Tag Archives: $10 wine

Wine of the week: Meridian Sauvignon Blanc 2010

Meridian Sauvignon Blanc 2010Meridian’s wines make the Wine Curmudgeon crazy. Sometimes, they’re really, really well done, and do things like make the $10 Hall of Fame. Other times, they taste like the grocery store wines that they are, and their $10 Hall of Fame worthinness seems very hard to believe.

Hence my trepidation with this review. The sauvignon blanc ($6, purchased) is an exceedingly well-made wine, and sets a high standard not only for Meridian, but for all grocery store wine at this price. It has lots of tropical fruit (pineapple and mango) in a very forward style, which gives the impression of sweetness. But since it’s sauvignon blanc, there is plenty of citrus and California-style grassiness to balance the fruit. And, hard as it may be to believe, I think there is minerality at the back — about as common in a $6 wine as me not being able to come up with a simile here.

Drink this chilled on its own, or with almost any kind of warm weather white wine dish. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 Hall of Fame. Please, Meridian, don’t let me down.

Wine of the week: Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier 2011

Pine Ridge chenin blanc-viognierIn a perfect world, Americans would drink dry chenin blanc the way we drink Coke and Pepsi. Until then, we'll have to settle for the Pine Ridge ($10, purchased). Which, actually, is not a bad thing at all.

This wine has long been one of the Wine Curmudgeon's favorites, dating to the time I tasted it with some of Pine Ridge's more famous and expensive reds. No one has to guess which wine I liked best, do they?

This year's version of the Pine Ridge is about three-quarters chenin, and tastes drier than previous vintages, some of which tended toward sweet. In fact, the 2011 has a pleasing edge that I haven't tasted before — perhaps the handiwork of winemaker Michael Beaulac, who made some very zippy white wines when he was at St. Supery. Look for more grapefruit up front than in years' past, but with a very soft and delightful finish that shows off the viognier's apricot.

Chill this, and drink it by itself as the temperatures get warmer. Or pair it with spicy food, fresh summer salads, and even delicate fish. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

 

Wine and Tax Day 2012

 

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam can't believe the criticism that cheap wine gets these days.

Tuesday is Tax Day, the deadline for U.S. residents to pay their state and federal income taxes. Which is an ideal opportunity for the Wine Curmudgeon to remind everyone about the blog's reason for being: cheap wine. What better day to write about wine we can afford to drink than the day our taxes are due?

 

Americans hate Tax Day, and one study claims that we're more prone to die in a car accident on the day our taxes are due. If that's the case, then we need to change our behavior. It's only money, after all.

What better way to enjoy Tax Day than to stay home and drink cheap wine? After the jump, a few thoughts on how to do that.

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Wine of the week: Vinos Jerom n El Posadero 2010

El PosaderoDuring our #winechat discussion last week, one of the questions I got was how regional wine producers could make it easier for Americans to drink wine that wasn't called chardonnay, cabernet, and merlot. Many regional wines are made with grapes most consumers aren't familiar with, like blanc du bois, viognier and tempranillo; hence, they're reluctant to try them.

My suggestion: Don't call the wines by their varietal name, which too many wineries feel compelled to do for reasons I've never been able to figure out. Call them something fun or interesting or inventive.

Case in point is the El Posadero ($10, purchased), a tempranillo blend that is more or less the Spanish equivalent of U.S. regional wine. It comes from a less respected region around Madrid, and not the better known tempranillo appellations of Rioja or Ribera del Duero. This means the wine starts out with an image problem, especially for U.S. consumers. Calling it El Posadero goes a long way towards fixing that. Even if you don't know what El Posadero means (innkeeper, actually, and there's a picture of an inn on the label), it sounds Spanish and intriguing.

And it's a pretty nifty wine, too. The El Posadero is blended with syrah, but doesn't have as much fruit as I thought it would (and is actually a little old-fashioned in spirit). Look for an almost spicy wine with some cherry fruit and lots of acidity — practically sour cherry tart. It needs food, like smoked chicken or beef, but that's part of the appeal of the wine.

Wine of the week: Zestos Blanco 2010

Wine of the week: Zestos Blanco 2010There are a couple of importers whose wines are so trustworthy that the Wine Curmudgeon will buy them regardless of what’s in the bottle. Kermit Lynch, of course, for French wine, and Ole Imports and Patrick Mata for Spanish wine.

Mata’s passion for Spanish wine is famous, and his palate is exceptional. Which is why I trust Ole implicitly. Otherwise, a wine like the Zestos would raise all sorts of red flags. It’s a white wine from a region in Spain best known for red wine, and the red wine doesn’t have all that great a reputation. Its color is different, sort of off-yellow, and it’s made with a grape, the malvar, that is obscure even for those of us who appreciate obscure. Malvar, grown only in that part of Spain, is not even listed in the incredibly comprehensive Winegrape Glossary.

My faith, not surprisingly, was rewarded. The Zestos ($10, purchased) is unique, though it had some similarity to the Gascon wines I like, including a little white grapiness. It is simple, but definitely Spanish in style — less fruit than the Gascon wines (some lemon, maybe) with a stone fruit pit kind of finish. One tasting note described the finish as bitter almonds, and that works, too.

Drink this chilled on its own or with a any week night dinner that calls for white wine. It’s a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame, and is highly recommended. Just don’t expect it to taste like something you’ve tried before.

Wine review: Chateau des Romains 2009

My friend The Big Guy is very demanding about his wine. If he can’t drink expensive white Burgundy, he prefers $10 red Bordeaux, and he wants to try as many different $10 red Bordeauxs as possible. Which, given our location in the middle of the country, is not always easy — most of the retailers here have a limited selection, and this makes him cranky.

The Romains ($10, purchased) is the kind of red Bordeaux that The Big Guy would appreciate. It’s a simple, sturdy, red blend with a fair amount of tannins, some red fruit, and just 13 percent alcohol, but not much else. This is the kind of wine to have for dinner in the middle of the week when all you want to do is to open something without fretting about pairings or the quality of what you’re opening, and it would probably go with almost anything that doesn’t have a cream sauce.

In this, the Romains seems to be descended from the red Bordeauxs of my beginning wine days, which choked you with their rough tannins and unripe fruit and made you wonder if wine was really such a good idea after all. It doesn’t have those, of course, and is much better made than those wines from 20 and 30 years ago. But there is something about it that reminds me of the old days, and no doubt The Big Guy will notice it, too.

One wine geek note, since that seems to be the theme in recent wine reviews: The Romains’ appellation is Bordeaux Superieur, which is different from plain old Bordeaux. In the old days, wines from Bordeaux Superieur were higher in alcohol (hence the superieur), and there are still several other production requirements differentiating it from regular Bordeaux. But in terms of quality and cost, it’s not appreciably different from Bordeaux, especially for this kind of wine.

Wine of the week: Maxwell Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2010

04-09-10-maxwell-creek

So much for wondering about the quality of California wine. Or thinking that wine prices were going to increase this year.

Which says pretty much everything that needs to be said about the Maxwell Creek ($10, purchased), which is apparently a second label from St. Supery, a long-established and classy Napa producer. Wineries do second labels to sell cheaper versions of their better known wines without having to discount the latter. Second labels are usually made by the same winemaker at the same facility, though the grapes may not be of the same quality.

In this, second labels are usually a value, and the Maxwell Creek is a ridiculous value. It's top-notch Napa wine; think of it as a much simpler version of something like St. Supery or Grgich sauvignon blanc, but with the same attention to detail and reflection of terroir. Look for California grassiness and some minerality on the finish, with a bit of citrus zest. This is a crisp and refreshing wine, yet surprisingly subtle. And, though it's a little thin in the middle, it's not thin enough to make a difference at this price — or at $15 or $18, for that matter.

Chill this and drink it on its own, or with almost any grilled seafood or chicken dish. Highly recommended — which is saying something, because the main reason I bought it, honestly, was that I didn't think it could be any good and so could write something curmudgeonly about it.