I don’t know a lot about wine, but I’m slowly exploring. I was surprised to find that I seem to prefer red over white. The two most fabulous wines I’ve had were Caymus Cabernet and a Charles Krug Cabernet. The Krug was at a restaurant, by the glass, so I don’t have much further information. I can tell you it was the most expensive by-the-glass Cabernet, and the description was all about berries, currant, and chocolate.
So I’d love to explore more, and I’d like to have some go-to bottles that I can afford to buy on a semi-regular basis. Caymus is awesome, but I can’t spend $60 on a bottle of wine all the time!
I do like really rich flavors - the aforementioned berries, currant, and chocolate, cherry, plum, raisin, etc. Notes I see in descriptions that don’t appeal are leather, moss, herbs, earth, and wood. Not that the must be absent, but I don’t think I’d like them to predominate. As for tannins, as I understand it I like soft tannins. Wine should have some bite, but I don’t want to feel like I’ve had my tongue blown dry on high heat.
As for other reds, I’ve also liked Shiraz and Malbec, but I’ve hated every Pinot Noir I’ve tried. They taste “empty” to me, like they’re missing a deep base note.
So what should I try? What’s your favorite everyday wine? What is worth splurging on for Christmas dinner?
From your lengthy description of your tastes (and that’s good; it makes recommendations much easier), it sounds like you want rich, fruity red wines. In which case, I’d be curious what you thought of Zinfandel. The red currant flavors are more typical of Cabernet, but Zin can taste of rich raspberry, blackberry, and raisin, depending on the producer and where it’s grown. I find the wines to usually have a lot of heft and body, at the expense of subtlety sometimes, and with usually a lot of alcohol. A nice touch is that Zin is sometimes less expensive than Cabernet, all else remaining equal. Notable Zin producers include: Ridge Vineyards, Ravenswood Winery, and Rosenblum Cellars. The membership list of ZAP is much more extensive, of course.
I don’t care for Cabernet Savignons; they’re far too harsh, especially since American don’t let them age enough. Decanting them can make them work, sometimes.
My favorite red right now is Cabernet Franc. Hard to find in the US, but the basis of most French cafe house wines (and in France, a cafe makes its reputation on the quality of its house wines; it’s not like the US where it the cheap stuff). Fruity, but not like a Beaujolais Nouveau. with a great complexity.
with reds i’m a big fan of french. new world wines just don’t hold enough interest for me. there seems so much more depth and contrasting flavours in the old world wines. i’ve also heard that france is the only country that limit the amount of chemicals you can put in your wine, so another reason for me to choose them. i’ve recently been going for the lighter wines, so going for names like fleurie, beaujoulais, pinot noir.
Cheap cabernet sauvignon won’t be aged long or have the mellow notes you enjoyed, so I recommend looking for blends (cab/merlot, cab/franc, etc.) instead of single varietals for an everyday drinking wine.
Expanding on my previous post…your description of liking “berries, currant, and chocolate” along with cherry, plum and raisin, really suggests New World Cab/Merlot or Aussie Shiraz to me. As I wrote earlier, currants are the classical tasting note for Cabernet wines, as opposed to say Pinot Noir. I find berry tastes in all sorts of red wine: strawberry in lighter grenache and Carneros pinot, to blackberry in Willamette Valley pinot and some Barossa Shirazes, and blueberry in the two Musignys I’ve tried. The chocolate flavor is going to come from the oak used to mature the wine. (Or you could try a dessert wine with chocolate added, like Rosenblum’s Danielle or Desiree. I’ve not had the Desiree, but the Danielle wasn’t too bad.)
So, we’re looking for an inexpensive Cab, Merlot, Shiraz, or Zin, with a good deal of oak and rich flavor. You might also want to consider Grenache heavy blends from either Spain or Southern France. Oh, and we also want softer tannins. With better press technology and tannin management, this isn’t as difficult to find now as it may have been 20 years ago. Gosh, the more I read the requirements, the more it suggests to me one of the aforementioned varieties from Chile or Argentina. Reality Chuck’s suggestion of Carmenere is a great one from those regions. Many of the Malbec’s I’ve had can be a little earthy for what I think your tastes are, but perhaps not. A brief look at my local mega liquor store’s selection shows many Chilean and Argentinian wines at the 8-10 dollar level, with selected ones at the 20 dollar range. I’ve had good experiences with Casa Lapostelle’s Cuvee Alexander Cab and Chardonnay. Both are in the 15-20 dollar range. You can find U.S. Cabs and Merlots with those flavors too; I just think that Chile/Argentina often offers better value. A lot of it is going to depend on your physical location as to which wines you can easily find.
I’d take your post into your local wine shop, tell one of the knowledgeable clerks your tastes and price point, and have them suggest a wine for you.
If you don’t like heavy tannins you should probably drink your wines with food instead of by themselves. Food, especially meats, provide a great contrast to velvety tannins.
In fact, it used to be the total norm to drink wine with food, so reds were often quite tannic. When the more modern trend of drinking wine by itself or with appetizers emerged, some winemakers had to tone down the tannins to compensate. So you have some wines that are meant to be balanced by food and some that will get lost in the shuffle if they are drunk with food.
For “everyday Cab drinking”, I like Alexander Valley Cab, Ferrari Carano, Franciscan, and BV. But the suggestion to look at Chilean and Argentinian Cabs is a good one. Montes is a good place to start. I like the Krug Cab, too, but I think it’s not quite as good as Ferrari Carano.
If you want to explore some really good Pinots, try Talbot and David Bruce.
It was not known until after his death that Cab Sauvignon was a Communist, but secret letters found in his effects confirmed the fact that he was, indeed, a Red. He was apparently influenced by notable French Communists Merlot and Syrah, although he had a falling-out with Pinot Noir, the villainous Swiss Communist.
I would like to second this suggestion. I find zins particularly old vine zins to be a wonderful wine alone or with a good meal. For me the perfect meal is a great grilled steak with a full bodied zin. California produces some wonderful zins in the under $20 range.
One word: Ridge. I’ve been an ATP member for several years, and just love their wine. A little pricey to be considered as “every day drinking”, but definitely worth having around if only for occasional drinking.
Another thing to look for: Dry Creek Valley. Some of the best Zins come from that region.
I totally agree, and will throw Seghesio’s name out there for a high quality red zin for around $25 a bottle for their regular Sonoma bottling. They make superb Zinfandels.
I am not sure where you live, but most reputable wine stores have a decent selection of Cab Francs these days as its become something of a trendy varietal to make wine from in the US. I have had some pretty good examples but I tend to veer towards Cab Franc being more of a blending grape than a stand-alone varietal. Pretty much ditto on Carmenere, although there are plenty of good examples coming out of Chile right now…Casa Lapostolle, Caliterra, Concha y Toro and Montes Alpha make oceans of the stuff. Its a widely planted grape in Chile.
I do think that French wines tend to favor elegance over power in many instances, but I don’t think the bolded is true. France does seem to have the most highly regulated wine industry (the AOC) in the world but that doesn’t mean that reputable winemakers from the rest of the world are putting antifreeze in their wines!
Also, OP: you might want to try a well-made Malbec from Argentina. They are wonderful when made properly.As usual, I am going to shout the praises of the Catena Zapata winery in Mendoza. Their Malbec is thrillingly good, and so is their Cabernet Sauvignon.
While you mentioned not liking any Pinot Noir, allow me to recommend its South African descendant, Pinotage - all the bramble berry notes, and strong chocolate/coffee notes in the most popular, like Diemersfontein’s “Dark chocolate with a hint of mint and baked plums on the nose” .
Like others have said, California Cabernet Sauvignon can be pretty harsh at times- it’s very much in-your-face when it comes to tannin and fruit.
There are similar, although less brash red wines out there worth giving a shot- the Zinfandel, Carmenere and Malbec that have already been mentioned, as well as some of the Italian styles such as Nero d’Avola and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Also, some of the other French styles such as Beaujolais-Villages might be up your alley as well.
(I’m actually partial to relatively inexpensive California Bordeaux style blends, but like pretty much everything else except Cabernet Sauvignon)
This might be of interest - some of the major varietals and their characteristics. You can see which ones match the flavor profile you like.
IMO the suggestions of Carmenere, Malbec, Zin and Shiraz are good ones, but maybe not Cab Franc (might be too vegetal) or Beaujolais-Villages (might be too light or as you say “empty”). Carmenere is one of my current favorite ‘under the radar’ wines - hard to find a decent selection of it where I am, but worth searching out. If you can find a Carmenere reserva that might be even better - a little time spent aging in the barrel will add the complexity I think you’re looking for. Terra Andina (from Chile) has a super Carmenere Reserva that retails for under $15 in NYC - IF you can find it.
Bordeaux is often overlooked when having the conversation of “affordable” wines, but take a look around at your local stores. Cab Sauv can be the predominant grape in the blend, but it may or may not say on the label - the people at the wine shop are your best allies in this search. Go in and tell them what you’ve had and liked, what you’re looking to spend that day, and they should be able to steer you in the right direction.
Ooh, you guys are awesome! I have so many ideas to explore now! I’m definitely going to check out Zinfandel, and explore Malbec and Shiraz in more depth. And I gots to check out South American wines!
I’ve got easy access to at least four wine shops, off the top of my head, so I should be able to get some knowledgeable help, and hopefully some of the rarer wines mentioned here.
Focusing on wines with a budget in mind (like me, I want great wine that I don’t have to think about whether or not I should pop it on a whim with some steaks I just grilled up)…
For Cab-Francs, I have thoroughly enjoyed MontGras from Chile…great bang for the buck.
Yes, as you can see…I like BevMo! You might not have one close to your house, but they do deliver…checkout more wines here…I like to tryout different wines (rated from 90-95) but I like to get wines in the $10-$20 range and get 2 cases in a purchase. I have not been disappointed yet with my selections. My wife likes the Chardonnay, so I get a case of whatever seems a good deal for a great wine…and only had one disappointment (Honorable Chardonnay).
Some of these wines are more worthy to take to the restaurant and pay a $10 cork fee and are far better than the 3-4x markup of what they sell there. Something else to consider when eating out and you wish you had your favorite wine with a restaurant meal.
