Category Archives: Feature Story

It’s a ‘perfect rosé storm’ as once-shunned wine blossoms on marketplace shelves

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Wine Photo of The Day by Mike9Alive — Click photo for larger image

Wine Photo of the Day by Mike9Alive

Once upon a time, when it came to wines, the word rosé might well have been synonymous with déclassé.

Sweet stuff.

Something with “white” in front of the name (as in “white Zinfandel”).

Or perhaps equated with the fairly frivolous (as in “blush” or “pink Chablis”).

Well, times have changed.

As the San Francisco Chronicle puts it, in an article headlined, Stop and drink the rosé: Once-shunned wine explodes onto marketplace:

“With a blazing turnaround, dry rosés have exploded onto the market and are everywhere in stores, restaurants and bars. ‘It’s a perfect rosé storm,’ says Jeff Morgan, winemaker and co-owner of SoloRosa Wines, the only winery in America founded on dry rosé, now in its eighth vintage.”

That article, by staff writer Cindy Lee, is paired with a helpful backgrounder on various types of premium rosés.

And last but certainly not least, there’s a long listing of domestic dry rosé picks, including two that fit comfortably in our cherished “desperately seeking $10 wine values” category:

  • 2007 Toad Hollow Eye of the Toad Sonoma County Dry Pinot Noir Rosé.
  • 2006 Trentadue Monte Lago Vineyard Clear Lake Grenache Rosé.

In case you needed any more persuading, take it from Jon Priest, winemaker at the Napa, Calif., winery Etude, who tells The Chronicle: “What’s not to love about rosé? It’s refreshing, it’s approachable, and it pairs well with most summer dishes.”

Want to find a perfectly priced bottle of wine? Give the Smarter Wine Search a try.

A ‘surefire secret’ for food and wine pairings, and it’s pretty easy to apply

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A “surefire secret” for food and wine pairings comes to us from The Washington Post‘s Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.

It seems pretty simple once you hear it: “Make sure the same wine is in each.”

And the secret’s pretty easy to apply, as one of their match-ups illustrates.

Let’s say you’re having boeuf bourguignon (beef braised in red wine).

First, think French.

Then, of course, think red.

And what you come up with (resulting in “what we consider a holy grail pairing that all food lovers should experience at least once”): Red burgandy.

Page and Dornenburg serve up several other tasty examples — wines for foods ranging from fondue to caramelized scallops and mushroom risotto.

But then there’s the all important question: How to know when you’ve made the right choices?

They’ve got that covered, too.

“You can always tell when you hit upon a wonderful wine and food pairing, because it fills the space between the two. When you can find a way to add a splash of whatever is in your glass to what you’re eating, not only does that space disappear, but an entirely new flavor experience replaces it.”

As a bonus, they also mention a bottle that fits nicely in our “desperately seeking $10 wine values” category. It’s a 2005 Brancott Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($10).

Want to find a perfectly priced bottle of wine? Give the Smarter Wine Search a try.

Experts’ weekend wine picks: From South African favorite to Pinot Grigio bargain

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Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from popular wine experts and websites, spotlighting bargains and best values among other choices at their websites.

The Wine Cellar: Earthy South African reds evoke the Old World

An update on South African wines, with a notable favorite highlighted, from Frank Sutherland and Kate Sutherland, Gannett News Service:

“In a world of homogenized wine styles, South African reds really stand out. They have remained true to the distinctive style of the region; no other wine in the world tastes like a South African wine.

“They often have a gravelly, dusty quality and flavors of green pepper, olive, and peat. These are true “terroir” wines — they reflect the qualities of the earth in which the grapes were grown. As such, they tend to taste more like a European wine than a New World offering.”

And now to highlight the favorite: 2003 Vergelegen “Mill Race,” $24.99.

Single-Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

A review of standouts from a region noted for its Pinot Noirs, from Lynne Char Bennett, San Francisco Chronicle:

“The panel found lots to like among the 57 vineyard-designate Russian River Valley Pinots, which are made from vintners’ best, most distinctive grapes. The wines showed well and are displaying depth, complexity and less noticeable alcohol levels than many from the hot 2004 vintage.”

One of the more-affordable two-and-one-half-star winners: 2006 Hawley Oehlman Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, $33.

Stock spring picnic with affordable Washington wines

A dozen selections tuned to different courses for a wine tasting or meal, from Paul Gregutt, The Seattle Times:

“Rather than worry about matching particular wines to particular foods, I put together a group of whites and reds that allowed the guests to mix and match according to their own tastes and whims.”

The terms affordable and outstanding pair quite well in this description: Columbia Crest Two Vines 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, $8

Top 5 Box Wines

Nicely priced boxed wines (and handy food recommendations), from Jeffery Lindenmuth, Epicurious:

“Box wines (a.k.a. boxed wines) have become popular in recent years because they hold more wine than a single bottle, they’re light and recyclable, they’re easy to open and reseal, they chill quickly, and they won’t break if you drop them.”

This one-liter pick is said to show more character than the bottled types: Three Thieves Bandit Pinot Grigio 2006, about $9.

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to your local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc)
  • Organic (red, white, in between)

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Smarter Wine Search tool and see what wine finds columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, "Napa, California"), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or scroll down to the bottom of this page and dig into top wine lists from a variety of sources. You’ll also find links to everything from a food-pairing database to websites for comparative wine ratings.

‘Desperately seeking’ $10 wines leads intrepid blogger to Chile’s Carménère

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In our “desperately seeking $10 wine values” category: I recently latched on to a Sierra Cruz Carménère 2007 from Chile’s Maule Valley.

The rich, red color prefigures its dark earthy, leather flavors.

And some pepper thrown in.

But don’t be afraid!

It’s dry yet not at all biting. A real nice balance.

Imagine: For ten bucks, a wine known as the “lost grape of Bordeaux” — the history of this grape alone makes it a worthwhile buy.

Once a kind of second-cousin to Chile’s Merlot production, Carménère is becoming more appreciated, as this backgrounder points out.

I certainly am appreciating it (as I take another sip).

For some other $10 values, I turned to Wine News, which just happens to be serving up its latest reviews of 100 blind-tasted wines.

Right beneath its “Tasters Choice” selections, ranging from $65 to $100, are the all-important “Best Value” listings. And among them are two $10 picks (and as the wine gods would have it, they’re both Chilean):

  • Veramonte, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, Colchagua Valley
  • Veramonte, 2006 Chardonnay Reserva, Casablanca Valley

Now that I’m thinking of it, let me see if I can Google an appropriate trip to Chile …

Want to find a perfectly priced bottle of wine? Give the Smarter Wine Search a try.

Bargain wines big winners in a new book whose testers tried 6,000 glasses of wine

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On a lark, I’ve been know to select a wine by the welcoming contour of the bottle in my hand.

Or when a fantastic label design meets my eye.

Sometimes I like what I get.

Sometimes not.

But the point is, after tasting, I know what I like.

Or so I think.

When the wine stars align in a particular way and I decide to splurge on the product of some otherwise fiscally forbidding region of France or Italy, does the price help make up my mind about its likeableness a bit?

Am I sometimes duped by a particular vineyard’s celebrity status into discerning a deliciousness I could have more affordably found in Two-Buck Chuck?

Several recent articles (including at The New York Times and Newsweek) explore the labyrinthine psychology of wine appreciation.

They come in the wake of a new book, The Wine Trials, that boasts of uncovering “100 wines under $15 that outscored $50-$150 wines in brown-bag blind tastings.”

Those results are based on tastings of more than 6,000 glasses of wine by 500 wine experts and everyday wine drinkers, according to the book publisher. Press kit examples:

  • Two-thirds of tasters preferred a $12 Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut, a Washington State sparkling wine, to a $150 Dom Pérignon Champagne; a six-dollar Vinho Verde from Portugal beat out a $40 California Chardonnay and a $50 1er Cru white Burgundy.

Other picks from the book:

  • Aveleda Vinho Verde, Portugal, $6
  • La Vieille Ferme Rouge, Perrin & Fils, France, $8
  • Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand, $13

These findings shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to alert readers of Wine News Review, home of the aptly named fairly frugal affordability index.

As I say in the About page concerning the guiding principle of this blog: “Even some of the world’s top experts acknowledge, wine doesn’t have to be pricey to be good.”

Scientists, too, have chimed in.

A California Institute of Technology study earlier this year — plumbing the exotic field of neuroeconomics, the subconscious appeal of expensive stuff — found that people report a greater enjoyment of wine if they think it costs more.

Turns out, that’s no big surprise either, in wine circles, at least, according to this Times Online article:

Rupert Wollheim, a master of wine who runs ripegrapes.co.uk, an online wine retailer, said that the response described by [the study] was well known in the wine business.

He said: ‘Price is just one of the elements, but if you served the same wine in better glasses or a grander environment, that would also make people think the very same wine was better.’

USA TODAY‘s Jerry Shriver decided to put the tester to the test. He tried 10 wines blind. And then he tried the same wines with the labels visible.

Interestingly, he discovered that his top three favorite wines were the same from both tastings (including this affordable pick: 2007 Georges Duboeuf Clos des Quatre Vents, Fleurie, Beaujolais, France, about $12).

Which reminds me of an observation in one of my previous postings: Just as Duke Ellington opined about the quality of music (“If it sounds good, it is good”), the same could also be said about wine.

If it tastes good, it is good.

Even if it’s inexpensive!

Want to find a perfectly priced bottle of wine? Give the Smarter Wine Search a try.