Thank You!!

I wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to my monthly readers. Up to 1,500 readers grace these pages every month, for that I am humbled. I hope to continue bringing you affordable wine finds and wine knowledge for years to come!

Thanks to Green Wine Bottles for the image. I LOVE these, what a creative way to re-purpose and re-cycle old wine bottles.

Wine Gear I LOVE and USE

I didn't hide my dislike of the Vinturi but there are a few indispensable wine accoutrement that I would recommend to others. A good decanter is key, a waiter's corkscrew essential and the wine foil cutter, a luxury. I received the foil cutter several years ago from my brother-in-law. Skeptical at first, it's become a well used part of my oenophile weaponry.

With a good waiter's corkscrew you can dispense of the foil covering the cork with a few strokes of your blade. But with the wine foil cutter and a simple squeeze/turn, you can be done in half the time. The cutter slices a perfect circle around the top, exposing the cork. A little lazy...perhaps. But at $5, it's hard to pass up, particularly if you've accidentally sliced your finger open on some exposed foil!

Cheers!

Australian Wine, How far you've come!

I'm a big Monty Python fan, I was listening and watching long before I started drinking wine. Good thing I didn't take their humor too much to heart, otherwise one sketch entitled "Australian Table Wines" would have kept me away from some of the finest wines in the world!

In 1972 when this sketch was written I have no doubt the wine was pretty much as described...but baby, how far you've come! And now for a little giggle...

------
"A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.

Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavored Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines.

Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering after-burn.

Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favorably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: eight bottles of this and you're really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.

Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.

Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.

Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.

Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit.

Cheers!

Free the Grapes!

I wouldn't be a responsible wine blogger if I didn't feature Freethegrapes.org at least once. "Free the Grapes! is a national grassroots coalition of wine lovers, wineries and retailers who seek to remove restrictions in states that still prohibit consumers from purchasing wines directly from wineries and retailers."

If you've ever tried to gift wine, join a wine club or purchase wine for yourself at an online store, you've probably run into a myriad of shipping restrictions. Twelve States prohibit direct shipment including my hub in the mid-Atlantic. I'd encourage you to visit Free the Grapes and research you're own State Laws and contact your local Congressman, I know I will!

Thanksgiving Wine

Thanks to the Wine School of Philadelphia for the following wine recommendations:

First of all, you will probably need a bottle for those friends/family who don't drink wine. Instead of getting them a bottle of white zin, grab a bottle of St. Supery's Moscato (about $12). Its just sweet enough for them, but still complex and balanced enough to enjoy. Its actually quite good with cranberry sauce.

For a white wine, you could go with Pieropan's Soave Classico ($13). Its stylish and crisp with just enough lush peach to work with some of those freaky yam dishes ya'll will be eating. Another idea would be to go with the Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blanc ($15); this is a fun little champagne wannabe with a touch of almond and pear on the nose.

For a red, I tend to go with the drench-it-all-with-a-fruit-bomb approach. It's especially effective if you have a family like mine (I am never sure what is worse, Aunt Sarah's Suet-and-Kidney Pie or her husband's drunken advances.)

With that in mind, go for the Bleasdale "Bremerview" Shiraz ($12). A great dose of over-the-top fruit that totters between luxury and trashy. It's also about 15% alcohol, which always makes the holidays more... interesting.

If you want honest-to-goodness class, then get a few bottles of Chateau Coufran Haut Medoc ($13). It's the best bottle of left bank Bordeaux available under twenty bucks, and my current favorite anyday wine.

If the pumpkin pie ain't enough for you, then you should have a
bottle of Dutschke The Tokay ($12 for a half bottle), too. Imagine a bottle of maple syrup and a vintage port had a love child.

Recession Hits the Grape Market

A silver lining to the recession, likely a very good year for affordable, quality wine in the 2009 vintage.

Grape Glut Could Benefit Consumers
Nov. 4, 2009, courtesy of Marketwatch.com
The recession is hitting grape farmers hard in California wine country, where the spot market for grapes has virtually disappeared. That may be good news for consumers. Stacey Delo reports: View Video Here

Kissing Frogs

When you run an affordable wine blog, you inevitably kiss a lot of frogs, or in this case very bad wine. My last wine store outing I bought a case, looking wines worthy to post. Out of 12 bottles, there was only one winner, the Luzon. Check back often, when I do post a wine, it's definitely worth the wait... Perhaps I can turn some of the duds into gourmet red wine vinegar for Christmas...

Cheers.

Bodegas Luzon 2008, Syrah/Monastrell, $6!

Fall is here...and for me, that means the return of dense nummy RED's! Choking back a 15% Shiraz in 90 degree heat is not easy. With evenings in the Northeast reaching the low 60's however, you'll find it much easier to enjoy this little gem.

The 2008 Luzon is a blend of Syrah and Monastrell. I had the wine in two different sittings several days apart, and to continued to surprise me. In addition to the black cherry and plum fruits, I also got hints of chocolate and orange marmalade. At $6 a bottle, this is an absolute steal and further solidifies Spain as an affordable (quality) wine Mecca.

Cheers!

Seidelberg Merlot, 2003, $7!?

Don't be afraid of the bargain bin, you'll find some true diamonds in the rough. My local wine store must have bought WAY too much of this vintage and they were dumping it for pennies on the dollar. Their loss, our gain...

I've never had much luck finding a South African red I like, but the Seidelberg Merlot really surprised me! I was immediately met on the palate with smoke, then smoked bacon and ripe berries. It was thoroughly enjoyable and a unique departure from my recent tipples. Drink the Seidelberg 2003 Merlot now, it should pair nicely with your next BBQ or cheese plate.

Cheers!

Arona Sauvignon Blanc 2008, $9

LOVED this wine. Not only was it affordable, but it exuded some under-ripe peach notes on the nose and palate...delicious. Most wine is made to drink young and the 2008 Arona is no exception.

Australia cranks out a LOT of beefy reds, but I've been very impressed with New Zealand's whites. Buy a bottle (or three!) of the 2008 Arona Sauvignon Blanc with confidence, it's joy in a glass on a hot, humid day.

Cheers!

Wine & Price, Fuzzy Math

I started this blog because I wanted to share that high quality wine doesn't have to be expensive. A LOT goes into the price of wine... you have the acreage costs, growing costs, yields, overhead, storage, shipping, middlemen, market pricing, etc. If you really start to calculate, it's amazing you can get a quality bottle for $10! But I digress..

Recently I was encouraged by a friend that knows a lot more about wine to splurge on a premium bottle. This wine was not only expensive but it was suppose to be top rate. Normally $60 a bottle, it was marked down to $30, a "steal" for some. Running an affordable wine blog has it's responsibilities. I really want to practice what I preach, so several times a year I will splurge to see if the extra cost brings the added enjoyment. Usually I'm disappointed, perhaps the expectations don't live up to the hype. Was the $60 bottle good? Yes. Was it $60 good, no. Was it $30 good, debatable. Perhaps my palate still needs more refining, but I wouldn't recommend the bottle to my readers at that price.

All this price-to-quality issue got me thinking, there must be a way to equate a general increase in price to overall enjoyment. I've been toying around with an unscientific model. Humor me here because this probably very silly. Say you have a $10 bottle of your favorite wine. In my experience a $20 bottle would not be twice as good, but it would probably be 20%-30% better. So the extra $10 in cost gave you a 20% bump in enjoyment. Perhaps an accurate perception will temper our expectations and thus improve enjoyment as well? Or maybe I shouldn't do math equations while drinking wine...

Cheers!

Top Affordable Wine for 2008

I featured Panarroz several months ago when it was selling in the $8-$9 range. Much to my surprise the local wine store was clearing it out for $5.97 a bottle! This is an absolute steal and gives the wine my 2008 Affordable Wine of the Year stamp. How many cases will YOU get?? (I got three)

Cheers!

Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, $12-$14

A great way to discover new wines is to partner up with other wine lovers, for periodic tastings at home. To compare and contrast wine's try selecting one varietal from a specific growing region or Country. Try comparing the same varietal from Country to Country or from year-to-year. Then try different varietals in the same way, you'll be amazed at how much you'll learn in this exploration. When you're given the opportunity to taste side-by-side you'll start to get a feel for wine making styles, how climate and weather affect taste, how aging in oak versus stainless steel adds complexity, etc; it's a lot of fun too and doesn't break the bank!

A wine I discovered doing this very exercise was the Sebastiani Cabernet, a wonderful specimen provided you give it ample time to open up. I would suggest an hour in the decanter to really coax it open. Sebastiani is a well rounded wine, perfect combination of acid, tannin and fruit. Frankly it's a steal at $12 in the world of overpriced California Cabs. I tried my first bottle several years ago and still return to it in the wine store, knowing I'm getting an affordable yet solid wine for my buck.

Try a tasting at home, see what value wine's you can uncover. Cheers!

Wine Shopping Online

No, that's not a Rose' unfortunately... I've been out of commission for the last week and a half with a nasty cold. I try not to drink while I'm sick, needless to say a depressing prospect for an avid wine drinker.

I wanted to dedicate this post to buying wine online. I've personally been shopping online since the early Nineties, when the Internet was basically AOL and local BBS's. From the very beginning I was hooked! I could comparison shop, find the best prices and at any hour of the day. I've never been a fan of department stores or wading through crowds to find what I need. Occasionally I shop for wine online and have it either drop shipped to my local store (at no charge) or sent directly to my house. From the comfort of your computer chair or couch you can Google just about any wine, it's reviews or visit the Wine Library for a video of a tasting. It really takes the bottle roulette out of picking an affordable, quality wine.

If you're looking to buy wine online, where do you go though? I use Wine Legend, a chain here in NJ for most of my buying, but I frequently use Wine Searcher an excellent comparison shopping engine for just about any wine. Simply plug in the name and year of a wine and it brings up multiple results sorted by price. I get frequent sale emails from Wine Legend touting their low prices. If I see a wine I like, I'll plug it in Wine Searcher, typically resulting in prices $3-$4 cheaper per bottle! Sometimes it's not worth the hassle or shipping expense to shop this way, but it does give you good pricing perspective.

Cheers

Armador Merlot, Chile 2005, $8!

I love Merlot! There was a period several years ago when Merlot was almost a dirty word to the wine elite. Merlot had gotten SO popular many people refused to drink this beautiful varietal. White Zinfandel maybe, but Merlot?? The sentiment was even highlighted in the 2004 hit movie "Sideways". Here's a quote from the movie:

Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot.

Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!

If you're a Merlot lover like myself but don't like paying too much, you'll love this Chilean beauty. At only $8 a bottle it's an absolute steal. Exhibiting eucalyptus notes and a hint of cinnamon it's a very easy tipple.

Cheers!

Bottle Trading

Frustrated trying to find an affordable, quality wine? Try a frequent bottle trade with another wine loving friend. Set a price threshold per bottle and try to make a trade once a month. You'll share your favorite wines while discovering new ones.

Cheers!

Folie a Deux, Menage a Trois, Red 2006, $11

A"Menage a Trois" of the senses... what a wonderfully fun and inexpensive wine! This little cutey features three heavy hitting varietals all in the same bottle. According to the wine maker the Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were all fermented separately and combined later into a finished product. The wine seduces you with candied fruit and jam with some delicate tannin sprinkled in. I bought two bottles and at this price, I'm going back for more!

Most of us will never experience an actual Menage', but I'd imagine this comes in a decent second...maybe third.

Cheers!

Mark West Pinot Noir 2006, $10-$11, Baby Bum Smooth...

Enjoy Pinot Noir but don't like paying premium Pinor Noir prices? Try the 2006 Mark West Pinor Noir. At $10-$11 a bottle, the value here is palatable! I got hints of cherry and ripe strawberry accompanying a baby bum smooth finish. WARNING! Do not drink this one alone, you might finish the bottle yourself!

Cheers

Wine & Calories, What Should I Drink on a Diet?

I'm about 6'1", 165 pounds soaking wet with a metabolism of a 12 year old. Jealous? Don't be, I lost all my hair in college. Ying/yang, everything balances out. Age is catching up though and my genetic luck is running out... I can't drink like a college student and expect to keep my mannish figure!

Did you know a glass of wine has less calories than beer & soda? If you are craving a tipple but are watching your calorie intake, it's time to give vino some serious consideration.

I think you'll be surprised by these numbers:

• Light beer 12oz, 110 calories
• Beer 12oz, 150 calories
• Dark beer 12oz, 168 calories
• Red wine 5oz, 105 calories
• White wine 5oz, 100 calories
• Sparkling white wine 5oz, 106 calories
• Distilled spirits (Scotch, vodka, bourbon, gin etc.) 1.5oz, 100 calories

Cheers!

Jekel Monteray Riesling 2006, $10-$11

This is one of the house wines at McCormick & Schmick's here in New Jersey. List price for the bottle was $34, but that's pretty typical, expect a 2x or 3x mark-up. The wine was wonderfully rich and very easy to drink. It was a nice compliment to our assorted seafood of calamari, salmon and seared tuna. Feel free to drink with or without food, equally delicious!

Cheers!

NASCAR & Wine Drinking

I saw this article this morning and HAD to republish it. While I'm not (nor will ever be) a NASCAR fan, I love the subtext, wine is for the masses not just the elite:

SONOMA, Calif. -- At the foot of the scenic mountains surrounding Infineon Raceway, on the black pavement behind the main grandstand between souvenir haulers and barbecue stands, is a lattice-covered wine garden surrounded by large oak barrels.
Less than a hundred yards away, a large group of people gathered for wine, cheese and shrimp cocktails in Victory Lane.
Even though a driver with Budweiser on the hood of his car won the pole for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at this 1.99-mile road course, wine connoisseurs now have a place in NASCAR.
All of a sudden a word such as "palate" is as understood as spring rubbers and wedges.
"I didn't even know what [a palate] was 20 years ago," team owner Richard Childress said with a laugh. "I used to load a bunch of used parts on a pallet."
Childress is a big part of NASCAR's move from beer and hot dogs to a wine-and-cheese crowd. He opened the Childress Vineyard in the fall of 2004 in the Yadkin Valley less than 15 minutes from his Welcome, N.C., race shop.
A year later, four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon got into the wine business by introducing a 2004 Carneros Chardonnay featuring his name and Gordon Collection logo on the bottle.
Soon after that, according to a Nielsen Co. survey, wine consumption among the average NASCAR fan jumped 22 percent -- from spending $66.80 in 2005 to $81.40 in 2006.
While that didn't put NASCAR at the top of the list of wine drinkers in sports -- LPGA fans spent on average $124.90 in 2006 and tennis fans $111.90 -- it did draw the sport closer to the NBA ($86.20), Major League Baseball ($89) and the NFL ($94.30).
And the increase was by far greater than in any other sport, prompting many wine companies to expand their research on the dynamics of purchasing and consumption by motorsports fans.
In 2005, Texas Motor Speedway became the first track to offer wine from vendors. Earlier this year, the Performance Racing Network launched its own wine show, "The Wine Crush."
This wine fad is so out of control that there was a Saturday morning news conference to discuss wine.
So has the sport born of bootleggers turned sophisticated?
"It kind of outgrew the Southern fan base," said NASCAR West series owner Randy Lynch, who started Bennett Lane Winery a year before Childress got into the business. "The clearest demographic information on the San Francisco market that NASCAR puts out says the No. 1 identifying factor is the NASCAR fan in the Bay Area is affluent.
"It's becoming more of an upscale crowd."
It definitely is in Sonoma. There will be more wine-tasting tours in the three days before the checkered flag falls than there have been car tests leading to this race on the winding pavement surrounded by vineyards.
"The sport that grew up on moonshine and beer sponsorship, now all of a sudden we have wineries sponsoring race cars," said Doug Rice, the president of PRN. "It's part of an evolution the sport is going through."
Rice, once an avid beer drinker, never imagined five years ago his radio network would air a wine show.
"Not in the most remote corners of my mind did I think that was a possibility," he said. "Part of it is the whole trend in wine. It's perceived to be better for you and has some health benefits. And NASCAR may be getting a little different crowd."
That certainly has been the case at the Speedway Club at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.
"Speedway Club in Charlotte used to be all beer," Rice said. "They don't even have beer taps anymore."
Jeff Burton, who is second in points behind Kyle Busch, isn't surprised.
"If you think about it … you walk down any grocery store and there's like whole aisles dedicated to it," he said. "When I was a kid you had some Mad Dog 20-20. You didn't have a whole aisle of wine. "It used to be stuffy people are wine people. Today, everybody drinks wine."
Well, not everybody.
"I'm a fan of the 26 car, to be honest," Mike Ford, the crew chief for Denny Hamlin, said in reference to the Crown Royal sponsor on Jamie McMurray's car.
Hard liquor aside, Ford acknowledged the palate of race fans has moved toward wine. "It used to be a pretty hard-core Budweiser crowd," he said. "It's kind of branched out."
Gordon, who grew up in nearby Vallejo, Calif., often envisioned becoming a vintner as his family drove through the Napa Valley and Sonoma County to water-ski at Lake Berryessa and race midgets in Calistoga.
"I remember seeing the vineyards and thinking, 'This is so beautiful,'" he said.
Beauty turned into reality after Gordon tasted a bottle of Batard-Montrachet while traveling in London. Soon he began talking about the oakiness of wines like he would the setup of his No. 24 car.
Childress began drinking wine in the 1970s during trips to California to race. He finally turned 65 acres off Highway 64 into a vineyard and built a winery that looks as though it belongs in Italy with its beautiful stone masonry.
This past year, his tasting room was ranked among the top 25 in America.
But Childress admits Lynch knows more about making good wines than he and Gordon combined.
"We had three of the top cabs [cabernets] in the country," Lynch said. "And we only make three red wines. Without tooting my horn too much, we're very proud of our wine."
Lynch was the first to put grapes on a car three years ago, when road-course specialist P.J. Jones drove one of his cars at Sonoma.
"That was the day Tony Stewart took out five cars, and one of them was ours," Lynch said.
He shouldn't have been surprised. Stewart drinks Schlitz beer.
"As we all know, beer is kind of on the downswing," Lynch said. "Anheuser Busch in the last two years has gone on a cost-cutting mission. Who knows what the future holds for beer?"
The future for wine certainly looks bright in NASCAR. Fans are trading their beer koozies for wine coasters, opening up an area of marketing that is virtually untapped in NASCAR.
For $50 you can have the Gordon Collection Merlot. For $255 you can get the gift set that includes a bottle of his Carneros Chardonnay in an autographed, hinged wooden case with the Gordon Collection logo and two Riedel Extreme Chardonnay stems with the logo.
For $5.99 you can have a Gordon helmet wine bottle stopper. Or for $6.99 you can get Gordon's wine glass charms, featuring the No. 24 car or a checkered flag.
"There are NASCAR fans out there that drink wine," Gordon said. "The thing is, we're not so thinking of promoting our wine with racing. I want it in fine restaurants. I want it to be something completely nonassociated with racing."
But there is the potential for a pretty good rivalry. Gordon fans can tout their driver makes a better wine than Childress, and vice versa.
"Richard makes a nice wine, but Napa Valley is where you should grow your grapes," Gordon said diplomatically.
The business already has a point system like NASCAR. Anything with a 90 or better is consider excellent. Lynch has had 10 90-plus grades over the past three years.
"The thing about asking somebody if somebody's wine is better than the other, everybody's palate is different," Childress said.
Two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson gives the wine edge to Childress over his car owner.
"Man, I haven't had Gordon's wine. Is that wrong?" he said. "I've had his white but not his red. I've had Childress' red. Richard gave me a nice bottle of red when I won the Daytona 500, so I think he's ahead there."
So much for beer wars.
Pretty soon we'll have the Childress Winery challenging the Gordon Collection the way Miller challenges Budweiser.
But while there are awards and prizes in the wine business, connoisseurs like Gordon and Childress haven't completely lost touch with their primary objective.
"I've taken home a lot of trophies all over the world," said Childress, also an avid hunter. "What's the next championship I want to get? A Cup championship."
Of course, he would fill it with wine.
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.

Clos de los Siete 2006, $15 Wowee!

With an recession looming and everyone pumping the cost equivalent of 99 point barolo into our cars, you'll be pleased to know there's still some value out there for your wine buck. The 2006 Clos de los Siete is a 92 pointer for $15 or less. Again this cements Argentina as one of the best value growing regions in the world. Coming in at a whopping 15% alc I wouldn't classify this as a summer wine, but if you wait too long, it might not be available come Fall!

Clos de los Siete is a beautiful velvety purple out of the bottle, almost opaque. With plum and vanilla on the nose it literally lures you into the glass. Clos is velvety but leaves a touch of tannin. It's very fruit forward but is surprisingly dry. Definitely let the bottle breath for half an hour before partaking. More affordable wine to come... Cheers!

From Mr. Parker:

The 2006 Clos de los Siete is a slightly different blend with 50% Malbec, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Syrah. Opaque purple-colored, it has a similar expressive nose including fragrant plum, blueberry, and black cherry. Ripe, sweet, and seamless, it admirably hides its tannin under all the fruit. It will evolve for several years but who will have the willpower to defer gratification? It is an awesome value. Clos de los Siete is a project of Michel Rolland. The vineyard, located about 60 miles south of Mendoza at about 3000 feet of elevation, has 300 acres in production with another 875 planted

Wine Ratings, Quick Tutorial

Fortunately learning about wine and wine ratings isn't as stressful as this picture denotes! As you grow older learning becomes more of a fun adventure, and there's no better ride than learning about wine...

If you shop for wine with any frequency you've probably noticed a burst or advertisement under certain bottles with a score, usually in the 80's or 90's. These are wine ratings by industry experts, to 1) sell more wine for the vineyard and 2) further promote themselves in the industry as experts in the field and 3) to make some money! If a wine doesn't have a rating should you buy it? Absolutely. Just because Robert Parker or Wine Spectator rates a wine doesn't necessarily make non-rated wines undrinkable. I'm not absolutely sure of the economics behind which wines are rated and which are not, but I would imagine some money changes hands somewhere along the line. A rated wine will often outsell it's un-rated counterpart by a factor of 2 to 1 and as the rating gets higher, so does the price of the wine.

Personally I love the rating system, it gives a little guidance to the wine shopper when you're staring down the isle of 1000 wines. So what should you look for? There are three common ratings you'll encounter in the US, usually denoted by two alpha characters and a two digit number, e.g. WA 92

RP or WA is Robert Parker aka The Wine Advocate. Mr. Parker rates a lot of new world wines from the Southern Hemisphere and uncovers some amazing values. I tend to share his love of fruit forward wines. He also uncovers some beauty's from Spain & Australia at very affordable prices.

WS is Wine Spectator magazine, the most circulated wine magazine in the Country. Every year Wine Spectator puts out a top 100 wine list and those selected are undoubtedly grinning ear to ear.

ST or IWC is Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar. I don't see many Tanzer rated wine's. Hey Stephen, dust off that passport and start drinking!

So what are these organizations looking for when rating a wine? Appearance, aroma, taste, structure and overall perception to name a few. The following excerpt taken from the Wine Society of Texas website, along with a judging sheet if you want to rate your own wines. Simply take the final score and multiple by five for a 100 point scale. Remember, you are the expert of your own palate, don't let anyone tell you what you like and don't like. Cheers!

P.s. More affordable wine finds coming soon...

Wine Rating Sheet

What is Appearance?
It is the visual perception that the wine provides before tasting. It is further categorized in terms of Color (coloration and intensity appropriate for the varietal) and clarity (clear vs. cloudy). The latter category is usually used to detect differences in winemaking techniques, or defects in the wine caused by bacteria and bad practices.

What is Aroma?
It is what we perceive by smell prior to tasting. Each wine variety has particular aromas that are normally associated with it. The aroma may also vary in intensity depending on many factors such as the type and source of grapes, blending methods and other winemaking techniques. Complex and pleasant aromas are qualities of better wines.

What is Taste?
Tasting is more complicated than was we normally think. It involves a complex interaction of tactile (mouth) feel, taste (sweet, sour and acid), and aroma (smells that actually travel up the back of the throat to the nose. Like aroma, the taste should be appropriate for the grape varietal (Chardonnay, Muscat or Cabernet) and style of wine (e.g. sweet or dry). Taste also has a start, middle and finish. Complex tastes and those that linger tend to be associated with better wines.

What is Overall Perception?
This is most subjective part of wine judging. It is hard to be impartial when in comes to this category. We all have inherent likes and dislikes. But, overall perception is normally used to indicate the overall balance of the wine. Wines that have a balance of flavors, other qualities, (e.g. acid, fruit, body, tannin, sweetness or lack of sweetness) and alcohol are typically highly rated.

Affordable Wine Hiatus, Orin Swift the Prisoner vs. Quita Do Crasto Old Vines

Around the holiday's I like to splurge a little on wine, getting away from my traditional affordability theme. That being said, what's affordable to one person is not affordable to the other, so these wines might be right up your alley!

I was unfortunately reminded again that price and rating do not necessarily dictate how good the wine is. Take the two bottles below, both retail for around $40, I got them on sale for $30. Any time I splurge on wine there's definitely a palatable excitement as I open the bottle, something akin to the salivating Pavlovian dog. I was very excited with The Prisoner a 2007 Wine Spectator top 100, rated 93 and Quinta Do Craston Old Vines 2005, a Wine Spectator rated 95.

The first bottle I opened was the Old Vines Quinta Do Crasto, which I learned later was from Portugal. I've had some excellent Madeira from Portugal, but in my mind Portugal doesn't have the wine making prowess of it's neighbor Spain. Unfortunately that played itself out in the wine.

A little closed at first the wine did open up with time and was enjoyable to drink, no more so than some of the $10 bottles I've reviewed though. I was a little perplexed by Wine Spectator's take on this one, “Deeply colored, with intense yet refined aromas and flavors of kirsch, boysenberry, dark cherry and spice. The fruit is supported by focused notes of mineral and graphite, and the finish is loaded with dark chocolate and medium tannins. Drink now through 2015.” My dollars would have been better spent on the next wine:

Do you have or ever had a friend that smoked cigarettes? Not being a smoker myself, out of curiosity I took my friends pack of cigarettes and whiffed an open pack. The first recognizable smell was raisins! Sounds a little strange? Check it out for yourself. It was only after I started drinking wine and doing reviews did I put two and two together when adjectives like "fresh tobacco" were used. Fresh Tobacco smells of Raisins, Raisins are dried grapes, wine is made from ripe grapes...

Orin Swift The Prisoner, 2005, was an absolute joy to drink. I drank it alone so I was able to stretch the enjoyment over three days. It was so dense and rich it was like drinking out of a jelly jar! If you're looking to splurge a little this holiday season, you won't go wrong with this beauty. WS: "A Delicious Wine that offers the best of both worlds:zesty wild berry,spice and fresh tobacco,with focused,well-structured blackberry flavors, plush, rich and concentrated, with a wonderful focus on the core fruit flavours."

Cheers!

An Inconvenient Yet Tasty Vintage

Intrigued by the title of this post? I finally had the opportunity this week to watch "An Inconvenient Truth", the documentary from Al Gore. It was very educational, but one thing that particularly jumped out at me, which will be very relevant to this blog, 2005 was the hottest year ever across the globe. What does this have to do with wine? If you've been reading my posts I frequently shower accolades on the Aussie 2005 vintage, so far I've yet to have a bad wine from this group. I'm not viticulturist but I do know that some grapes respond very well to lots of hot sun, the more robust varietals like Shiraz/Syrah for instance. The global warning threat is a serious problem, but it's fascinating to see that's there's a silver lining in this global disaster, intensely flavorful grapes!

Along this same "vine" of thought, I tasted the 2005 Rosenblum Heritage Clones last night. For $15 (on sale), I was not disappointed. It didn't match up to it's older 2004 brother in complexity, but it was an excellent drink. I liken it to licking the inside of a jelly jar, very jammy! The 2005 had a lot of the same flavor profiles of 2004, but it was a little more juvenile, with hints of tooty-fruity, believe it or not. I'm still very new to Petit Syrah but it seems Rosenblum knows what they are doing with this little grape.

Cheers!

2004 Rosenblum Heritage Clones San Francisco Bay Petite Sirah

What a fine sandwich this is! If the wine on the right, is anything like the wine on the left, I'm going to be a happy camper. I had the opportunity to try the Heritage Clones Petite Sirah about a year ago. After casually taking a sip from the newly opened bottle I was immediately struck with intense fruit and a finish that went on for days. I leaned over to the fellow who brought the bottle and asked the price, $120 he said, or at least that's what I heard in the crowded restaurant. I made a mental note, now THIS is what an expensive bottle of wine should taste like! I was resigned however that I might never taste this wine again, at least at that price! For kicks I looked the wine up the next day online, and to my surprise it was only $20, not $120. Even better I was able to find it for $14.99, a steal in my opinion. I picked up a case and even gave them out as birthday gifts, this wine was so good. Sadly, like most excellent, fairly priced wines, the 2004 is very difficult to find now. I came across an auction today at $75 a bottle. Worth it? Perhaps... but pick up a bottle of the 2005 first. Retailing at only $15 a bottle, this might be a suitable replacement. I hope to pick-up a bottle myself shortly. Below are the adjective rich musings of Mr. Parker:

WA 90 "The 2005 Petite Sirah Heritage Clones is a full-bodied, flavorful, mouthfilling wine offering loads of peppery, blackberry, and cherry fruit, surprising density, a supple texture, and beautiful length and richness. This stunner should drink well for 5-8 years or longer."

WA 92 “There are nearly 10,000 cases of the stunning 2004 Petite Sirah Heritage Clone. A dense ruby/purple hue is accompanied by glorious aromas of creme de cassis, vanilla, incense, crushed rocks, blackberries, and smoke. It is a full-bodied, tannic, chewy, rich, pedal-to-the-metal effort with low acidity as well as ripe tannin. The latter two components will make it difficult to resist, but it should age well for 15-20 years.”

Everyone Wiki now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_Sirah

Cheers!

$10 Affordable Spanish Tempranillo, Put on your Oh face

Two of my favorite wine growing regions right now, both in price and quality, are Argentina & Spain. I had this little beauty for the second time last night and wow was I impressed! I'm a big fan of full body, fruit forward, dense wines and this didn't disappoint. The tannins were very mild, perfect if your tannin averse like my Dad or brother. At only $9.50 a bottle this is one outstanding value. (I must point out I am a completely unbiased reviewer here, I have no relationships with vineyards or distributors from which these wines come.) Pair this with some bloody meat or stinky cheeses!

The Wine Advocate, who's name I seem to utter a lot recently, gave this wine a 90; just on price alone, I have to give it a 91-92 (too bad price isn't a part of the ranking equation). Here's what he had to say:

"The 2004 Senorio de Valdehermoso Joven is an unoaked cuvee of 100% Tempranillo. According to the proprietor, 2004 was one of the best vintages in many years and this effort certainly supports that claim. Purple in color, it exhibits aromas of smoke, plum, and spice. The fruit is sweet and layered, supported by well integrated tannin into a lengthy finish. It is a sensational value"

Drink up and let me know what you think?

Cheers!

Affordable Washington State Wine, $10

I've started to take this blog in a new direction recently, less education and more quality wine reviews. While the domain is Wine4Dummies, I still include myself in this "dummy" group. I like to think the search for wine knowledge is a journey not a destination; so don't get frustrated if wine appreciation isn't coming easy to you. Simply open a bottle and experiment, you'll be surprised at what you'll discover.

Another affordable wine I'd like to share with you comes from Washington State of all places. When I first heard of this growing region a few years ago it was hard for me to grasp that a colder, rainier region of the country can crank out quality wine, particularly amazing reds. A few inexpensive bottles later and I was very impressed, you will be too.

House Wine (don't you love the label?) comes from the Magnificent Wine Company located at the base of the Blue Mountains in Walla Walla Washington. The wine aside, I've always enjoyed saying that city, I remember it from a Bugs Bunny cartoon when I was a kid. Walla Walla Washington. But I digress...

Wine Spectator named the 2005 vintage a Best Value Wine with a rating of 88, and if you bargain shop you can pick up a bottle for $10 (less with a case discount) "silky, round and generous with its spicy, earthy plum and blackberry flavors, lingering nicely as the finish persists." House Wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. If I may add a little tasting note as well, I noticed some vegetal hints while drinking this, a little "green" but this was a nice nuance for me instead of a detriment. Frankly I'd expect a little "green-ness" in this wine because of the climate.

Pick up a bottle and let me know what you think? I personally plan to pick up a case to stash for the long winter ahead.

Cheers!

2005 Castano Monastrell $6

Another affordable wine for you, tasty but a little underwhelming compared to the Colonias Bonarda (featured in a previous post). The price point is unbeatable and this slides down the gullet with much ease. At $6 a bottle this is better than just about everything in the same price range. Pick up a case for a party or the long winter ahead. I don't know about you, but I have a tinge of guilt every time I open a bottle, it's an investment in time and money. You can feel like a robberbaron with the Castano as you open bottle after bottle for friends, guilt free!

The Wine Advocate gave this a 90, a number he likes to use a lot. Based on his other ratings of 90 I give this closer to an 88. Maybe the vineyard through a couple extra cases his way to influence his decision...

"The 2005 Monastrell is an insane value produced from three vineyard sites ranging in age from 40-60 years. Opaque purple-colored, it gives up fragrant aromas of blue fruits, plums, and prunes. Ripe, layered, and full-flavored, this hedonistic effort can be enjoyed now but will surely evolve for 2-3 years. Match it with beef and lamb."

One interesting note before I close, notice the review mentions three different vineyards? Many inexpensive wines are made with grapes from multiple vineyards. There's nothing wrong with the practice, but sometimes you can lose some complexity as the grapes from one vineyard may vary from the other. One of the best wine's I've ever tasted came from a multiple vineyard bottle, so don't judge a book by it's cover. There's a huge market in buying and selling grape juice for wine. Check out this website, it's fascinating: http://winebusiness.com/grapesBulkWine/?ref=hn

Cheers

Affordable Wine of the Week, Sorry, it's Red!

An excellent wine value for you today. I had the opportunity to try this wine at a local restaurant called Kitchen 223, and I've been looking for it ever since! I was able to locate both the 2004 & 2005 at the local wine store, relatively inexpensive for the quality too, only $13.00 a bottle! The 2004 scored a 90 and the 2005 a 92, although I thought the 2004 was a little more complex on the palate. Tasting notes from the Wine Advocate:

"The 2005 Shiraz Jester exhibits an opaque purple color along with sweet aromas of blackberries, charcoal, white chocolate, and espresso roast. Rich, full-bodied, heady, and long, it explodes on the back of the palate (always a good sign). Drink it over the next 5-7 years"

Jester will hold up to a nice bloody piece of meat & stinky cheeses. While this is not summer wine per se, I couldn't help but share this tremendous value with you. Cheers!

Why BYO's Rock, Expensive Wine You're On Notice

I'm sure we've all been there, whether it be a special occasion or you're looking to impress your date... You're at dinner and if the restaurant has one, the waiter brings over the wine list. First of all, having worked as a "server", the politically correct version of Waiter or Waitress, I'll tell you that alcohol is the number one source of profits for the restaurant, hands down. Food is just a low margin vessel for which to get alcohol down your throat and the wallet out of your neatly pressed pants. The wine costs vary from restaurant to restaurant based on a variety of factors, most notably the cost of the liquor license. In Philadelphia they cost upwards of a million dollars, so you better be sure the patrons are paying for that in some shape or form. As a general rule however figure that the actual price of the bottle is what the restaurant is charging for one glass. I resent this for numerous reasons, notably, I have no choice of the wine choices I'm given or why they were chosen and they are bloody expensive!

If you're feeling very daring and have some money burning a hole in your pocket, you might dine at an establishment with a professional Sommelierwho can help you navigate the wine list. Lucky me I was at such an establishment over the weekend, and let me tell you, I'm not impressed and my wallet hurts a little. After looking through the wine list for a few minutes I was struck with the sheer number of bottles, 750+. Surely a professional can help me find a wine I like?

A stuffy French man appears (Sommelier), nice but a little full of himself. I give him the flavor profile and region I want, for which is skillfully navigates the menu to several wines I might enjoy. I must have been high on the atmosphere or just a little intimidated by the guy in the tuxedo but I took his suggestion, quite sure this was going to be the best bottle of my life... particularly at that price! If you're following the sarcasm in the post I probably don't need to tell you, I was VERY disappointed. Was it a bad wine? No. Was it worth the price I paid? No! Was it even CLOSE to the price I paid? NO!!

Case in point here, have a cocktail before and after dinner and avoid the wine list. Alternatively visit your local BYO restaurant and bring your own bottle. At least if you're disappointed with the wine, you'll only be out $10.

Onix Priorato 2005, finally...

Sorry folks, my sniffer has been out of commission for over a week, a cold has sapped my energy and my sense of smell. I had my first beer in a long time last night, I couldn't taste a thing, just bubbles and the cold on my tongue. We often forget how integral the nose is to smell.

I finally had the opportunity to test out the 2005 vintage of the Onix in my last post. What a difference a year makes! Each growing season vintners are faced with new challenges in weather, pests, soil condition, etc. A hail storm one year wiping out most the crop and the next year drought; you never know what mother nature is going to do! These variables also reveal themselves in the wine. An unusually hot year will result in a grape with a lot of sugar, a cooler year would produce a wine with more acid. A vintner could also make an acid heavy wine in a hotter year, he would just pick the grape sooner. It's truly an art form and labor of love.

The Wine Advocate gave this review: "The unoaked 2005 Onix is the best vintage of this wine to date, a blend of old-vine (average age 55 years) Garnacha and Carinena. The wine has a lovely nose of mineral and ripe cherries, nicely layered and intensely flavored, with a lengthy finish."

I got the cherries on the nose but I also got a hint of sweet saddle leather, which I found intriguing because it was unoaked. The finish was lovely, it coated the mouth and went on a good 5-6 seconds. If you see either the 2004 or 2005 in the store, pick up both and hold a tasting. I think you'll be surprised at the contrast.

Yellowtail Killer

If you've been to virtually any wine store you've no doubt come across the brand name Yellowtail. It's hard to miss with it's bright yellow, orange and purple labels and the displays are as high as an elephant's eye. Over the last few years Yellowtail has become very popular, mostly due to marketing and price, but to some degree the taste. You won't be bowled over with complexity and nuance in the wine, but you will find something drinkable or an inexpensive bottle surely to be recognized (for good or bad) at your next party. I don't want to knock the wine because I'm a firm believer if YOU like it, it's a good wine. I did want to offer up an alternative a friend calls the "Yellowtail Killer" however. This wine competes on price but blew me away on taste, for the $$. If you can still find it, Colonia las Liebres Bonarda 2005 from Argentina is an amazing value at $5.00-$8.00. The wine is inky dark, fruit forward with light tannins, overall a very good bottle. The 2006 version isn't quite as good, but for $5.00 it's still better and sometimes cheaper than Yellowtail. Both the 2005 and 2006 vintages come from a lesser known grape the Bonarda grape, if I had to compare probably closest to Malbec. Long review made short, pick up a case or two and leave the mass produced Yellowtail on it's obnoxious Yellow display. Looking to buy online? I'm a big fan of Wine-Searcher.com which pulls prices from numerous wine websites so you can find the best deals.