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Howard W. Hewitt

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Howard W. Hewitt

Tag Archives: Bogle

The Best Cab from Your Market Shelf?

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Howard in California, Newspaper Column 2014

≈ 1 Comment

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Bello Vineyards, Bogle, Cabernet, Robert Mondavi

Summer time is grilling time and there is not a better part of the year for some charcoal fire and beef!

If you’re a wine person that means you need a bottle of Cabernet. Now, Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Syrah, and more could match with your roasted beast. But nothing says summer like a great rib eye and a bottle of the king of grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon.

Grape Sense LogoBut what if you’re on a budget? Or maybe you just don’t have the palate or inclination to splurge on an expensive bottle of wine. Never fear, your faithful wine columnist and his Wine Dudes are here to help.

Yellowtail, Mondavi, Fetzer, Beringer, and Bogle wines can be found on most grocery store shelves and many wine shops and liquor stores. These wines ranged from $6.99 to $11.99. Those labels represent some of the biggest – and some would argue the best – in value wine.

My wine buddies got together recently to determine the best of the lot. All four wine drinkers are pretty serious about their vino and took the task seriously. I purchased five bottles of wine from a local Kroger and then bagged them. Another of the wine guys mixed the bottles up and then everyone picked up a number at random and stuck it on a bottle. So no one knew what we were tasting – we took notes.

We had a great time and great discussion about wine. But, to borrow a phrase, I wanted to kick it up a notch. So I added a sixth wine that was a $100 bottle of Bello Family Vineyards 2008 Napa Cabernet. That bottle was also wrapped, and randomly numbered.

The first task was to pick out the $100 bottle. I had told the guys I was including one and would never do that again if I repeat the exercise. Two of the four were able to pick out the $100 bottle rather easily. As I recall, the other two had the expensive bottle as their second pick.

The moral to that story is even experienced palates can be wrong or confused.

But what about the under-$12-value Cabs? All five wines were 2012 Cabernets. Keep in mind most had a little bit of Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot or whatever in the blend but were at least 75 percent Cabernet.

There was unanimous agreement that none of us cared if we ever tasted the value Yellowtail or Fetzer Cab ever again. Ever!

We probably disagreed the most on the Beringer Cab. The group loved it and hated it. That put it in the middle for us in the number-three slot. The Beringer needed time out of the bottle and just kept improving. Two of the group hated it, I think it’s a very solid choice for the price point.

The top two were Mondavi Central Coast Cabernet and Bogle Cab. The Mondavi was smooth with a balanced mouth feel and good Cabernet characteristics. Seldom do wines at this price point have much of a finish – or a pleasant one – and that was true with this bottle. A serious wine drinker would call the Mondavi thin. Still for a beginning wine drinker, I’d offer up the value Mondavi line to any one with great confidence.

So that means our winner was Bogle, but it was close. The Bogle could be described much like the Mondavi but with a little bit ‘more’ across the palate. The fruit was a bit bigger, there were secondary characteristics, mild tannins and a satisfying finish.

I’d call the Bogle pretty darn good juice. Try it with a rib eye.

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Top Wines From Your Supermarket Shelf

17 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by Howard in Newspaper Column 2012

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Bogle, J Lohr, Mirrasou, Robert Mondavi

As much as I’d like friends to quiz me about a great $50 Pinot Noir, most of the inquiries are about supermarket wines.
I’ve written many times in the previous 90 columns about such wines and what I think is most palatable. I’m a fan of Mirrasou, Mondavi Private Selection, Smoking Loon, and a few others. All can be found for $10 or less at most markets.

One of the reasons I’m still writing this column is to share information and hopefully a little wine education. I see a lot of wine-related news every week. Most casual vino consumers aren’t going to be interested in the wine-geeky stuff I consume. But every now and then there is wine news that I think is not only interesting but helpful.

If you are a supermarket wine buyer, wouldn’t you like to know what others are buying and most consumers think are top brands?
A consumer research group, Symphony IRI, annually reports its Top 30 momentum wine brands. The report bases its chart on sales data, volume and dollar sales, volume share in the price range, and other measures.  More than 100 brands met the minimum sales of 100,000 cases to be considered.
In a report on winesandvines.com , the survey showed Cupcake wines repeating as the top such wine in the country. Next came Barefoot, Apothic, Liberty Creek – those previous three all owned by Gallo – then St. Michelle’s 14 Hands and Menage A Trois.
Gallo wines held down the number-eight spot with a familiar name, Fish Eye.  Bogle came in at 11th, Columbia Crest was 14th, J Lohr was 17th, Almos 18th, Mark West 19th, chateau St. Jean 20th, Woodbridge 22nd, Sutter Home 23rd, Yellow Tail 26th, Gnarly Head 27th, and Sterling 30th.
Overall, the survey reported, most of the brands had strong growth by improving quality and marketing. Prices were also down per bottle over 2010. 
If you looked at the entire list of 30 labels, what most folks might find surprising is one company owns seven of those brands. What shouldn’t be surprising is that company is the giant Gallo label.
What does all this mean? Not much if you’ve tried the wines and didn’t like them. But if most of your buying is from the supermarket, these labels are easy to find. Obviously, the brands sell well and many supermarket wine shoppers find them to be good wines.
Higher Priced Wines Re-gaining Market Share
At the other end of the spectrum premium wines are coming back. After the economic downturn of 2008, several Central Indiana retailers said they couldn’t move a bottle of wine that cost more than $20-$25. 
During the first quarter of 2012, wines at $20 or more grew in sales 24 percent over last year.
People still love their Cabernet and the bigger prices are also making a comeback. Cab sold more than any other varietal in the top price categories. When you look at those $20-plus wines, most are Cabs. Pinot Noir continues to rock wine drinkers’ worlds with a 32 percent gain over a year ago for wines above $20.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

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