Category:Wine of the week

Wine of the week: Corvezzo Prosecco Extra Dry NV

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Corvezzo Prosecco Extra Dry NV/$12-$15

The Corvezzo Prosecco is a step up from the usual fizzy Italian sparkler

The Wine Curmudgeon has long had an indifferent relationship with Prosecco, the inexpensive Italian sparkling wine. On the one hand, quality has improved greatly over the past decade. On the other, not enough producers seem much interested in improving it past where it is – decently fizzy, sometimes not quite too sweet, and just enough fruit so that it tastes like wine.

So when I find a Prosecco that is more than that, I want to write about it.

Such is the Corvezzo Prosecco Extra Dry NV ($13, sample, 11.5%).

It’s noticeably sweet, but there’s enough acidity in the back so it’s mostly balanced. Again, sweetness itself isn’t necessarily a problem. There is also some sort of citrusy fruit, and the bubbles are very well done — almost creamy, which is rare for a Prosecco.

Just the thing for sipping this weekend, whether to bring in the New Year or for a holiday brunch. One note: You may see this with a variety of names, including an organic designation. As near as I can tell, they’re all the same wine.

Imported by Origins Organic Imports

 

Wine of the week: Boekenhoutskloof The Wolftrap Red 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

wolftrap red
The Wolftrap Red/$7-$16

This South African Rhone-style red blend is fresh and spicy – did someone say Christmas dinner?

Know two things about this wine: I had to check my notes every time I typed Boekenhoutskloof, to make sure it was spelled correctly, and that it was worth all the double checking. This South African red blend is one example of the quality and value that the country’s wines deliver these days.

Boekenhoutskloof’s The Wolftrap ($10, purchased, 14.5%) is a blend of syrah, mourvedre, and viognier, with mostly the former and just a bit of the latter. Using those three grapes is typically Rhone, though the proportions make it very specific to the producer, the terroir, and what the producer is trying to do with the wine. What matters is that the ratio works.

What impressed me the most was that even though the alcohol was high, it wasn’t a problem, and that even though something that tastes like oak is more obvious than I like, it wasn’t a problem, either. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

Look for lots of fruit (berries? plums?), but not so much that the fruit is all that is going on. There’s some of the traditional bacon fat feeling that syrah can add, as well as a fair amount of spice.

A food wine – just the thing for red meat, a holiday dinner, and even leftover steak sandwiches.

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Wine of the week: Moulin de Gassac Guilhem White 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Moulin de Gassac Guilhem White 2020
Moulin de Gassac Guilhem White 2020/$9-$15

Add the Moulin de Gassac Guilhem white to the list of terrific cheap wines that I haven’t raved enough about

Call this mea culpa month on the blog, since I seem to be writing about wines I’ve always liked but never quite given the accolades they deserved. This week, it’s the $10 or so wines from a French producer, Moulin de Gassac.

I’ve written about the Gassac Guilhem red, white, and rose wines since 2014, but never really put them in any kind of perspective. Once, I even wrote they were from Gascony, when they’re from the Languedoc. So consider this review, for the Moulin de Gassac Guilhem White 2020 ($12, purchased, 12%) an acknowledgment that the wines are Hall of Fame quality and well worth buying.

The Gassac white is a blend that includes terret, which most of us have never heard of; the much unappreciated grenache blanc; and vementino, an Italian grape grown throughout southern France, where it’s sometimes known as rolle.

So no, this doesn’t taste like chardonnay.

Instead, it has some spice, some stone fruit, and a bit of tartness. I wouldn’t say it’s oily, which sometimes happens with grenache blanc wines, and it’s not crisp like sauvignon blanc. Instead, it’s full and almost rich (the winery’s tasting notes use the term fleshy, which seems accurate.)

Drink this with grilled or fried fish (catfish, maybe?). Highly recommended, and almost certain to enter the Hall of Fame next month. And don’t be surprised if it makes the short list for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year.

Imported by Beaune Imports

Wine of the week: Banfi Centine Red 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

banfi centine
Banfi Centine 2019/$9-$14

Banfi’s red Centine, an Italian Super Tuscan blend, is one of the world’s great $10 wines

Banfi’s $10 Centine Italian wines have always gotten a lot of attention on the blog, often making the $10 Hall of Fame. But I never seem to give them as much credit as I do those from Falesco, another Italian producer; Tariquet, the Gascon white; or the French Chateau Bonnet red and white. In fact, I haven’t reviewed the red Centine wine in three years.

So consider this the Wine Curmudgeon’s ode to Banfi and its Centine wines. Because they deserve it.

This vintage of the red ($10, purchased, 13.5%) is not as soft as the 2017, the last one I reviewed. Instead, the Super Tuscan blend is almost herbal and earthy, with dark fruit, spot on tannins, and that wonderful acidity that is such a key to balance in Italian red wine. It’s not exactly a big wine or especially rustic; rather, there’s just some very pleasing heft to it.

In all, it’s much more than $10 worth of wine. That’s something the Centine wines (there’s also a white and rose) deliver almost every time. The other thing to appreciate? That they’re food wines – made to go with dinner, be with sausage or red sauce or the mushroom and asparagus risotto I had it with.

Highly recommended, and certain to return to the Hall of Fame next month. And don’t be surprised if it makes the short list for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year.

Imported by Banfi Vintners

 

Wine of the week: Protocolo Blanco 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Protocolo Blanco
Protocolo Blanco 2019/$6-$15

This Spanish white blend is cheap wine the way it should be – professionally made, varietally correct, and enjoyable

The Wine Curmudgeon is not the only one bemoaning the disappearance of quality and affordable wine. Emailed a fellow critic: “It wasn’t that long ago that I lamented the disappearance of the $10 bottle, which was replaced by $12 bottles. Based on recent anecdotal evidence, the $12 bottle is now gone, too. Outside of grocery stores where all the wine taste the same, it seems $15 is now the ground floor at independent wine shops.”

To which I answer: the Eguren Protocolo Blanco 2019 ($8, purchased, 12%).

This is the kind of wine that my friend used to see all the time – professionally made, without flaws, more or less varietal, and enjoyable. Which, sadly, has disappeared in favor of the dreaded focus group wine: Smoooth, almost sweet, and bereft of almost all character. In fact, the back label for the Protocolo even leans in that direction: “silky… banana, peach, and apple aromas.”

But it’s nothing like that. For one thing, it’s a Spanish white blend, and that ain’t silky. The grapes – 60 percent viura and 40 percent airen – lend themselves to the exact opposite, which means some tart lemon and green apple fruit. The wine is clean and fresh, with maybe some minerality in the back. Or not, as the case may be.

The point here is that the Protocolo does what it’s supposed to do – offer value and quality for wine with dinner or a glass after work. And, as my friend noted, that’s not easy to find these days.

Imported by Fine Estates from Spain

Wine of the week: Les Dauphins Reserve Rose 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Les Dauphins Reserve Rose 2020
Les Dauphins Reserve Rose 2020/$10-$14

This French rose delivers $10 worth of value – and then some. Actually, a lot of then some.

One of the many joys of rose is that there are literally hundreds worth drinking, and that it’s almost impossible to find one – even at the blog’s prices – that isn’t enjoyable.

In other words, the Les Dauphins Reserve Rose 2020 ($11, purchased, 12.5%).

I’ve been writing about rose on the blog for 14 years and drinking it for even longer, but did not see this wine until the start of the pandemic. Because, even when the supply chain is working, that’s one of the joys of wine availability. And it’s also worth noting that this wine has a couple of names and labels – some, like the one in the bottle shot, don’t refer to reserve.

The Les Dauphins is a top-notch pink blend from France’s Rhone that does everything a rose should at this price – and then a little more. There are red berries from the grenache, but it’s not too fruity or too jammy as can sometimes happen with grenache. And the little bit of cinsault adds some interest and depth.

Highly recommended, and just the thing for Thanksgiving dinner – even for people who may not like wine all that much. A candidate for the 2022 Hall of Fame, as well as the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year.

Imported by Plume Ridge

Wine of the week: La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2019
La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2019/$6-$12

The 2019 version of the red version of France’s La Vieille Ferme is about more than nostalgia

Long before I started writing about wine, I bought wine. And Rich Liebman sold me a lot of that, at the old Greenville Avenue Goody Goody in Dallas. There was South Africa’s KWV (which, if nothing else, was cheap). There were the 1.5-liter bottles of Fetzer chardonnay and merlot, which passed for high-end drinking at my house.

And there was La Vieille Ferme.

In those days, La Vieille was rough, tart, and often unripe – in other words, what most of us thought French wine should taste like. Rich loved the red, which never did much for me, though I sometimes bought the white (and I don’t remember his store carrying the rose).

So this Birthday Week wine of the week is for Rich, a long-time supporter of the blog. That’s because the La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2019 ($10, purchased, 13%) is nothing like what it was in the old days. This vintage of the red blend is the best I’ve tasted in years. It’s still a little rough and tannic, but in a good way, so that you’ll know the minute you taste it that no one at the winery intended for it to be smoooth. Look for black fruit that is not especially tart or green, and a more than decent “this doesn’t taste like cheap wine” finish.

Will it end up in the Hall of Fame in January? Maybe. It’s that much improved. Regardless, though, I’ll always think of buying wine from Rich when I drink it. Which isn’t a bad legacy for a wine, either.

Imported by Vineyard Brands