Category:Red wine

Wine of the week: Bota Box Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

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Regular visitors here know that the Wine Curmudgeon does not much care for boxed wine for boxed wine ?s sake. Poorly made wine in a box is still poorly made wine, despite being cheaper and more environmentally friendly. In fact, one could argue that poorly made boxed wine is even more of an environmental waste, since there is no reason for it to exist at all.

So when I find a boxed wine that is well made, I get giggly. Or at least as giggly as the Wine Curmudgeon can get. The Bota Box (about $22 for three liters, the equivalent of four bottles) is a simple, fruity (think cherry) California wine that is so much better than similar wines at this price that it ?s difficult to believe. It doesn ?t have any of the raw tannins these wines often have, it ?s varietally correct, and it isn ?t green ? that is, it doesn ?t have an unripe fruit flavor also typical of very cheap wines. (Which, sadly, some of its Bota compatriots do.)

It ?s not quite as well done as the Avalon cabernet, but it ?s also less than half the price. Which means it ?s highly recommended and a candidate for the 2010 $10 Hall of Fame.Serve this with spaghetti and meatballs and burgers on the grill, or to people who only drink red wine.

Wine of the week: Campo Viejo Rioja Crianza 2005

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Campo Viejo crianxa: Still a $10 value Spanish wine remains a fine value, despite the fluctuation of the dollar, and the Campo Viejo is an excellent example of why.

It ?s a red wine made with tempranillo from the Rijoa region of Spain. Crianza is the basic wine in the three tiers of Rioja. The middle level is reserva and the best is gran reserva; winemakers must follow specific guidelines for the wines to attain those levels.

So why the Campo Viejo? It has been $10 for as long as I can remember; it ?s widely available, from grocery stores to wine shops; and it ?s consistently made. (The label is owned by the very large Pernod Ricard group). The 2005 tastes more modern than I remember, which means more cherry fruit. But it ?s still Rioja, which means it ?s tart, a bit tannic (though soft tannins) and occupies that that in-between ground between red and white wine foods.

Drink this with everything from roast chicken to burgers to ? yes ? tapas and paella.

Wine of the week: La Ferme de Gicon 2006

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Le Ferme de Gicon 2006 The Wine Curmudgeon has just one question: How can a wine of this quality, at this price, have existed for so long without me knowing about it?

The Gicon is a red blend from the Cote du Rhone (grenache, syrah, and mourvedre) made using carbonic maceration, the same fermentation process that produces Beaujolais nouveau. This makes the  Gicon more accessible, not a bad approach for inexpensive Rhone wines, since they tend to be green or tannic. It also holds the price down ? about $9, in this case.

The Gicon is a solid, steady, dependable Cote du Rhone, the kind of wine that everyone who loves wine wishes more producers made. It ?s not showy or spectacular, but it's not supposed to be. Look for a bit of cherry fruit and some spice, and drink it with most simple red meat dishes ? burgers, meat loaf, and even roast chicken.

The end of zinfandel as we know it

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

I have been writing an annual zinfandel column for about as long as I have had a publication or blog to write one for. The Wine Curmudgeon has always championed zinfandel as America’s national wine — cheap, well-made red wine that is food friendly and a lot more interesting than Australian shiraz or cute label merlot.

Sadly, however, I’m giving up the cause. I can’t find enough zinfandel to recommend anymore. Today, too many zinfandels are pricey, high alcohol bombshells that have more in common with port than with table wine. And, from what I’ve been told, those wines have permanently replaced the ones that I liked. I mentioned my dilemma to one well-known zinfandel maker, and he wasn’t even aware there used to be another style.

The final straw came this week, when I pulled a variety of zinfandels out of the wine closet in a last, desperate attempt to find some to write about. None was less than 14.5 percent alcohol and most were higher than 15 percent. And, unbelievably, each cost $18 or more. What was most disappointing though, is that they were as tannic as cabernet sauvignon, hot (which means you could taste the alcohol), unbalanced, and almost devoid of the tell-tale zinfandel fruit.

So, so long, my friend. We had fun, didn’t we?

For more on zinfandel:

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Wine of the week: Graffigna Centanario Malbec 2006

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

linea_centenario_chi_03 Years ago, Robert Parker ? yes, that Robert Parker ? wrote that one day we ?d all be drinking inexpensive malbec. Which means I ?m still looking for the good ones.

The problem with malbec is that the Argentines, who make most of it, haven ?t quite figured out how to make a $10 version that offers value in the way that New Zealand winemakers have figured out how to offer value in $10 sauvignon blanc. There are plenty of fine $20 and $30 malbecs, but not nearly as many at $8, $10 and $12. Most of the cheap malbecs that are in stores are too fruity, and the fruit is about the only thing they have to offer.

The Graffigna (about $13, though availability may be limited) doesn ?t have this problem. It ?s an impressive wine — not flabby like most inexpensive malbecs, and with some structure and enough blackberry fruit and tannins to be interesting. Drink this on its own, or with any sort of homey beef dish.

For more on the malbec dilemma:

Wine review: Sangre de Toro 2006

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Somewhere in my house, either stuffed in a drawer or buried in a box, are probably hundreds of the little plastic bulls that are attached to the neck of the bottle of the Sangre de Toro, a Spanish red blend. When I started doing this 20-some odd years ago, I drank a lot of what I called bull wine. It was $6 or $7 then, well made, and dependable.

I haven’t had Sangre de Toro in years. No reason to, really. I thought I knew what it tasted like, and I thought I had outgrown it. Which is a good reason to repeat the Wine Curmudgeon mantra: “Taste the wine before you judge it, dummy.”

So I bought a bottle for about $10, took it home, unscrewed the cap (a welcome change from the old days) and discovered that the wine has remained relevant. These days, it’s made with Spanish versions of grenache and carignan. The former gives it fruitiness I don’t remember from before, while the latter adds body. It was fine on its own before dinner, and would also pair with simple red wine food — burgers, sausages, and the like.