It's not far off from that, but there's enough good stuff in there that makes it stand out a little more than your average bear.

One of those things is the mouthfeel, which is pretty lush. Another is that, with time in the glass, some nice butterscotch flavor comes out. If you drink as fast as a carnival barker speaks, and thus never get to the butterscotch, you'll still get some great citrus, pear and tropical fruit.

In all, this isn't the Greatest Chard on Earth, but it's cheaper than a child's ticket into the big tent, and that's certainly worth something. Besides, it's easy enough to find that you won't have to wait for the circus to come to town to get it.

Cheers,
TSW

NOTE: While "Toasted Head" has been quite good in a few different vintages, it's not the most consistent wine in the world. Don't consider it a safe buy year after year. Actually the same goes for all of R.H. Phillips' wines. They're very hit-and-miss, and while its EXP syrah and viognier have been good in the past, you can't count on them any more than you can count on a drunk bear to make it under the limbo stick every time.

* - WoW's Party Wine designation is given to a wine that you can bring to a party, and it it'll make you look good, but you won't be devastated if you don't get any.

Looking at the name of this wine and its label together, you might think it was named after a circus bear whose act consists of almost making it under a flaming limbo stick, or who's famous for getting hammered on the ringmaster's whiskey.

Actually, the name comes from wine barrel seasoning. Normally, just the barrel's inside walls are toasted with fire. For this wine, even the heads of the barrels are toasted, thus imparting on the wine more wood than -- OK I won't do it, but isn't there a Tommy Lee joke just dying to be in this very spot?!?

The color is fairly light, and actually, so is the nose until it warms up to darn near room temperature. Then it gives off oak (surprise!), vanilla, pear and bright tropical fruit.

The palate is (now here's a shock) pretty oaky and alcoholic. I know this is sounding like a one-dimensional, run-of-the-saw-mill, California chard.