Conundrum 2008 California White Wine..a conundrum indeed.

My dearest, wonderful, wine-loving Karen. Don't hate me for saying it. You've picked some beautiful wines. And I've picked some dogs. And I didn't hate it, I just didn't LOVE it.

You see my conundrum? A dear friend brings over a bottle of expensive wine and you pledge to write about it, only to find it wasn't your fave. That's subjective taste for you. But I don't think Mlle. K. will disagree with the following review.

For me, this wine was soooo American! I know, duh, it's a Californian wine. But that's not what I mean. It's Pam Anderson as opposed to Catherine Deneuve. Have you ever had an over-the-counter painkiller in the U.S.? I did once, at a trade show in Atlanta. I had a horrible sinus cold and headache, and had to put up with all of the pressure changes from flying to boot. I ended up at a drugstore downtown and found some Tylenol, and to my surprise, they were sweet! Flavoured pain medication! How very odd. You'd think that maybe the Tylenol people would be against that sort of thing; I'd worry that children might think they're candy. Anyway, I'm veering off the path here, but this does in fact have something to do with the wine. In fact, you could say the very same thing about this wine: it's sweet, flavoured pain medication!

VANILLA! This wine screams it. Overwhelmingly. With underlying hearty shouts of FRUITY! FLOWERY! None of these things are unpleasant. It's just that there's so much of them. I sampled this wine over three seperate days, and yesterday I declare it tasted like sugarwater. I get the feeling this wine is trying to please everyone, and it probably is very palatable to most. It's not unpalatable. It's just, so...brassy. I crave wine that subtly caresses; this wine boldly slaps you with flavour. Too much for me, I'm afraid. Having said that, if you need to bring wine to a gathering and are in a total state with no idea how to pick a people pleasing wine, buy this one. It's not likely to offend anyone.

Conundrum 2008 California White Wine can be purchased at the LCBO for $24.95.