prefer there not be any discrepancies.