For those who don’t know, I should preface this by saying I am generally a fan of drier wines. I like the mouth feel and the evaporation more, and I don’t really enjoy the lingering bouquet of sweet wines in my mouth. There are exceptions, of course, and I won’t limit myself because of it, but it is how my preferences lie.

Upon arrival, I asked for the barman to recommend me a Muscat or Muscato, and the recommendation came as the 2006 Il Conte D’Alba Moscato D’Asti. A sweet, sparkling wine, that was described as having peach overtones. My palate was fresh, and I’m going to honestly say that the nose had no peach on it, so I was hoping for a surprise. The mouth feel was solid; what one would expect from a sweet sparkling white, but the bouquet was disappointing. The peach (and perhaps something else, more floral but hidden) was submerged in a cloying clover-honey overtone. The entire glass was simply like sparkling-honey wine and reminded me more of a mead than a muscat normally should. At the end of the glass, my mouth felt as if it were coated with the sweetness. I went through a few crackers and about half a glass of water to cleanse my palate. I, personally, would not recommend this wine for most people and most purposes. Disappointing, truly – 2.5 corks out of 5, only an average wine.

Moving forward (and thinking forward to Father’s day) I asked for a recommendation for a Cabernet Franc. What I ended up with was the 2005 Alexander Valley Cab Franc, and after the disappointing first pick, I was looking for a way to improve my thoughts on Mercy’s stock, and I’ll say right now that the Alexander Valley Cabernet Franc was definitely a step up. The nose was quite nice, with a dry floral scent. I couldn’t identify it immediately, but possibly some sage and honeysuckle, but the latter could have just been the remnants of the lingering bouquet from the Muscato d’Asti. There was a lighter mouth feel than I expected, but it wasn’t bad, and there was the definite peppery taste that one comes to expect with Cabernet Francs. There were more discernible tannins than I would have hoped for, but in the end, as the wine was given a chance to really breathe, it mellowed quite a bit. I would give this 3.5 out of 5 corks, but my main thought on this is that it hardly warranted the $15 price point for the 6oz carafe.