Category:White wine

Wine of the week: Adega Marea Alta Do Zoe 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Do Zoe albarinol bottle
Do Zoe Albarino 2020/$10-$13

This Spanish albarino does everything albarino should, and at a more than fair price

Spain delivers value on almost everything but albarino, a white wine made in the Rias Baixas region in the country’s northwest. Most quality albarinos cost upwards of $20, and I’ve tasted some at $15 and $18 that lack many of the qualities that make albarino so distinctive and so enjoyable.

So when I stumbled on the Do Zoe ($12, purchased, 12.5%), I knew something special was going on. It wasn’t overpriced. It tasted like albarino, and it hadn’t bee manipulated to make it more sauvignon blanc-like (a common occurrence around $15).

The Do Zoe is spot on albarino — savory, almost salty, with lemon fruit and a sort of mineral finish, as well as a sort of flowery aroma. It’s the kind of wine that reminds me why I appreciate the grape so much.

Why only $12? Probably because it’s blended – 90 percent albarino, plus four other little k known Spanish grapes that fill the wine out and give it a little more body.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the Hall of Fame next year. Drink this on its own, as well as with grilled shrimp or similar sorts of grilled or fried seafood.

Imported by Monsieur Touton Selections

Wine to drink while you’re waiting for fall to arrive

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

John Fogerty wearing a flannel shirt
If flannel is good enough for Fogerty, then it’s good enough for the WC

Because it’s time for flannel shirts already, dammit

October has not been very October like, even for Texas. We’ve set a bunch of record highs, and it was in the 90s several days last week. But the blog’s unofficial weather forecaster has promised (or, what passes for that, given it’s weather we’re talking about) that this week will be rainy and coolish. Which is enough for the WC.

So three wines to drink while I’m waiting for that forecast to come true.

• Domaine Les Deux Moulins 2020 ($17, purchased, 12%): Well-made French sauvignon blanc from the Loire with a little more citrus fruit and a little less flintiness than I expected. Having said that, it’s professional and quite drinkable. Look for some lemon zest and an enjoyable, almost pithy quality at the end. May cost two or three dollars less elsewhere in the country. Imported by Paris Wine Company

• De La Beche Morgon Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 2020 ($17, purchased, 13%) Sophisticated, top-notch Beaujolais, with more heft and less soft fruit (still berryish) than the wines from that French region that I’m used to. Needs food — and when do we say that about Beaujolais? Highly recommended. Imported by Vintage 59

• Boutinot Cuvee Jean Paul 2021 ($10, purchased, 12%): A sort of goofy blend for rose (grenache 60%, cinsault 30%, syrah 10%) that made love it all the more. Delightful, fresh, sort of fruity (cherry?, berry?) French pink. It’s not especially crisp, but it’s not supposed to be. Imported by Boutinot USA

More wine to drink. …
• … while you’re waiting for the avocado pits to sprout
• … when you’re waiting for an ice storm
• … when everyone (and it does seem like everyone) wants to buy your house

Wine of the week: Falesco Vitiano Bianco 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

falesco vitiano bianco label
Falesco Vitiano Bianco 2020/$10-$16

The Vitiano white is back, and it’s time to drink a glass in celebration

Maybe the return of the Falesco Vitiano white isn’t cause for dancing in the streets, but it’s still damned good news for those of us who care about quality and value.

This vintage of the Vitiano Bianco ($12, sample, 12.5%) isn’t quite the same wine that it was in the old days. The blend — verdicchio and vermentino – is different than in years past, and the appellation is Italy and not Umbria. Call those cost saving measures, and be glad that they paid off.

And, frankly, who cares? It’s the Vitiano white wine, back on U.S. store shelves after an absence of several years because of wine business foolishness.

Look for some spice and stone fruit, though it’s bone dry. There’s a freshness and roundness, as well, and it still has that wonderful stony finish that is common to quality Italian white wine.

Highly recommended, and a pleasure to put back into the Hall of Fame next year. Chill this and drink it on its own or serve with almost anything that pairs with white wine.

Imported by Trinchero Family Estates

Mini-reviews 161: The “even more wines that make me cranky” edition

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

women drinking wine
“How can a wine taste like berry-ish 7Up?”

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the fourth Friday of each month. This month, four wines that made the WC even crankier than usual

• Segura Viudas Brut Rosada NV ($10, purchased, 12%): This Spanish sparkling wine was once among the greatest of cheap wines. Now, thanks to consolidation, it tastes like poorly made Prosecco, too sweet, too soft, and with flabby red fruit. Can someone tell me what the point of that is? Imported by Freixenet USA

• Montes Sauvignon Blanc Limited Selection 2021 ($15, sample, 13.5%): This Chilean white doesn’t hearken to the country’s great days of sauvignon blanc. It’s a one-note wine (lots and lots of lemongrass) that doesn’t taste especially Chilean. Imported by Kobrand

• TerraNoble Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 2018 ($18, sample, 14%): Chilean cab that tastes more like California — which, if the tasting notes are correct, is supposed to be the case. Sweet dark fruit and very rich, but not much else going on. Why do producers take the tannins out of cabernet? Imported by Winebow

• Borgo San Michele Mariage Brut NV ($18, sample, 11.5%): The multi-decorated bottle is more interesting than the wine, which is berry-ish 7Up – soft and boring, even for this style of Prosecco. Imported by Taub Family Selections

Wine of the week: La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul 2021

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul de Pinet bottle
La Chapelle du Bastion Picpoul 2021/$10-$15

This French white, made with a lesser known grape, is just the thing for the end of summer

How do we know that picpoul, a French white grape, is just the thing for those of us looking for value and quality? Wine-Searcher, hardly shy about catering to the 1 percent (“The most expensive wines in the world”!), notes that almost all of the most popular picpouls on its site cost less than $15, and several are less than $10.

So yes, picpoul, for value and quality – even in these days of “we’re going to charge more just to charge more.”

Ironically, I’ve reviewed very few picpouls over the years. But now that I have started to do more, the La Chapelle du Bastion 2021 ($12, purchased, 13%) shows what I was missing when I didn’t taste enough of them.

The wine is less lipsmackingingly tart than picpoul is supposed to be (insert obligatory reference about picpoul’s meaning in English). Which, actually, is a pleasant surprise, since that leaves room for other qualities. Yes, it’s lemony, but there is also what seems to be some tropical fruit in the middle as well as a bone dry and long finish.

Highly recommended, and candidate for the Hall of Fame next year as well as the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year. Chill this, drink it on its own or enjoy it with end of the summer grilled vegetables or chicken.

Imported by Monsieur Tonton Selection

 

Expensive wine 160: Vietti Arneis 2021

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Vietti Arneis bottle
Vietti Arneis 2021/$17-$27

Happy birthday, Mom – this one’s for you

Arneis is an Italian white grape that is known and appreciated by Italian wine geeks, but its fame doesn’t extend much past that. First, it’s an Italian white grape; second, it’s not pinot grigio. And, when it comes to Italian wine, whites take a back seat to reds, and the only white most people care about is pinot grigio.

Which is a shame, because arneis can make subtle, fascinating wine that tastes almost nothing like anything else. The grape usually offers nut flavors (I get almond), as well fresh stone fruit and a bit of richness and minerality.

So why the Vietti Arneis 2021 ($24, purchased, 12%) for my Mom’s birthday today? It’s softer, and not as almondy as some other arneis, but still very well done — subtle tropical fruit, a hint of that tell-tale minerality, and a fine mouth feel.

In this, it’s just the sort of wine she would appreciate – a bit off the beaten path, well-made, and something different to try. Mom is far from a wine geek, but she also understands that there is more to wine than her La Vieille Ferme rose. And yes, that sense of difference is something I got from her.

Happy birthday, Mom.

Imported by Dalla Terra

 

 

Wine of the week: Rickshaw Sauvignon Blanc 2021

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Rickshaw sauvignon blanc
Rickshaw Sauvignon Blanc 2021/$9-$18

The California white remains a stunning wine – both for quality and value

The Wine Curmudgeon stumbled on the Rickshaw last fall, when I picked up a previous vintage at a Dallas retailer that was closing it out. It turned out to be was one of the best stumbles I’ve made in a while.

Rickshaw, for lack of a better term, is the second label for, again for lack of a better term, a hipster brand called Banshee (which is owned by one of the less big Big Wine companies). It wasn’t seen much at retail before the pandemic, but started showing up on store shelves in the past couple of years as restaurants cut back.

Which, again, is our good fortune. The 2021 Rickshaw ($15, purchased, 13.5%) is one of the best wines at this price that I’ve tasted in years. There’s nothing halfway about it, no shortcuts to lower quality and increase margins, no dumbing down to bamboozle the consumer. This is classic California sauvignon blanc, the kind of wine that made the state famous in the first place.

It has subtlety – never easy in sauvignon blanc – as well as depth and length, and even a sort of complexity – again, not easy in this kind of wine at this price. Look for lemongrass and lime zest and lots of stoniness.

Highly recommended, and certain to make the Hall of Fame next year and the shortlist for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year. Which is the catch – price is all over the place. It costs $16 on wine.com and as much as $18 elsewhere; my local retailer sold out of the $12 past vintage in a couple of days.

But find the Rickshaw for $15 or less (and it’s out there at that price), and it’s easily the best value California white you’re going to taste this year.