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As I freely admit, I was a journalist in a previous life and for many of those years I would enjoy using my weekly column for a good rant.

Well, I feel the same today. I have not done that much, if at all, here!

I don’t really like Chardonnay. Not the big ones, the light ones, the stainless steel ones or the oakey ones – don’t like em.

But friend Rob down at Cork and Cracker got me to try a light Italian Chardonnay – Agrinatura NV Chardonnay from Puglia. I found this wine online for up to about $13. But Rob and Ashley at Cork & Cracker snagged some they were able to sell for $6.99 a bottle! Go back and read that sentence again if necessary.

It’s a nice smooth, rich but light flavored Chardonnay. And Chardonnay and Italy are words not normally found in the same sentence.

This is a nice soft Chardonnay.

So now the rant. Why is it I can find so many Spanish, Italian, and South American wines under $10-$13 that are well structed or balanced, nice fruit, balanced tannins and a great glass of wine —– And —— American wine makers in the value market still make lots of CRAP!

This bottle of wine was nice, rich and smooth. It wasn’t a big bold Chardonnay but it was very drinkable. A wine like this would give novice wine drinkers a very approachable introduction to wine. Instead, they get wines made in tanks the size of grain silos with acidy, lack of balance, masked by too much oak (or wood chips) disguised as wine.

And I repeat – I don’t like Chardonnay!

But I’d buy this one again.

Why? Why? Why?

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I came across an interesting news note today. New Zealand’s Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc has become the biggest selling Sauv Blanc in the United States.

Read the article here from Decanter.com. The IRI sales survey quoted as the source is THE numbers survey in the wine industry.

I wrote about this wine just a couple weeks ago. It’s a great wine for a great price at $10-$12.

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There’s nothing better than some mild Italian sausage, ground turkey, chopped seasoned tomatos, lots of onion, garlic, and I like red peppers – over pasta. Of course it’s best with some rich and medium weight Italian red wine.

I made that pasta combination tonight and opened a bottle of Straccali 2006 Chianti Classico. Chianti is almost always the entry point for most of us into Italian red wines. It’s a bigger flavor but pairs really well with about any red sauce pasta dish.

This winery has been around along time dating back to 1925. It’s situated in the key Chianti region of Italy between Florence and Siena. Most Chianti or Chianti Classico is primarily Sangiovese. This wine is 90 percent of the classic Italian grape with a 10 percent blend of Merlot and Canaiolo.

It’s a big full-flavored, medium bodied wine. It has a rich nose of dark fruit, it’s a bit tart, but pairs really well with food.

And I like this wine a lot for the $12-$15 price point. I picked this up at Cork & Cracker’s Fishers’ store.

This makes a nice comparison to the Italian I opened earlier this week. This wine was definitely a little bigger wine than the Caldora, but it is a different grape. You can read about the other Italian I wrote about here.

Overall, a good choice if you like a nice big Sangiovese flavor at this price point!

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I’ve been working on spreading the newspaper column a little this week. Recently I have urged editors to consider Grape Sense as an online exclusive.

Frankly, I’m surprised more haven’t gone that route. Newspapers are pinched for space on the printed page for economic reasons I totally understand. And don’t get me wrong, I love the column on the printed page.

But online I can make the column more interactive with live links. And having spent the better part of more than 20 years in the newspaper business, I know I’d be driving original content to my website if I was an editor today!

Editor Kelly Hawes of the Logansport Pharos-Tribune picked up Grape Sense today for the newspaper’s website. I’m very happy to be adding the column for all those Logansport Berries (local high school nickname)!

I could rant on about the newspaper business and newspaper websites, but this is about the grape juice.

On that topic, I had a great lunchtime meeting today with David Mirassou. David is the 6th generation of his family in the wine business. You’ll see the yellow and black Mirassou label in many markets and wine shops. Mirassou is a value label that makes a consistently good product.

I’ll be writing about that visit in the coming weeks and I’m sure I’ll have something up on this blog as well.

Meanwhile, welcome aboard Logansport!

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I have trouble finding nice Italian red wine that I really enjoy for my pasta dishes. I picked up two bottles late last week in Indianapolis, this one from Cork and Cracker’s north store bordering Zionsville and Fishers.

The Caldora 2007 Montepulciano d Abruzzo was a very pleasant surprise! I paid a very reasonable $11.99 for this bottle and found it online anywhere from $9-$14. It’s 13.5 percent alcohol so the burn won’t over power your dinner or knock you into the back of your chair.

It had a blackish color and a nice earthy scent of dark fruit. The acidity and finish was relatively mild. Not a complicated wine but I think it would hold up nice to big flavored dishes! It’s definitely a “full-bodied” wine and well balanced. Those who like big red Italians will find fault with the soft tannins. But this bottle is something I think I’d heartily recommend for those who want to try an approachable Italian.

I enjoyed this wine with pasta and then a little chocolate. It held its own very nice to the mildly-spiced dinner dish and some 70 percent cocoa chocolate.

One other thing I definitely noticed was this wine needs some air. Some wines change very little after opening and some change a lot. This one really improved with some time out of the bottle.

I scrounged around and believe I found some information about this winery. And here is some good information on the grape.

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The only thing tougher than getting a Chardonnay drinker to try other white wines might be getting a red wine drinker to try white.

I’d suggest to both groups they try a Sauvignon Blanc. This crisp, citrus-flavored wine often has a zip that is perfect with seafood and chicken. It’s lighter than a red but not as rich or sweet as many whites.

I opened a Nobilo 2008 Sauv Blanc last night with some grilled shrimp. It’s a very nice inexpensive bottle of wine. Sauv Blanc often has a lemon, line, grassy, citrus, and minerality type of flavor. Sauv Blanc can be acidic to very acidic to your taste.

This wine comes from New Zealand, a country that has really distinguished itself for value Sauv Blanc and Pinot Noir. I liked the citrus/grapefruit flavors of the Nobilo. The acidity was light in this one but the wine had a lasting finish I could really enjoy! And it has big aromatic citrus nose.

Try some Sauv Blanc with your grilled summer seafood or chicken. The acidity provides just the right balance to the sweetness of seafood.

There are great Sauv Blancs from lots of different countries. It’s a good wine to explore and discover the differences from winery to winery and continent to continent!

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I wrote my every-other-week newspaper column Tuesday and have some things I’d like to share that doesn’t fit in that particular venue.

Huber’s Winery and Orchard in Southern Indiana is just one of my all-time favorite day trips. They have a huge farmers market, attractions for all ages, homemade bakery goods, ice cream, cheeses and some of Indiana’s best home-grown wine.

It’s nearly a two-hour drive south of Indianapolis but it is worth the trouble. Last Saturday I picked the most amazing strawberries I think I’ve ever seen. A friend and I started in the row assigned to us and we didn’t go 6-8 feet before we picked 4-5 quarts each of big amazing and sweet strawberries. And because this year’s crop was so bountiful, they were selling them for $1.25 a pound!

I took my camera along Saturday and shot some pictures you can see here. It was a fabulous day!

There is much more about Huber’s and comments from Ted Huber in my newspaper column which you can always read in the link at the left labeled: Grape Sense.

Here is a link to the Huber column specifically. But I also wanted to add to this posting that it doesn’t stop at the Winery and Farm Market. Just down the road, maybe a mile, is Joe Huber’s farm market and restaurant. It has repeatedly been named the Louisville area’s favorite family restaurant. And, trying to avoid too much hyperbole, the best darn fried chicken I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Huber’s wines are near the very top in Indiana wineries for taste and quality. Frankly, there are alot of Indiana wineries making good sweet wines. But there are very few making palatable dry red wine. Huber’s has two blends and other varietal specific wines that are setting the pace for others in Indiana.

They are very hospitable hosts as well. You’ll find the staff very friendly and the tasting room hosts quite approachable. Ted Huber is often generous with his time. We talked wine and his winery for a good 15-20 minutes. Two years ago he assisted a young man at Wabash with a research project. Here is that student-written blog entry.

It’s worth a trip. They have some really crowded weekends in the fall at the height of fall apple and pumpkin harvest. I’d suggest avoiding it then unless you like big crowds. During the summer they’re always busy but worth the trouble. Their berries, vegetables, and fruit is available in the on-site market. But for many of the goodies you can go into the field and pick em yourself for a cheaper price.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday!

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Since my full-time job is in marketing, I can usually spot a good marketing ploy when I see it. That being said, go ahead and take advantage of me!

I was asked today to be a “guest judge” at the 18th Indy International Wine Competition held annually at the state fairgrounds. It’s June 16 and 17 and draws more than 3,000 wines from 12 countries.

Organizers are inviting journalists to sit with a regular panel of judges and participate in the process – taste the wines, discuss the wines, though the guests won’t be doing any judging.

The idea is to bring attention to the annual competition and Indiana’s wine industry. I’m all for it!

So between now and then, I’ll work on spitting! It should make a fun newspaper column/blog topic – or two!

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I opened a bottle of Gran Feudo 2007 Rose Friday night and I’m just getting around to post an entry.

This is a widely distributed Rose from the Navarra region of Spain. If you’ve tried some Rose and it’s not quite big enought to your tastes, you might try the Gran Feudo. It is 100 percent Garnacha and has a bit more of punch to the flavor.

It has a big fruity nose but you can immediately tell its not a light Rose. I thought it had some vanilla hints. Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator gave this wine an 85 – a good solid choice but not spectacular.

But if you are experimenting with Rose, this is one you should try. It’s definitely got a bigger flavor.

Like mose Rose wine it’s very affordable at $8.99-$12.98. I picked this one up from Jill Ditmire at Mass Ave Wine shop.

I have had Rose from several varieties now and still like the Spanish Garnacha-based wine the best. But that’s just motivation to keep up the research!
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