Tag Archives: white wine

Wine of the week: Moulin de Gassac Guilhem White 2020

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: Protocolo Blanco 2019

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

Thanksgiving wine 2021

thanksgiving wine
How does a turkey drink wine?

Four Thanksgiving wine 2021 suggestions

Let’s quote Shakespeare this year, as we give thanks for a holiday that hopefully marks the end of a long journey: “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” What better sentiments to keep in mind this year?

So enjoy the holiday, and especially these Thanksgiving wine 2021 suggestions. The blog’s guidelines for holiday wine buying are here.

• Loess Gruüner Veltliner 2020 ($14/1-liter, sample, 12%): This Austrian white — a varietal that I usually find much overrated — is a Hall of Fame candidate. It’s very fresh and almost spritzy, with lime zest, a hint of oiliness, some pepper, and a juicy finish. Highly recommended; the catch is that it might be difficult to find. Imported by Gonzalez Byass

• Mionetto Rose Extra Dry NV ($12, sample, 11.5%): A fine example of Prosecco — not too sweet and with a surprising amount of berry fruit. The bubbles are a bit soft, but that isn’t a problem. Serve will chilled. Imported by Freixenet Mionetto USA

• Silk & Spice 2018 ($12, sample, 13%): This Portuguese red blend is one more fine value from that country. Yes, there may be a little winemaking going on, but it otherwise tastes as it should — fresh, but Portuguese, with very noticeable acidity in the back and lots of juicy black fruit . Imported by Evaton

• Chateau de Campuget Rose 2020 ($11, purchased, 13%): This French pink has long been one of the WC’s favorites, and the 2020 is equally spot on. It’s fresh and fruity (red berries), with a bit of garrigue, and very French. Well worth the extra couple of dollars compared to the La Viellie. Imported by Dreyfus Ashby

More about Thanksgiving wine:
• Thanksgiving wine 2020
• Thanksgiving wine 2019
• Thanksgiving wine 2018
• Wine of the week: Scaia Garganega Chardonnay 2020
• Expensive wine 146: Smith-Madrone Riesling 2017

Wine of the week: Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc 2021

Cono Sur sauvignon blanc
Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc 2021/$10-$14

This organic Chilean white brings back memories of the country’s great cheap sauvingon blancs

Too much organic wine tastes like supermarket plonk, but its producers figure that’s OK because it’s organic.

No, it’s not – and the Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc 2021 ($12, sample, 12.5%) shows why. In other words, it’s a great cheap wine that happens to be organic, which is the goal all should aspire to.

This is a Chilean sauvignon blanc that hearkens to the great days of Chilean sauvignon blanc, when I drank Veramonte by the case and it seemed like almost every Chilean sauvignon blanc was worth buying. So what makes the Cono Sur so enjoyable?

• It’s not as minerally as a French sauvignon blanc, not as grapefruty as a New Zealand, and not as rich as a Californian. Hence, strictly Chilean.

• Almost lime fruit, but not so citrusy as to be off putting.

• Very clean and crisp, with a long, not quite stony finish.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2022 $10 Hall of Fame. Drink it chilled on its own or even with Thanksgiving turkey.

Imported by Pacific Bay

 

Wine of the week: Louis Jadot Macon-Villages 2020

Jadot Mâcon-Villages 2020
Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages 2020/$12-$18

This French white, made with chardonnay, reminds us of the joys of simple wine

One of the drawbacks with writing about wine for as long as I have is the tendency to start too many reviews with, “I remember when. …” Because there is already way too much of that crankiness in the wine world (to say nothing of the larger, everyday world).

So it doesn’t matter that the Jadot Macon-Villages used to be one of those simple, everyday wines you bought without a second thought until the wine business went off in the various and foolish directions it did over the past decade. The question today: Does the wine qualify, at this moment, as a blog wine of the week?

The answer: Yes.

That’s because the Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages 2020 ($12, purchased, 13%) is a simple, technically correct chardonnay from the Macon region of Burgundy. No, there isn’t a lot going on, and it isn’t as minerally or as lemony or as crisp as some, even at this price. But it’s not vanilla pudding supermarket plonk, either.

Instead, the wine is clean and fresh, with green apple fruit, and is just the kind of thing to buy without a second thought (even if you already knew that because you reviewed it a decade ago). Grilled chicken breasts, anyone?

Prices are all over the place for this, but if you can find it for $12 or less, you won’t be disappointed.

Imported by Kobrand

Mini-reviews 150: Nielson, Donnata, Old Soul, Scheurebe

roses
“What, no rose in the mini-reviews this month?”

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the fourth Friday of each month. This month, three wines to take your chances with, plus one of the geekiest bottles in blog history.

• Nielson Chardonnay 2019 ($15, sample, 14.1%): California white answers the question of whether liquid oak is a thing. Yes, it is.

• Alessandro di Camporeale Donnata 2019 ($17, sample, 13.5%): Generic Italian red that could be made from any grape or from any region — some cherry fruit, some acidity, and soft tannins. Call it one more focus group wine to be sold to Americans. Imported by Panebianco

• Old Soul Pinot Noir 2018 ($18, sample, 14%): Hot and syrupy Lodi pinot noir, for people who prefer that style.

• Müller-Catoir Scheurebe 2018 ($15, sample, 12.5%): German white is about as wine geeky as it gets. Scheurebe is a cross between riesling and an obscure German grape, so it’s funky on the nose and almost medicinal — very green herb-y, with a minimum of apple fruit. Imported by Skurnik Winess

Photo: “Boyfriend and girlfriend drinking wine closeup. Pink colors for Valentine day” by shixart1985 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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