Let There Be White! (and a little red)

I haven't written about any wines here in a long while, but I have been drinking them. I just don't have the time to sit down at the computer and write about them anymore. I guess because it's summer, I've been drinking more whites lately to go with the foods we're making. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I've got a few whites to talk about. First up is Inama Vin Soave Soave Classico 2005, Italy. Apparently, Inama is the leading estate producer of Soave Classico (who knew?). Anyway, I picked this up from one of the local liquor stores one night when I thought a white wine would go well with dinner. I don't remember exactly what we were having, but I'm pretty sure it was something Italian, so I wanted an Italian white to go with it. My choices were kind of slim because I wanted to get something from the cold case so we could drink it right away. I picked this mainly because I didn't like the other choices, and I was very pleasantly surprised. We both really liked it. It's a light/delicate wine, but it still has lots of flavor (not like some of the less memorable Pinot Grigios out there). It has a crisp finish and some minerality to it. We've gotten this one a couple times now, and I've enjoyed each bottle.
The second wine, I'm not so happy with. I actually picked it up as a consolation to the fact that the wine I actually wanted wasn't in stock. The one I did buy was Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon 2006, France. It's not a bad wine. In fact, it's pretty good. It's crisp, light, with some citrus and anise flavors. It just wasn't the one I wanted, and I think that colored my feelings towards it. The other one was better. Of course, I can't remember the winery. It was another Touraine Sauvignon, and it was terrific. It had won some award that sounded like The Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival.
The last white wine I have to mention was Willm Vin d'Alsace Gewturztraminer, France. I love this wine. I've had it before and it's a great example of a gewturztraminer. It's not too expensive, and the few bottles I've had have been consistently good. This one I had in my fridge, and we opened it up when we ordered some Indian food from Dakshin in NYC (which, by the way, has great delivery). This wine is on the sweeter side, with tastes of honey, pear, and melon. Not too acidic either.
Finally, I thought I would mention one red that we opened lately. It was the first of my Barolo collection (it's not that big of a collection) to be somewhat ready to be opened, so we went for it. It was Silvio Grasso "Bricco Luciani" Barolo 2000, Piemonte Italy. My excitement in opening this wine was somewhat diminished when I extracted the cork and saw evidence of some heat damage. It smelled okay, however, so I soldiered on. We had actually opened a much less expensive and less interesting wine first, but that wine was very old and very bad. So we moved on. I didn't tell my wife about the wine creeping up the sides of the cork to get an honest opinion on what she thought of this wine. It was still very good. There were tastes of blackberries, licorice, and tobacco. However I think this wine was a little harsher than it should have been. I drank it down anyway.

NP: Rollin' On, Black Stone Cherry