Tag Archives: wine reviews

Wine of the week: El Coto Rioja Blanco 2022

El Coto Rioja Blanco bottle
El Coto Rioja Blanco 2022/$8-$12

This long-time WC favorite is as fresh and delicious as ever

Twelve years ago, I got a sample of the 2010 vintage of this wine and tasted it for the first time. My tasting notes: “Very nicely done — a bit of lemon and very clean, very crisp.”

Which is more or less what my tasting notes say for the current vintage of the El Coto white. Is it any wonder I’ve been drinking it — availability willing, of course – since then?

Because, in Dallas at least, availability has been a problem. That’s one reason why I was so glad to get this sample, since it meant the wine should be for sale around here.

The 2022 version ($12, sample, 12%) is a little softer and more round in the mouth than I remember, but still focused on lemon fruit and that clean, crisp finish that this kind of wine does so well, thanks to the viura grape.

Highly recommended, and if it’s not quite a Hall of Fame wine this vintage, it’s damn close. Drink this chilled on its own, with salads, or with something like spaghetti and clam sauce (and use the wine to make the clam sauce).

Imported by Opici Wine & Spirits

Expensive wine 173: Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottle
Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018/$40-$70

California cabernet sauvignon doesn’t get much more dependable than Jordan

The wine business has gone through so many changes in the past decade that it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with all of them – even for those of us who get paid to do so. But one thing hasn’t changed – the quality and style of Jordan’s cabernet sauvignon.

No, this isn’t a hipster wine, and yes, it’s probably on every steak house wine list in the country. But that’s why Jordan endures, and has since its founding in 1972. A friend who was getting into wine in the late 1980s swore by Jordan, and it’s easy to to see why. Fads come and go, but the Jordan style doesn’t.

This vintage ($60, sample, 13.8%) is a wonderful example of that style. It’s classic, traditional California cabernet. That means a big wine, dark and ripe, but not so big that it seems larger than everything else on the table. If nothing else, the sub-14 percent alcohol speaks to that. The berry fruit is layered, there is the usual sort of mocha and hint of oak that these kinds of wines have, and the tannins are very soft.

It’s a food wine, certainly, and a food wine for a meal that takes in much more than meat loaf. It’s ready to drink now, but could also cellar for at least a few more years.

Wine of the week: Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2020

Masciarelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo bottle
Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2018/$9-$13

The long-time WC favorite offers even more value this time around

The blog has long featured red wines from Italy’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo region. They’re almost always well made, inexpensive, and created with value in mind. Plus, they’re terriifc with food.

But this vintage of the Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ($12, purchased, 13.5%) is even better than that. It’s not just a Hall of Fame wine, as the Masciarelli has often been, but a wine that will show up on the shortlist for the 2024 Turner cheap wine award.

That’s because this vintage – and I think the age has helped – is darker, deeper, and more interesting. Or, as my tasting notes says: “Wow.”

It’s earthy and rustic, but not heavy or off putting or too rough, as some cheap wines are. There is fresh, juicy cherry fruit, but it has that current of acidity so that the fruit isn’t cloying (as some cheap wines are). This is how to make a simple wine for every day drinking at a more than fair price.

Highly recommended, and just the thing as the weather gets cooler. So red sauces, sausages on the grill, and even something like a cherry tomatoes and gnocchi.

Imported by Vintus

Wine of the week: Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021

Yiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio bottle
Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021 /$12-$18

Italian white reminds us that pinot grigio doesn’t have to be bland and boring

The Wine Curmudgeon has long had an ambivalent relationship with pinot grigio. On the one hand, I firmly believe everyone should drink what they want. On the other, most pinot grigio tastes like bland club soda.

So what’s the WC to do? Recommend the Tiefenbrunner, of course.

The Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021 ($14, purchased, 12.5%) is one of a handful of widely available and higher quality pinot grigios – and that are worth the couple of dollars more than the supermarket brands.

That means this Italian white is much more than the hint of lime fruit and the not quite fizziness that characterizes the $8 to $12 wines that make up most of what people think about of when they buy pinot grigio. Look for some pear fruit and maybe some lime, as well as a wine that is much fuller in the mouth and has a longer and more interesting finish.

In other words, pinot grigio that will please regular drinkers as well as those of us who don’t drink it often.

Chill this and drink it on its own, or pair it with salads or roast chicken breasts – or a salad that includes roast chicken breast.

Imported by Opici Wine & Spirits

 

Mini-reviews 173: Two roses, a red, and white

man and woman drinking wine on a sofa
“The WC is spot on yet again.”

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, one white worth drinking, and three others.

• Château de Corcelles Brouilly 2020 ($15, purchased, 13%): This French red is simple (lots of berry fruit and not much else), boring and not especially Brouilly in style. But what do you expect for $15 these days? Imported by Misa Imports

• Quintay Pinot Noir Rose Reserve 2022 ($15, sample, 13%): Chilean pink goes a long way toward knocking off a Provencal rose (not much barely ripe strawberry fruit), but I’m not quite sure why. Imported by Global Vineyard Importers

• Borsao Rose 2021 ($10, purchased, 14%) Pleasant enough light red wine, with a little sweet red fruit and some tannins, but not especially rose-like (and certainly not like Spanish rose). Imported by Winebow

• Excelsior Sauvignon Blanc 2022 ($9, purchased, 13%): Another fine effort by South African producer Excelsior, which makes some terrific $10 wines. Look for some lemongrass and minerality, though the finish is a bit thin. But that’s hardly worth complaining about, is it? Imported by Cape Classics

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

Wine of the week: Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon bottle
Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon 2020/$7-$14

How well-made is this cheap South African red? They’re selling it at high-end retailers

Imagine my surprise when I saw this on the shelves of one of Dallas’ most expensive wine shops. It’s the kind of place where the only $10 wines are usually half bottles of something more expensive.

So I bought it – not because I knew anything about it, but because if it was there, something must be going on.

Which, as I later found out after talking to several retailers, there was. South Africa’s Excelsior wines may be the next great cheap wine brand, and almost every store owner I talked to raved about their price and quality.

The 2020 cabernet sauvignon ($9, purchased, 14%) may be the best of the bunch. Yes, simple, given what it costs, but oh so well done. This is $10 cabernet that tastes like cabernet, without a bit of sugar, gloppy fruit, or all that fake oak. And how often do we see that? It’s stunningly balanced, with firm tannins, plum and black cherry fruit, and that distinctive cabernet aroma.

Pair this with red meat, of course, but it’s also so well balanced that it would go with roast turkey or serve as the base for coq au vin (which, if and when it ever cools off here, I will do).

Highly recommended, and certain to enter the Hall of Fame next year as well as to make the shortlist for the Turner cheap wine of the year award.

Imported by Cape Classics

Wine of the week: La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc 2021

La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc bottle
La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc 2021/$10-$17

Want to fix the wine glut? Make more wines like this

The most important thing to know about this French white wine? This line from my tasting notes: “This is the kind of wine we need more of to bring people to wine drinking.”

The 2021 is is the fifth vintage of this wine to be a wine of the week, which speaks to its consistency and quality. It’s also famous – or infamous, as the case may be – as the wine my mom tried to buy at a Kroger subsidiary in Chicago because I was told it was for sale there. Which, of course, it wasn’t.

So, the details for the 2021 ($10, purchased, 12.5%): It’s a terrific weeknight sauvignon blanc – well-made, simple but not stupid, and neither too fruity nor too tart. That means a bit of mineral and stone, some citrus (more lime than anything else), and fresh and clean. In other words, what the wine business is trying to achieve by buying hard seltzer companies instead of trusting to wine.

If it’s not quite as impressive as some of the others (the 2016, the one my mom looked for, was exceptional), it’s still well worth drinking and a Hall of Fame quality wine. Chill this and drink it on its own, or pair it with something like roast pork loin or takeout chicken.

Imported by Taub Family Selections