SDMB Wine Club - Value Wines

Cafe Society
21

I have just glugged a bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) that in contradiction to my Kiwi friend’s recommendations turned out to be quite satisfactory. Bought here about six to eight months ago, having mislaid the corkscrew and having a screw-top (philistine) was the only one I could open.
It was around £7 a bottle.

The said Kiwi’s recommendations were for Hawkes Bay wines, which I have been singularly unsuccessfully in locating locally.

I’ll track some down eventually though.

22

From one of the weekly selections, I always have a few bottles of Wrogo Dongo on hand. World Imports has this at about eight buck a bottle.

Tonight, I am drinking another of my low dollar favorites, Mouton Cadet Bordeaux I pick up at Supertarget for about seven buck a bottle.

23

Just wanted to encourage anyone that has the opportunity to sample any of the recommendations to please come back and let us know what you thought. What you paired it with, or drank it by itself. Doesn’t have to be fancy, we’re all pretty easy to communicate with around here.

24

Yet another selection I try to keep at least one bottle on hand. This is one of my favorites for pairing up with a fresh baked pepperoni & black olive pizza…

25

It is really nice with Spaghetti Pomodoro also. It is pretty good to just drink while surfing the 'net

26

IMHO, Heron Chardonnay is by far the best bang you can get for your buck. I’ve seen it under $10 but usually under $15. Met the winemaker once; very interesting lady. All of the Heron wines have a very “true to varietal” sense. She actually makes both a French and a California merlot, which are interesting to compare.

I also like Smoking Loon.

27

Wild Irish Rose.

28

If drinking cheap merlot I always go for Pine & Post, ca. $6.99/bottle.

Next step up is Bogle Petit Sirah, ca. $10.99/bottle.

Both, after a few years’ experience, utterly reliable reds.

29

I spotted this rather cheeky little wine (second from the top) a few years back and have always regretted not buying it - was looking for other wines and passed it over but never forgot it.
Really must get hold of some.

30

One of our Wine Club picks was the Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Crianza, a very popular selection. They also bottle a very reasonably priced Rioja Rosé, usually available under $10. It is just perfect served cold in the summer. Say, with grilled shrimp… Summer can’t arrive too soon for me.

31

“Cat’s piss” is a widely recognized Sauv-Blanc tasting flavor, btw. Sounds unappealing until you’ve tasted a wine that has it.

32

What, precisely, are you comparing it to?

33

::swirls glass and sniffs::

“I’m getting traces of Calico, a little Persian and…”

::takes another sniff::

“Could that be Manx?”

34

Here they are. This is from a wine shop near where I work. I like a lot of their suggestions and I find that they carry a lot of wines that I am searching for. I offer some of their comments on two values wines, but have not tried them. Both should be available for less than $10.

Vina Alarba, Old Vines Grenache, Calatayud, Spain 2005

*Tasting notes: 90% Grenache, 10% Syrah. Bright ruby color. The nose has aromas of cherry, plum, kirsch, and provencal herbs. This wine is clean on the palate with gobs of pure fruit and ripe flavors of cherry, white pepper, spice, and licorice. Beaujolais-like but with more depth. The finish is light and clean with bright, tangy acidity. This wine is produced at a high altitude (2,500 ft.) from vines that are over 50 years old. It is all done in stainless steel. 14% alcohol.

Food affinities: Lamb, ham, burgers, paella, light pasta dishes.

Parker – 87 points, Tanzer – 87 points*
Vina Santa Carolina, Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Rapel Valley, Chile

*Tasting notes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc done in stainless steel. Bright yellow-green color. There is some grapefruit in the nose, with gooseberry, lime, pears, peaches, and melon. There is a hint of light herbaceous, new mown lawn which transfers to the palate which is lean and crisp like Sancerre. This wine has very good structure and balanced acidity which is evident on the medium long finish. Lip smacking and refreshing! There have clearly been some improvements at Santa Carolina.

Food affinities: Spicy Thai food, fish, shellfish, sushi, salads, white sauce pasta, chicken piccata…*

35

I’ve found a couple of soaves lately that I really like- Inama, about $15 a bottle, and Pra, about $13. I love chardonnay, but I like a change every once in awhile and these are great.

36

As mentioned here before, my car alignment has developed a pronounced pull to the right whenever passing a new wine shop. I was a bit off the beaten track the other day, and saw a shop I’d been meaning to visit. As I have been getting into wines from the Rhone area and the south of France, I picked up a few bottles I have never seen before: La Chasse du Pape “Prestige” Cotes du Rhone (both Blanc and Rouge).

I liked the red a lot; I thought it a worthy contender to the Perrin & Fils Cotes du Rhone I mentioned above, and it is a few dollars cheaper.

I tried looking it up on line, and came up with this article on Boston.com about their “Plonkapalooza”; a look at inexpensive wines by local restauranteurs and sommeliers. The white scored very well with them. In fact, they found whites to be better bargains than reds these days. This doesn’t come as a big surprise to me, having once lived through the white wine scare of the '80s, and finding reasonable bargains in red wines back then.

So, after reading the article I tried the white last night and was less than impressed. Even a bit disappointed. It tasted a bit thin too me, and I wasn’t getting a lot of the nuances that the judges found. Still, I’m offering it as a recommendation from more knowledgable sources. And the linked articles have some very interesting suggestions.

After Wine Spectator included Terredora Irpinia Falanghina on one of their Top 100 lists, I’ve just been starting to get into white wines from the Campania region of Italy. From this article, it appears that the vineyards aren’t far from the volcanic area of Mount Vesuvius. It may be my imagination, but perhaps that is why the wines seem to have a similar mineral character to that I found in white wines when I visited the volcanic islands in the Azores.

For a Falanghina, to me the Terredora is terrific, and far superior to the Feudi di San Gregorio; although a bit harder to find, it seems to be competitively priced. And for the category of value wines, a Falanghina is probably the best place to start. I’ve also picked up a few *Greco di Tufos * and Fianos, but the price starts to get up there.

37

I’ve had the Gazela Vinho Verde and the San Marco Frascati on that list. Both are spritzy, citrusy wines that are good for light summer dishes, or for just drinking out on the porch.

38

You may find that you like Lacryma Christi in that case then. I was introduced to this when in my early teens by the father of a friend, who had been staitioned in Italy during WWII

39

I just picked up the highly rated 2006 Willm Alsace Pinot Blanc from that list at lunch. I hope to try it soon. The wine shop had a blurb about the article posted over the wine, so that was probably good for a couple bucks added to the price.

I wish that I had started my wine education when I was in my teens. I feel like I’m making up for lost time now. I hope that it is not at the expense of my liver.

I’ve occasionally seen Lacryma Christi (both red and white) in stores, but I’ve never bought it. I’ll keep an eye out for it when shopping.

40

Plynck, thanks for keeping the SDMB Wine Club alive.

Thanks to many of the recommendations that came along over the past year, our rack selection on any given evening is much improved over where it was prior, but I miss the bi-monthly fun and challenge of trying to locate and then enjoying a selection that another wine lover has thought worthy of mention.

My new job has kicked my free time in the ass, but I still find time to make a trip uptown to one of the larger Spec’s outlets and keep many of our favorites in good supply. But I also realize, while standing there looking at the hundreds of untried bottles, that I yet have a lot to learn.