Tag Archives: verdejo

Wine of the week: Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo 2022

Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo bottle
Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2022/$7-$15

Spanish white is cheap, available, and enjoyable — what more do we need?

The Marques de Caceres verdejo is a long-time blog favorite; three times a wine of the week before this, and always consistent, well-made and a value. Yes, it’s a supermarket wine, but that describes its availability and is not meant as a slight to its quality.

The 2022 ($10, purchased, $13.5%) isn’t quite as impressive as previous vintages, but that there are vintage differences in a $10 wine sold at supermarkets says a lot about the wine, the producer, and the importer (another WC favorite, Vineyard Brands). It means everyone involved understands cheap wine is about more than just being cheap.

This vintage is clean, simple, and enjoyable. There isn’t much going on but tart lemon fruit from the veredejo grape, but there really doesn’t need to be. This is wine for dinner in the middle of the week, whether with takeout chicken or if you want to use up the can of tuna in the pantry with some leftover couscous. Or, even, if you just want a glass during all of the holiday bustle.

No muss, no fuss — because that’s what we really want from wine, don’t we?

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Wine of the week: Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2021

Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo bottle
Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2021/$8-$12

Spanish white demonstrates one more time that scores are useless

The Wine Curmudgeon has no idea why the Marques de Caceres Verdejo, one of the world’s great cheap white wines, scores so poorly on CellarTracker, the blog’s unofficial wine inventory app.

Oh, that’s right. I do know. Scores are useless.

And also know that the Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2021 ($10, purchased, 13%), which always offers value and quality, does even more this vintage. It’s almost nuanced and subtle, an amazing accomplishment for a $10 wine and even more amazing given that so many producers no longer care about that, opting for smoooth.

The Caceres, which comes from the Rueda region, is made with the verdejo grape, which gets about as much respect as most grapes used to make cheap wine (and which no doubt accounts for the poor scores — ITS NOT CHARDONNAY). Nevertheless, the 2021 is more round and full, and it’s much less tart and much less of a one-note wine. There’s an almost tropical middle to go with verdejo’s typical lemon fruit and lingering freshness.

Drink this on its own, or with grilled or roasted chicken, as well as something as different as braised chickpeas with lemons and herbs. Highly recommended, and does all that a $10 wine should do – and much, much more. Sure to be on the shortlist for the 2024 Turner award.

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Wine of the week: Naia Verdejo 2020

Naia Verdejo bottle
Naia Verdejo 2020/$10-$25

This Spanish white reminds us that cheap wine doesn’t have to be stupid

Verdejo has long been a workhorse grape, used to make lots and lots of Spanish white wine of indifferent quality. But in the last 10 or 15 years, a funny thing happened: Cheap and well-made wines showed up on store shelves with verdejo.

The Naia has long been one of the best-made of these wines – professional, consistent, and enjoyable. I have not seen it at retail for a white, so was more than happy to pick up the 2020 ($13, purchased, 13.5%). And, for the most part, I was glad I did.

This vintage is not as bright as I remember it being, and it’s not quite as savory – a quality that the less tart wines sometimes had. Plus, the finish is a little heavier.

But who I am to complain when I tasted a bottle of a sweet cabernet sauvignon the other day that almost made me gag – and that cost $16? The Naia is still a fine wine, a fine example of the varietal, and a fine value. Look for not quite tart lemon fruit as well as some stone fruit and and interesting minerality on the finish.

A turkey wine? Of course, as well as something for all of those leftovers. Also, pricing is all over place — try not to pay more than $15.

Imported by Aviva Vino

 

Wine of the week: Marques de Riscal Verdejo 2019

Marqués de Riscal Verdejo
Marques de Riscal Verdejo 2019/$8-$12

This is quality Spanish white wine that can be found at many supermarkets

Welcome to part three of the WC’s supermarket wine search, where we find cheap wine that tastes like it came from a winery and not from the marketing department. This time – Spain’s Marques de Riscal Verdejo 2019 ($10, purchased, 13%).

One of the difficulties with finding this kind of wine among the plonk on the Supermarket Great Wall of Wine is that many grocers don’t bother to group wine by country any more. Hence, all of the sauvignon blancs are crammed together, as are the red blends, the chardonnay, and so on and so forth.

Which leaves wine made with less common grapes, like the Riscal, stuffed in a corner and difficult to find. But many supermarket verdejos are well worth kneeling to find on the bottom shelf. It’s a white grape that isn’t too tart and can be quite herbal; not bad for $10, yes?

And, in this case, the Riscal is exactly what a cheap wine should be — well made (clean and crisp); varietally correct (just enough lemon fruit); and simple but not stupid. It’s not a life-changing wine; rather it’s the kind of wine to drink on Tuesday night with a big salad when it’s 100 degrees out. That it’s Spanish and not Californian speaks to how screwed up the wine business is. California used to excel in just this kind of wine.

Imported by Shaw Ross

 

 

Wine of the week: Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2020

Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo
Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2020/$7-$13

This Spanish white offers value and availability for just $8

In the WC’s eternal quest for widely available wines that don’t taste fakely sweet or designed to be focus-group “smoooth,” supermarket Spanish wines often turn up.

In this case, the Marques de Caceres Verdejo 2020 ($8, purchased, 13.5%).

The Caceres is made by a large Spanish producer that sells its wines in 120 countries, so it won’t be confused with a boutique producer. But this white, made with the verdejo grape (a long-time Wine Curmudgeon favorite), is remarkably consistent – something that multi-national producers should excel at but don’t always manage to do.

The 2019 vintage was exceptional, and if the 2020 isn’t quite as amazing, it’s still a fine wine – and especially for $8. This is not a delicate wine, full of finesse; instead, look for fresh, tart lemon fruit, a touch of softness in the middle to balance the lemon, and a not quite stony finish.

In other words, the kind of wine to buy – a couple of bottles, perhaps – the next time you’re at the supermarket to keep on hand when you feel like a glass of white wine.

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Wine of the week: Balnea Verdejo 2019

Balnea Verdejo
Balnea Verdejo 2019/$10-$13

This Spanish white takes the Trump tariff in stride and yet again delivers value

We’ve written a lot on the blog about how some French and Spanish wines boosted their alcohol levels to get around the Trump wine tariff – and how many of them suffered for it.

The Balnea Verdejo 2019 ($12, purchased, 14.5%), on the other hand, has a high enough alcohol level so it would have been exempt from the tariff. But it still tastes like it’s supposed to taste, and it doesn’t taste like it’s 14.5 percent. There are a couple of subtle differences between this vintage and the 2018, which was just 12.5 percent. But it’s still a fine value and a Hall of Fame wine.

The 2019 isn’t quite as zippy and lemonish as the 2018. Instead, it’s more full in the mouth and feels a bit heavier, with an almost glycerin finish. But heavier is relative – this isn’t a big red wine. Rather, it’s just not quite as light as it was the year before.

What impressed me most, given how poorly made so many of the other wines with boosted alcohol seemed, was that the Balnea was still a professional, competent wine. I can’t imagine it’s easy to add two full points to the alcohol level on a crisp, light white wine so that it still tastes like a crisp, light white wine.

But in this case, it does.

Imported by The Artisan Collection

Christmas wine 2020

christmas wine 2020Four recommendations for Christmas wine 2020

Check out these suggestions for Christmas wine 2020, whether for a last minute gift, something to drink when you need a moment to yourself, or a holiday dinner. As always, keep our wine gift giving tips in mind — and don’t overlook the blog’s 2020 holiday gift guide.

These wines will get you started:

• Torres Verdeo 2018 ($11, purchased, 13%): Ignore the silly marketing — this Spanish white is made with verdejo, but its name is Verdeo. It’s an astonishing cheap wine, an almost layered effort of something that is almost always one note. There is sort of peach fruit to balance the lemon. Highly recommended. Imported by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

• Prosper Maufoux Crémant de Bourgogne Blanc NV ($19, sample, 12%): Would that this French sparkling wine — from high-price Burgundy, no less — still cost around $15. But that’s the tariff for you. Still, it remains top-notch bubbly: Fresh, fruity (apples and lemons), tight bubbles, and nary a hint of brioche. Highly recommended. Imported by Winesellers Ltd.

• Naranjas Azules Rosado 2018 ($10, purchased, 13%): This pink Spanish is quite traditional, almost orange in color, but also oh so crisp and clean and practically savory. But there’s also more modern amount of strawberry fruit. An odd and interesting and delicious wine. Highly recommended. Imported by PR Selections

• Château de Ribebon 2016 ($14, purchased, 13.5%): Modern-style red Bordeaux blend that’s mostly merlot with dark berry fruit, but tempered by a bit of earth, an almost pine forest aroma, and nicely done tannins.  This is about as value-oriented as red Bordeaux gets these days. Imported by Knows Imports

More about Christmas wine:
• Christmas wine 2019
• Christmas wine 2018
• Christmas wine 2017
• Wine of the week: Chateau La Graviere Blanc 2019
• Expensive wine 138: Panther Creek Pinot Noir Winemaker’s Cuvee 2017

Photo: “guardian of wine” by marcostetter is marked with CC PDM 1.0