Tag Archives: rose

Wine of the week: Marques de Caceres Rosado 2021

Marques de Caceres Rosado 2021
Marques de Caceres Rosado 2021/$8-$14

Yes, it’s a a past vintage, but quality doesn’t always depend on that sort of thing anymore

The Wine Curmudgeon has a couple of bottles of this wine sitting in the wine closet as I write this. Yes, it’s a past vintage – or what should be a past vintage in more normal times – but one of the many benefits of the last decade’s rose boom is that many past vintages are worth drinking.

And the Marques de Caceres Rosado 2021 ($10, purchased, 13.5%) is just one of those sorts of wines.

Frankly, I was surprised that it has held up so well. For one thing, it’s a supermarket brand, and since it doesn’t cost as much as the $20 roses we’re supposed to drink, it can’t possibly be worth drinking. But the producer knows a thing or two about making quality supermarket wines, and I’ve always respected the importer. The other bonus? Lots of availability.

So what to know about this Spanish pink from the Rioja region? First, it’s made with tempranillo, so the fruit flavors are darker – more cranberry and black raspberry than strawberry. But it’s still clean and crisp and refreshing, despite the vintage. And no, it’s not sweet.

In other words, don’t be worried about serving this for Mom over the weekend, whether for brunch or an afternoon barbecue. And, with a little luck, we can keep drinking this vintage until the 2022 shows up.

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Thank you, La Vieille Ferme, for some good news about cheap wine

La Vieille Ferme rose 3-liter box
Would that I could buy the 3-liter box of the La Vieille Ferme rose in Dallas

The experts tell us no one cares about cheap wine, but La Vieille just keeps growing

The blog’s 16th annual rose extravaganza — featuring lots and lots of pink wine that most of us can afford to buy – is just about a month away. So why not some good news featuring one of the blog’s favorite roses, which is especially welcome given the doom and gloom in the rest of the wine business?

The second-largest French table wine brand in the U.S. is not some premiumized plonk, a snooty wine snob brand, or a 94-point label that is only available in three stores (none of which are near where anyone lives).

It’s our old pal La Vieille Ferme, all $7 a bottle of it. Or, as my mom calls it, “the rooster wine.”

La Vieille sold almost 630,000 cases in the U.S. last year, which would rank it among the 30 or so biggest U.S. producers. Most importantly, its growth – up about one-third over the past five years – was led by its rose. And regular visitors here know just how much the WC appreciates the La Vieille rose – wine of the week more often than I can count, a long-time member of the Hall of Fame, and a finalist for the Turner award a couple of times.

And why not? It tastes like rose – dry, fruity, crisp, and refreshing, and neither sweet nor smoooth. It has maintained its quality over the past decade when so many others have not, giving in to cost cutting or marketing foolishness.

And, perhaps most importantly, La Vieille thrived during the Trump wine tariff. The man who runs its U.S. importer told me that he didn’t raise prices because he didn’t want to lose market share; which not only worked, but also got La Vieille new business from retailers who were impressed by the brand’s long-term determination to stay relevant. When’s the last time you heard that about a wine brand?

So drink a toast to the La Vieille – whether from the 750-ml bottle, the 1.5-liter bottle, or the 3-liter box. Because quality can win out, even when it doesn’t cost very much.

Wine of the week: Scaia Rosata 2021

Scaia rosato bottle
Scaia Rosato 2021/$10-$15

This Italian pink is just the wine to mark the blog’s 15th annual birthday week

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. This wine, one of the all-time great cheap roses and just the thing for wine of the week for birthday week, is going to cost a little more this year. Plus, it could be difficult to find, given all the pandemic shipping woes and that it’s always a little late getting to this country.

Having said that, the Scaia Rosata 2021 ($12, purchased, 12.5%) – glass cork and all — is well worth all of the aggravation. It’s almost as well done as the legendary 2020 vintage, which earned Cheap Wine of the Year honors in 2022

Know that this vintage is a little more French in style, which means it’s crisper, more direct, and more minerally, without that interesting touch of softness Italian roses sometimes have. But there is just the right amount of strawberry fruit, a touch of some herbal thing, and everything else is in the right place – so no faux sweetness, lots of freshness and that intriguing color. Credit much of this to rondinella, the red grape used to make the wine and that shines here.

Highly recommended – as it always is. Yes, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and New Year’s . And, yes, wine to buy and drink and enjoy and remember why we like wine.

Imported by Dalla Terra

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

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: Mont Gravet Rose 2021

Mont Gravet rose bottle
Mont Gravet Rose 2021/$7-$15

It’s Labor Day weekend, which means it’s time for this French pink

Yes, the Wine Curmudgeon tastes a lot of crappy wine. Yes, I have to deal with knucklehead PR people and talk to too many marketing types who think their brand is special because it’s their brand, all $25 and sweet, smooth of it.

So why do I keep doing this? Because I get to tell the blog’s readers – who care about wine in a way that almost no one else in wine does – about wines like this.

The Mont Gravet Riose 2021 ($10, purchased, 12%) is that kind of extraordinary wine. Each vintage, it delivers uncommon value and does so for around $10. Is it any wonder the Gravet rose has been in the Hall of Fame for almost as long as there has been one?

The 2021 is dry and very Provencal in nature — so wild strawberry fruit (but without the garrigue), stony, and clean. And, once again, it shows what the underappreciated cinsault, the grape used to make the wine, can do with rose.

What else to know? The Gravet is a step up from the blog’s beloved La Vieille Ferme pink, which is a recommendation in and of itself, and a reminder that you don’t need to spend more than $10 for great rose.

I wish all of those flocks of PR and marketing people could understood that – we’d all have more fun drinking wine.

Imported by Winesellers Ltd.

Fourth of July wine 2022

super hero miniatures
“Quick — to the retailer before premiumization destroys all the quality cheap wine.”

Fourth of July wine 2022: Four bottles offering value and quality for Independence Day

This year, the U.S. is 246 years old — so here are wines worthy of that birthday. As always, keep our summer and porch wine guidelines in mind for this time of year.

Here are four wines to start with:

• Tormaresca Calafuria 2020 ($10, purchased, 12%): Once, the Italian Tormaresca Neprica was the blog’s favorite cheap red wine. Then, it went the way of the rest. So imagine my surprise to taste this Tormaresca pink —  a little fizzy, dark berry fruit, and a touch not light. Nicely done. Imported by Ste. Michelle Wine Estate

• Pedroncelli Sauvignon Blanc 2021 ($15, sample, 13.9%): Classic California sauvignon blanc — grassy, a bit of citrus, not too tart, and almost flinty. A three-generation family producer shows how it’s done.

• Trivento Malbec Reserve 2020 ($11, sample, 13.8%): Solid, professional Argentine red, made in the supermarket style — lots of sweet black fruit, but not a sweet wine and one that is mostly balanced. Previous vintages have been a little darker and earthier, but this is fine for what if tries to do. Barbecue? Indeed. Imported by Eagle Peak Estates

• Charles LaFitte Brut Prestige NV ($12, purchased, 12%): Entry-level French Methode Champenoise sparkling from a prestigious producer, but made far from Champagne. Yes, there is a bit of the 7-Up feel to it, but otherwise well-made cheap bubbly — some green apples, tight bubbles, and almost zesty. Imported by Vranken Pommery America

Photo: TFNY18_074c” by BAS Photog is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

More Fourth of July wine:
• Fourth of July wine 2021
• Fourth of July wine 2020
• Fourth of July wine 2019
• Wine of the week: Bonny Doon Picpoul 2021

Father’s Day wine 2022

Father's Day ties
Once more, the Father’s Day tie picture — call me corny, but I love it.

Father’s Day wine 2022: Bring on the well-made and value-oriented wine for Dad

Yes, despite economic uncertainty and all the rest, we found wine for Dad for Father’s Day that fits what we do here — price and value, and not silliness. And don’t forget the blog’s wine gift-giving guidelines — don’t buy someone wine that you think they should like; buy them what they will like.

Father’s Day wine 2022 suggestions:

• Carol Shelton Wild Thing Zinfandel 2018 ($18, purchased, 14.5%): Spot-on California old vine zinfandel (60 years at least) that is somehow jammy (berries and berries and more berries), but not heavy or hot. Having said that it’s a big wine and a mouthful, and needs lots of red meat. Highly recommended.

• Domaine Bousquet Brut NV ($13, sample, 12%): Argentine bubbly with surprising structure, tight-ish bubbles, not too sweet, and apple and lemon fruit. Imported by Origins Organic

• Jean-Pierre Boisson Rose Domaine du Pere Caboche ($11, purchased, 12.5%): Full, rich and surprisingly complex $10 French rose, with almost cranberry fruit and what one tasting note calls grenadine. Highly recommended. Imported by Monsieur Touton Selection

• Chateau La Maroutine Blanc 2020 ($13, purchased, 13%): French white Bordeaux blends sauvignon blanc and semillion; the latter, though only 20 percent, is noticeable, and gives the wine a rounder, less citrsusy feel. Lots of stone and minerality. Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons

More Father’s Day wine:
• Father’s Day wine 2021
• Father’s Day wine 2020
• Father’s Day wine 2019
• Expensive wine 154: Frank Family Merlot 2018