Made up of 80% cab and 20% merlot, Anatomy No. 1 is a blend of fruit from several vineyards located predominantly in the Napa Valley’s southern half.

The 2007 Anatomy No. 1 is intensely fruit forward, but retains its balance with lively cherry, blackberry and tobacco leaf notes. It is vivacious and direct, making it food friendly and easy to drink.

250-case production; aging in 20% new French oak, 30% once- and 50% twice-used French oak.

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California Wine Merchants for $29.99/bottle

Embassy for $37.99/bottle

First & Vine for $32.99/bottle

Dovetail for $71/bottle

P.D. O'Hurley's @West End for $14/glass; $44/bottle

Kennedy's for $16/glass; $55/bottle

West Side Steakhouse for $55/bottle

This is the second vintage of this wine for me. The first (the '07) was wildly successful. Which both did and didn't surprise me. Didn't: Because, very simply, it was a great wine, well made, reflecting the grape varieties used in it and the place it came from. Did: Many of us, whether we realize it or not, prefer our whites on the insipid side, leaving the complexity and power for the reds in our drinking lives.The '07 Blanc du Moulin, like the 2008, is a BIG wine. Big in the sense that Rhône-style whites just are. The 2007 clocked in at a healthy 14.4% alcohol level. And it could have been higher, but Alexis Pouillon put the brakes on.

The 2008 is a tick more at 14.5%. Crazy. But not really. Alcohol, like any other piece of a wine's puzzle, is a releative measurement. When the wine is in balance, the alcohol, like the acidity, like the tannins, like the oak employed (if there is any), nothing sticks out. The 2008 actually came across to me as showing less alcohol than the '07. Go figure.

The cèpage (a fancy-sounding French word—in fairness, all French words sound fancy—for the grape mix) is noticeably different in the '08. It is 80% roussanne with the balance being viognier. Last year's was 60% roussanne/40% viognier. Why the change? Just because that's the way the Pouillons thought they needed to go based on the growing season in '08.

The '08, like the '07, is rich and redolent of all sorts of flowers and stone fruit. When it's a bit chilled, it's all roussanne, showing honeysuckle, apple blossom and paraffin. As it warms, the viognier emerges in texture and honeyed apricot notes. But don't call it sweet. It's simply very, very ripe.

200 cases produced; 10 months aging in 5-year-old neutral Burgundian oak.

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Frankly Wines for $21/bottle

Martin Brothers for $17.99/bottle

Suburban for $19.99/bottle

Winesby.com for $20/bottle

Annisa for $45/bottle

West Side Steakhouse for $38/bottle

Toquade is French for “infatuation.” Christine Barbe is from Bordeaux, and makes this dry-farmed, single-vineyard SB in a style falling somewhere between Sancerre’s verve and Bordeaux Blanc's roundness. Her style is decidedly not Kiwi, however. No gooseberry/bubble gum stuff here. Just pure, transparent SB the way the grape's originators in the Loire intended.

The fruit comes from an organic, dry-farmed vineyard in Yountville that was planted in 1978.

The 2008 Toquade is two wines in one: When chilled, it exhibits classic SB notes of cut grass, citrus and minerals. As it warms, apple and pear show themselves, though always with a continued citric tanginess.

250 cases produced

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Penn Wine & Spirits for $24/bottle Sold out!!!

Print. for $44/bottle Sold Out!!! Print. has the 2009 for $46/bottle.

P.D. O'Hurley's @ West End for $13/glass; $42/bottle Sold out!!! P.D. O'Hurley's has the 2009 for the same prices.

OK, so Toquade isn't a "family." Rather Toquade is an ideal, one belonging to Christine Barbe, a bordelais who ended up making wine in Napa Valley. She came to my attention courtesy of Philippe Langner, my brilliant and humble cab producer. The irony of both my Napa Valley producers being French is not lost on me, and perhaps is just about right, given the style of wine and winemaking I like, and therefore look to buy and sell.

Before heading west to spend time with Langner last summer, he suggested that I meet his very good friend, one who happened to make a very nice sauvignon blanc, in his opinion. I figured that because his wines show a beautiful sense of restraint, hers probably did, too, or he wouldn't recommend her to me. He, of course, was spot on. Or should I say, she was.

We sat down to a nice, long lunch in Rutherford and she starting explaining what she was trying to do. She almost needn't have bothered. I took one whiff of her '08 SB and I immediately wiped away my poker face and said I'd buy it. And we hadn't even talked about price. Not the savviest way to do business, but it seems to have worked for me.

Barbe explained, "I make this kind of wine because I can't find it in California. There's too much malo, too much sugar." Though she's from Bordeaux, she doesn't make a Bordeaux-style sauvignon. That would, of course, require oak, and lots of it. Barbe's SB is fermented in stainless steel, and just as importantly, it ages in stainless steel, too. The body that slowly emerges as the wine warms up in the glass is thanks to weekly stirring of the lees (essentially all the yeasty goo after the fermentation process is finished).

I have likened Toquade to a sort of cross between the grassy vitality of Sancerre and the heftier Bordeaux Blanc. Which isn't really correct because of the absence of oak and sémillon, typically part of the white Bordeaux blend. Maybe Entre-Deux-Mers, that ocean of white wine seldom spoken about by Bordeaux fanatics that is actually part of Bordeaux, is closer. But not really, as much of those whites lack the nuance and body of Barbe's. Whatever.

The word "toquade" means "infatuation" in French. "I put all my life savings into it. People said I was crazy," she said. Or not so much. The grapes come from a small dry-farmed vineyard in Yountville. It's next to the river and is farmed organically. It's owned by the owners of the Napa Wine Co. "I make my white the same way they make their red," Barbe said. In other words, not too much fussing in the vineyard or cellar.

In addition to growing a dry-farmed wine (meaning the only water comes from Mother Nature), something that's pretty rare in Napa Valley, not to mention much of the New World generally, she also waits longer than most before bottling. "People bottle early for Wine Spectator. They have to have samples ready by April. I can't do that because the wine's not ready then," she explained.

As I work through the last of her 2008, I'm looking forward to the '09. Not in any hurry, though.

July 2010 UPDATE

Well, that didn't take long. I'm out of '08 (it can still be found at a few stores and restaurants). The 2009 will be in New York in about two weeks. Just in time.