In need of a dry white wine for cooking lapin a la moutarde the other
night, I opened a bottle of 2004 La Yunta Torrontes that I had purchased
recently at a local wine shop.

color: pale green-yellow
nose: floral with stone fruit notes
palate: crisp, slightly herbal, with modest peach flavors and a decent
finish

This was my first encounter with this grape, made in this case by a
US-Argentina joint venture (http://www.southernwinegroup.com). It is
vaguely reminiscent of the few Vermentinos I've had and at $9 a decent
value.

With the rabbit, we opened:

2000 David Bruce Truchard Vyd Pinot Noir

n: smoke, light berry fruit, slight hint of oak
p: velvety soft, rich fruit, good acidity, smoke, earth, slightly oaky
finish

A decent but not great match with the rabbit (Burgundy or cru Beaujolais
is better with it), this was a very good example of CA Pinot. Plenty of
fruit, but not overextracted and showing good varietal character. This
bottle reminds me why many of my favorite CA Pinots come from Carneros.

Mark Lipton