Friday, April 25, 2008
Friday Wines - the Lazarus Edition
It's been a while since I've made any wine recommendations, but it's Friday, so here they are. For those of you not used to the home version, here's how it works: I'll try to post four wines here each Friday - a red and a white under $20 and a red and a white over $20. All prices are approximate and the wines may not be available in all areas. They're just good wines in each category, nothing more, nothing less. Without further ado:
White wine under $20
2006 Ferraton Père et fils Samorëns Côtes du Rhône blanc AOC ($12)
If you want an unoaked but still full bodied white that’s crisp, this is your wine. The perfect pairing of pineapple and cream, this wine has great fruit, acid balance for crisp texture and minerality to keep it in balance. Wrap some shrimp in bacon and start up the grill, will ya?
Red wine under $20
2004 Poggio Salvi Morellino di Scansano DOC ($15)
Aromas of smoke, cherry and tar rise out of the glass, followed by flavors of deep, rich cherry fruit, complemented by dried leaves, smoke, vanilla and orange peel. Medium bodied with good mouthfeel and balancing acidity. Pssssst! Wanna know a secret? This is made with Sangiovese Grosso – the same grape used to make Brunello di Montalcino. Affordable luxury!
White wine over $20
2005 Falesco Ferentano Roscetto Lazio ($37)
Rich, full bodied and intense, the Falesco Ferentano is one complex, sophisticated glass of juice. Made from an obscure and ancient white grape called Roscetto it shows aromas of orange peel, honeyed apples, wet stones and frost are followed by a palate of pineapple, lemon, cream, lemongrass, pine and minerality. Snappy texture from the acid holds it all together. This is a steak white if I’ve ever seen one.
Red Wine over $20
2002 Cottonwood Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Colorado ($40)
Colorado! Home of Quaking Aspens, Pike’s Peak and…Smashmouth Cab?
If the Cottonwood Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon is any indication, then yes! Aromas of cherry, plum, black currant, cedar, cigar box and mocha start things off. Dense fruit dominates up front with black currant and black raspberries taking the lead. Spice holds the midpalate together, while big, firm tannins and toasty oak guard the long finish. This is as big as most California Cabernet at this price point (and as good, too!)
This wine is drinkable now, if you have it with food (Buffalo tenderloin, anyone?), but ideally it needs another six months to a year age. The good news is all that tannin will help this wine age 10 years or so.
That's all for me. I'm going off to Stacy's for some dinner and maybe a bottle of wine!
Mark
Labels: budget wines, Colorado wine, Cotes du Rhone, French wine, good wines over $20, good wines under $20, Italian wine, Lazio, Morellino di Scansano, value wines
Friday, June 08, 2007
Friday Wines - Where Have You Been? Edition
Greetings, gentle wine drinkers:
As someone - ahem - you know who you are - told me, it's been almost three weeks since I last blogged. I thought you might like to know where I've been.
The weekend of the 15th-27th, I attended my niece Olivia's graduation from a very prestigious boarding school in New Jersey and it was a great trip. Friday night, I toured the campus where she attended school and had a dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world - Tiger Noodle - a haunt from two summers I taught a program at Princeton.
Saturday, my brother and I took another niece, his youngest daughter Madison, to the Big Apple for the first time ever. We had a blast! After about 5,000,000,000 blocks of walking up and down the length of Manhattan, we caught a late train back to Princeton for yet another round of fabulous food from Tiger Noodle.
Sunday was graduation and we couldn't have been prouder of Olivia. She excelled in both athletics and academics and is going on to a stellar career at Williams College in Massachusetts.
Two days later, I was hacking and coughing and not feeling so good. MAN, sit on an airplane next to the wrong guy just once and your whole life changes. I spent both my days off that week in bed, not getting up for anything but the basics. Almost two weeks later, I'm finally beginning to get over the whole thing.
In fact, I'm feeling chipper enough to recommend a few wines for your weekend! Try one of these bottles to maintain your good health and stay off airplanes:
White wine under $20
2003 Galhaud Viognier/Muscat Vin de Pays Cotes Catalanes ($10)
WOW! Classic aromas and flavors of Viognier flash themselves up front - ginger, apricot and honeysuckle flowers. Don't get used to it because soon the Muscat dominates like the Chicago Bears' Mike Singletary.
Some will be scared by the Muscat. They'll think delicate, lacy, sweet wine like Moscato d'Asti or pancake syrupy rich wine like Australian stickies. This is dry Muscat - a completely different animal. With not a trace of sweetness, this wine has infinite fruit - yellow peaches, grapefruit, guava, lemon and tangerine zest. It's perfumed - white flowers, apricot, clove and crushed rocks. An though this is a white wine with considerable age on it (4 years), there's still plentiful acidity to balance the creamy texture and fruit. Body? Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra and Angelina Jolie would curse their anorexic, stick-figured bodies in comparison.
Don't waste any time buying this one. We bought the last 20 cases. With quality this high and price this low, it won't last.
Red wine under $20
2006 Jacques and Francois Lurton Hacienda Araucano Pinot Noir Central Valley ($13)
I recently admitted I don't think Chile is Wine Utopia, but that doesn't mean you can find some keepers here. The Araucano Pinot is something of an unusal find - good quality Pinot Noir that's under $15 dollars. You'll get a big nose of cherry, vanilla and Christmas spices. Cherry is the dominant fruit on the palate, with layers of cola, dark chocolate, smoke and earth following. Light to medium bodied with silky, easy tannins make this wine an affordable pleasure.
White wine over $20
2003 Costa de Oro Chardonnay Reserva Dorada Gold Coast Vineyard Santa Maria Valley ($35)
I love this Chardonnay. Delicate and refined like white Burgundy but with the concentrated ripeness you get from California wines. Peaches and honeyed pears define the nose here, with spicy notes and nutty oak. The flavors are more citrus and apple driven than the nose but buoyed by acidity until honey and cream appear in the finish. If you're tired of Chardonnay that tastes like buttered toast or just curious about the range of wines made from Chardonnay, please try the Costa de Oro.
Red wine over $20
2003 Spann Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 24 Barrels Mayacamas Range ($35)
Speaking of wines produced in California with French sensibility, I give you Spann Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine isn't your typical California Cabernet - a one-two punch of a bonk on the head of fruit followed by a fat lip of oak. Instead, Peter Spann made a wine with the sleek mineral elegance of Bordeaux combined with luscious, juicy, ultraripe California fruit. The nose is blessed by black cherries and a faint echo of strawberry fruit, followed by cedar, tobacco and cigar box. You'll find black cherry flavors up front but the wine eventually runs more toward blackberry and black currants. Herbal notes of cedar and mint flesh out the midpalate but acidity and mineralilty in the finish fence in the wine admirably.
The only thing more ridiculous than the tiny production size (600 cases) is the equally diminutive price. 35 dollars is a third the price you would pay for more popular wines (notice I didn't mention wines like Caymus and Silver Oak? Isn't that diplomatic of me?) made in amounts literally thousands of times larger. Don't be stupid. Spend your hard earned money on wines like those made by Spann. You'll be guilt and remorse free!
That's all I have for you. I hope you enjoy your weekend!
Mark
Labels: damn good Cab, red wines under $20, showstopping Muscat, value wines, weekend wines
Friday, May 04, 2007
Friday Wines - Power Failure Edition
I was going to write these on Wednesday night because I've been so lax lately. Worked a late shift and when I got home the power was out for about a 20 square mile radius. Crack one of these fine bottles next time the power goes out at your house.
White wine under $20
2005 Way Kuhl Dry Riesling Mosel-Saar-Ruwer QbA ($11)
If you haven't tried dry Riesling yet, this summer is the time to try it! This wine tastes exactly the way the label describes it - light, crisp and dry, with flavors of lime, slate and a touch of honey. It's all tightly held in place by great acidity and a precision known only in German wines. Yes, I know it isn't officially summer yet, but have you been to Texas in May?
Red wine under $20
2005 Bodegas Los Llanos Pata Negra Roble Valdepenas DO ($12.50)
This is classic Spanish red - light to medium bodied, restrained cherry fruit, raw cacao and leather earthiness. There's tannin here, but 3 months in oak barrels trims the edge off quite nicely. Like most Spanish reds, this will pair well with food, whether you smoked it or caught it on a line.
White wine over $20
2005 Storrs Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains ($26)
Surprise, surprise, I chose a Chardonnay for my white over $20! I usually avoid Chards here simply because there are so many of them in this category. Y'all know I prefer my Chardonnay the way I prefer my women: complex. Aromas of butterscotch and hazlenuts dominate, with a little pear and golden apple following. In the mouth, you'll get some citrus kick, a little of the pears and a lot of secondary flavors like the aforementioned hazelnuts, caramel and clove-honey-vanilla oak rather than the coconut and butter you get in a traditional Cali Chard. This sounds like it's sweet, but it's not because the acid keeps the fruit balanced.
Red wine over $20
2003 Takler Heritage Cuvee Szekszard ($25)
This is Hungarian wine and I think it will eventually turn out to be the next big value in the wine world. They use lots of native grapes with funny names and there'll be a learning curve for them, but you'll get used to them. Let's get you started down that path so you can start drinking the wines right away - long before your friends hear anything about Hungary.
The Heritage Cuvee is a blend of five (5) grapes: 38% Kekfrankos (the same grape as the German Blaufrankisch), 25% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 7% a Hungarian grape, Kadarka. Frankly, I'd put it up against any medium to heavy bodied red from the California at the same price point - smoky red fruit, nice structure, good balance, and a long finish. Don't take this for New World wine, though - the ripeness is tempered with silky tannins, sophisticated earthy tones and fine balance. Take the time to make real, slow cooked Hungarian Gulyas (Goulash) and revel in the decadent East.
Enjoy your weekend. It's my Wednesday!
Mark
Labels: budget wines, but it sure tastes good, Hungarian wine, I may not be able to pronounce the grapes, value wines
