Well, I hope everyone completed their homework from last month! This month we sample a couple of great selections to complement your weekend barbeques. Learn and enjoy!
Have a comment or question about any of the selections? Email me: Jake@VinoSOS
I will use a consistent legend throughout my selections:
- Rose (Pink)
- Solo Rosa
- California
- 2006
- $13.99
- This wine is made by Jeff Morgan, who use to write for Wine Enthusiast magazine. He is so passionate about making quality dry rose, that he left the magazine to create Solo Rosa (only rose) winery. Perfect for summertime sipping on the porch before, during or after a meal.
- Gewurztraminer (White)
- Paul Blanck
- Alsace, France
- 2005
- $17.99
- The toughest grape to pronounce. Gewurztraminer is filled with baking spices on the nose and the palatte. The name means "spicy dry", which pretty much says it all. Very complex but delicious wine, goes great with spicy food, perfect with Indian food.
- Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Chardonnay, Malvasia, Vermentino (White)
- Terruzzi & Puthod
- Terre di tufi
- Tuscany, Italy
- 2005
- $17.99
- A blend of white grapes from the "soil of tufa". Has a minerally quality which I like to call a "wet rock quality". Picture water lapping up against the rocks on a stream bed and how that would smell. I like this with grilled pork chops or veal chops.
- Chardonnay (White)
- Raphael Vineyards
- Grand Cru White Table Wine
- North Fork, Long Island
- 2004
- $14.99
- Green apple all the way. Crisp, bright and refreshing. Good picnic at the beach or relaxing on the boat wine. Oysters or clams on-the-half-shell work well with this.
- Viognier 61%, Marsanne 39% (White)
- Treana
- Mer Soleil Vineyard, Central Coast, California
- 2004
- $21.99
- Loads and loads of tropical fruit. Ripe pineapple and guava to name a few. This is a big juicy wine from Treana. Treana specializes in blending grapes and has a winner here. These two grapes are typically from the Rhone Valley in the south of France. They are now being planted in California by some pioneer winemakers referred to as the "Rhone Rangers".
- Macabeo 67%, Parellada 33% (White)
- Segura Viudas
- Reserva Heredad
- Cava, Spain
- N.V.
- $18.99
- Cava is another great alternative to the more expansive Champagnes from France. Made in the same traditional method, but with very different grapes. Notes of fresh baked bread from the yeast with hints of apple and spiced pear.
- Corvina 70%, Rondinella 25%, Molinara 5% (Red)
- Secco-Bertani
- Valpolicella Valpantena Ripasso
- Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy
- 2004
- $15.99
- You may know Bertani for their big beefy Amarones. This is made from the same grapes, but the grapes are not dried out and raisinated on straw mats like they are in the Amarones. A much lighter version, but fattened up by the ripasso method. The ripasso method is a process where they save the skins and pulp from the Amarone after it has been pressed and put it in the oak barrels with the Valpolicella wine. Leave it to the Italians to waste nothing.
- Malbec 50%, Merlot 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10%, Syrah 10% (Red)
- Clos de los Siete
- by Michel Rolland
- Mendoza, Argentina
- 2005
- $15.99
- Michel Rolland has been demonized in the documentary "Mondavino" as being the man responsible for the "internationalization" of wine. He is a flying winemaker who makes wine in many countries for about $100,000 a visit. Some people feel like all his wines taste the same, and are no longer typical of the region from which they are grown. One person, namely Robert Parker, thinks all his wines are great, and they all get high ratings. See what you think. He is a partner in this winery with six other people, creating the "House of Seven" or Clos de los Siete.
- Merlot 46%, Cabernet Sauvignon 41%, Cabernet Franc 13% (Red)
- Cain Five
- Cain Cuvee
- Napa Valley, California
- NV3
- $23.99
- Cain Five is a very expensive red blend from Napa Valley. The winery makes Cain Cuvee from extra grapes from several different vintages. This is why it is a non-vintage wine. It gives the winemaker more freedom to blend, and the ability to make a very good wine every year by borrowing juice from past years. The 3 after the NV tells you that most of the fruit was harvested in 2003.
- Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo)(Red)
- Bodega Numanthia Termes
- Termes
- Toro, Spain
- 2004
- $21.99
- This is the new "Hot" wine from Spain. It comes from very old vines in the somewhat forgotten wine region of Toro in Spain, which is the only thing keeping its price tag is check. Drink and buy more now if you like it. The price will surely go up soon.
- Shiraz (Red)
- d'Arenberg
- The Footbolt
- McLaren Vale, Australia
- 2004
- $17.99
- d'Arenberg make very full bodied, dark reds. McLaren Vale is a very warm region in Australia which helps the fruit get ultra ripe. The wine is rich is dark fruits, cocoa and spice. This is grilled steak wine for sure.
- Cabernet Sauvignon (Red)
- Beringer
- Knights Valley, Sonoma County, California
- 2004
- $22.99
- I think this is one of Beringers best offerings. The Knights Valley Cab gets great structure from the cooler Sonoma County growing area. Being a little closer to the Pacific helps Sonoma Valley cool its grapes off at night and give them a nice balance of fruit and acid. This is a very straight forward Cab for a fair price.
