Tag Archives: $10 wine

Mini-reviews 48: Banfi, Paso a Paso, Ferrari, Friulano

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

? Castello Banfi Centine 2011 ($11. sample, 14%): Consistent, professionally-made Super Tuscan-style red blend that combines traditional Italian flavors with New World fruit. Won’t win any awards, but won’t disappoint, either.

? Paso a Paso Verdejo 2011 ($8, purchased, 13.5%): Still decent $8 white wine from Spain with sour lemon fruit, but not as nicely done as the 2010. It’s not as fresh, and is a little thinner, especially in the middle.

? Ferrari Brut NV ($25, sample, 12.5%): Italian sparkler made with Methode Champenoise ? tight bubbles, quality apple and lemon fruit, and a clean finish. But it inhabits that middle ground between cava and cremant and Champagne, so not the value of the former and not the quality of the latter.

? Livio Felluga Friulano 2011 ($30, sample, 13.5%): Very nicely done Italian white made with the little-known friulano grape, with subtle flavors of lime and green apple and a nutty finish. Still young, but price is problematic.

Wine of the week: Cono Sur Bicicleta Pinot Noir 2012

The Cono Sur was the first wine we tasted during our pinot noir extravaganza this month, and it didn ?t do much for me. I thought it was more like the Beaujolais I drank in the 1980s than pinot noir.

Two dozen pinot noirs later, I changed my mind.

It impressed me so much, in fact, that the Cono Sur ($9, sample, 13.5%) overcame my pre-disposition against Chilean pinot noir, which is often overpriced, poorly made, or both, and burdened with cute labels, a rant that regular visitors have read many times. What changed my mind was the aroma, earthy and spicy, and the taste, cherry fruit that wasn ?t too fruity, and surprisingly soft, pinot-like tannins.

Does this wine taste like red Burgundy or top-notch Oregon? Of course not. It doesn ?t even taste like Mark West or its knockoffs, the fruity, low-acid, red wines that have revolutionized pinot nor and made it affordable and accessible.

Instead, it ?s an excellent example of how to make a wine taste like its varietal at this price, using carbonic maceration instead of traditional fermentation (which explains my confusion with Beaujolais, where carbonic maceration is common).

One warning: The Cono Sur, thanks to its screwcap, takes a while to open up. That ?s one reason why it didn ?t impress me when I first tasted it. But give it 15 or 20 minutes, and you ?ll be pleasantly surprised. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2014 $10 Hall of Fame.

Barefoot wine review 2016

Barefoot wine review 2013

Barefoot wine review 2013This year, the Wine Curmudgeon picked two Barefoot award winners to review ? the pink moscato, which earned a double gold this month at a prestigious California competition, and the merlot, which got a gold at the 2011 Critics Challenge (the 2013 version of which I judged over the weekend).

The 2014 Barefoot wine review

My impressions? Both were sound, not flawed, provided value, and were much more impressive than the pinot noir and sauvignon blanc in the 2012 Barefoot review.

I write an annual Barefoot review because hardly anyone one else does; the Winestream Media can ?t be bothered reviewing wines that people actually drink. Not surprisingly, the Barefoot post is always among the most popular on the blog, with Barefoot reviews coming in at No. 2 and No. 4 in 2012 ?s top 10. This year, it was heartening to see others taking up the cause, and my annual Google search found a handful of other recent reviews. How can one not appreciate a blog called Honest Wine Reviews?

The pink moscato ($6, purchased, 9%), made with California grapes and non-vintage, was surprisingly balanced for a wine cashing in on the moscato craze. Think of it as sweet pink lemonade with a bit of fizziness, and make sure to chill it. Having said that, it was firmly sweet, much more in the style of white zinfandel than rose. But, having said that, it was one of the best sweet wines I ?ve tasted recently, and especially for the price.

Was it a double gold medal wine? Yes and no. When I first tasted it, the moscato didn ?t seem much more than a very well-made, lemony white zinfandel. But, on a hunch, I tasted it after I tried the merlot, and the difference was amazing. That ?s when I got the pink lemonade, and the wine tasted fuller and more complete. I ?d have given it gold, too, and I think I know what happened.

The contrast with the merlot, which was drier and more tannic, brought out the moscato ?s flavors. This happens all the time in wine competitions, where judges alternate between colors to lessen palate fatigue, and that was probably the case at this competition.

The most noticeable flavor in the merlot ($5, purchased, 13%) was caramel. Who knows how many valiant oak chips sacrificed their lives for this wine? In this, the merlot goes for the chocolate cherry flavor that so many casual wine drinkers look for, and mostly succeeds. It ?s a simple wine (also made with California grapes and non-vintage), and is almost certainly not the one that won a gold two years ago. A merlot from Bogle or McManis would be more interesting. But you ?ll get your $5 worth with the Barefoot.

Ironically, I chilled the merlot before I tasted it, on the theory that some cheap red wines are better cooler. That wasn ?t the case here, and the wine needs to be red wine temperature (60-ish F/16-ish C) to be at its best. And don ?t worry if you smell burnt rubber or cork when you open the bottle, something I ?ve noticed with many Barefoot reds. The aroma goes away quickly (in wine terms, it blows off), and is probably a function of the sulfur used to help preserve the wine.

For more on Barefoot wine:
• The Internet loves Barefoot and Cupcake wine
• Barefoot and the wine magazines
• Barefoot wines (again): Value or just cheap?

Wine of the week: Planeta La Segreta Bianco 2010

segreta_bianco4Eight labels from Sicily have been wines of the week since the blog started. The only question: Why haven ?t there been more?

Because Sicilian wine may offer the best value in the world, and that includes my much beloved Gascon white blends. Sicilian wines show just how much winemaking has improved throughout the world in the past 20 years, thanks to better technology and improved education. The days of slimy concrete tanks and dirty hoses are almost gone.

As the the Planeta ($8, purchased, 12.5%) demonstrates. I don ?t know why I keep being surprised by the quality of these wines, but I am. It ?s not so much that this is another amazing Sicilian white blend, but that it is so different, without the minerality and austerity of the others. Instead, there is a big dollop of white fruit, surrounded by some white pepper and an almost oily richness. In this, it ?s a Sicilian version of a French Rhone blend.

And why not? The wine is made with grecanico, a traditional Sicilian grape, but also chardonnay and vigonier. The latter is a classic Rhone grape, though not much grown in Sicily. It does its job here. Drink this chilled on its own, or with any summer meal.

Wine when the air conditioning is broken

What do you drink when the air conditioning goes out and it isn’t fixed for 12 days at the beginning of a Texas summer? Cheap, lighter white wine, of course.

The actual air conditioning details — three repair companies and a home warranty company that did nothing illegal but acted with such bad faith that even I was surprised — are entirely too predictable in the post-modern, “the customer is our pigeon” world we live in. So I won’t bore you with them.

What matters here is my wine drinking dilemma. Because it was a dilemma. I review 150 wines a year on the blog, so I have to drink wine every day to make sure there is enough grist for the mill. But how does one taste heavy, tannic, alcoholic red wines when it’s as hot and sticky in the house as it is outside?

With great difficulty. The only reds I drank during that period at the end of May were lower alcohol pinot noirs from Don and Sons that I got for a Twitter Tasting a couple of days after the AC went out (and more on the wines in another post). There was plenty of red wine in the house, including three or four dozen recently-arrived samples (and, because that’s how these things work, almost all of the samples that came in May were red). But most of it was from the “Let’s make this wine with high alcohol because it’s more fun that way” school of California winemaking, and I was miserable enough without drinking that kind of wine.

So what’s a wine writer to do? These wines not only fit my situation, but should help anyone who needs hot weather wine advice or some porch-sipping suggestions:

• Rene Barbier Mediterranean White NV ($5, purchased, 11.5%): Regular visitors here know how much I like this Spanish blend, and it didn ?t let me down. The low alcohol really made a difference. I could drink three or four glasses without schvitzing even more than I already was.

• Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2012 ($10, purchased, 13%): Solid if unspectacular New Zealand grocery store-style white with lots of grapefruit and not much else. But I wasn ?t looking for much else, just something to get me through the evening.

• Tavernello Vino Bianco D’Italia ($8, purchased 11.5%): An Italian white blend that wasn’t quite as well done as the Barbier, which it tasted like ? a little lemon fruit, but sweeter — despite being made with different grapes. Overpriced, though, by about one-half.

• St. James Pioneer White ($10, sample, 12.5%): Summer wine doesn’t get much better than this blend from Missouri, full of citrus and an almost oily richness. Serve this blind, and even the worst wine snob would enjoy it despite is regional pedigree.

• Da Vinci Pinot Grigio 2012 ($15, sample, 12.5%): You get what you pay for with this white from E&J Gallo — a varietally correct, if a bit fruitless and high on the mineral side, pinot grigio in the style that sells millions and millions of cases each year.

Mini-reviews 48: Falesco, Casillero, Duchman, Herdade do Esporao

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

? Falesco Est! Est!! Est!!! 2011 ($10, purchased, 12.5%): Not as bright and friendly as the previous vintage, but with white fruit (pear?) and nothing wrong with it. Simple, every day, well-made Italian table wine from one of my favorite producers.

? Casillero del Diablo Reserve Malbec 2011 ($12, sample, 13.5%): Chilean red is less showy than similarly priced Argentine malbecs, with more going on than just the black fruit. Lots of vanilla (almost too much), and even some spice and earthiness. I don’t know that I would buy it, but I would drink it without making a fuss.

? Duchman Trebbiano 2010 ($11, purchased, 12.2%): Nicely done Texas white, though it needs food. Lots of acid, some lemon fruit, and a short if noticeable finish. Very limited availability.

? Herdade do Espor o Monte Velho 2010 ($8, sample, 13.5%): Portuguese red tastes more like table wine than port, always a challenge for the country ?s winemakers. It ?s a value at this price, but not for all tastes — heavy, almost ashy, with black fruit that dominates.

Memorial Day and rose 2013

Memorial Day and rose 2013The Wine Curmudgeon has bad news for those of you who go out of your way to ignore rose ? the statistics say rose sales are up. Lots, even.

Wine drinkers, as part of an overall shift away from oakier, more alcoholic wines, are turning to rose. This is especially true of younger wine drinkers, who see rose for what it is ? cheap, well made and food friendly.

Which offers hope for my otherwise cranky outlook. I ?ve been preaching the gospel of rose for years, but rose posts are always among the blog ?s worst read items. Maybe not this year, and especially not for the annual rose roundup in honor of Memorial Day and the start of summer. More, after the jump:

Continue reading →