Tag Archives: Cabernet

Six wines you should keep in house

18 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in Holidays, Newspaper Column 2017, Uncategorized

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Some of us real winos keep a lot of wine around the house. Some winos have a basement or cellar or electronic coolers to store wine. Some crazy (or very serious) winos move from one city to another and realize they have a lot of wine.

But most people don’t buy by the case or half case. I know serious wine aficionados who buy a bottle or two at a time. There is nothing wrong with either approach. But with the holiday season fast approaching, maybe it’s time to keep a small supply on hand.

grape-sense-logoI’d suggest you always keep six bottles of wine in your home. It keeps you prepared for any meal and any guest. The list should include two reds, two whites, a Rose’ and a sparkling wine.

It’s easiest to start with the two reds. One of those reds should probably be Cabernet Sauvignon. Cab goes best with steak and big flavors. Any decent wine shop and even liquor store will offer several Cabernets at reasonable prices below $20. Mondavi, Louis Martini, Concannon, and many others offer good value and varietally correct wines.

Your second red wine should probably be on the lighter side. Personally, I’d recommend a Pinot Noir. Pinot is lighter on the plate. It’s excellent with seafood and other dishes not quite as bold as beef entrees. There are lighter style Pinots, think Oregon and Burgundy, and bigger bold Pinots often from California. If you want something other than Pinot, try a Spanish tempranillo, French Beaujolais, of Italian Dolcetto.

It’s easy to start the whites with Chardonnay. But do you like them buttery and oaky or clean and crisp? California’s big buttery, woodsy Chard has dominated the market for years. That style of Chardonnay pairs great with food. But in recent years unoaked Chardonnay has really boomed. The unoaked Chards usually give a fresher fruit taste, crisp, and nice acidity. If you want sheer elegance for a special occasion, buy white burgundy or Chablis Cru at your nearby wine shop.

Your second white wine is a little trickier because of the wide range of choices. Lighter whites which drink easy include the entire family of Pinot whites. Pinot Grigio is often the lightest of the family and is made around the world. If you like a bit drier white wine, move to the Pinot Blancs. Riesling is a favorite of many and is made from very dry to very sweet. Arguably, the world’s best Riesling comes from Germany or the Alsace region. But you’ll also find great Riesling from Canada, New York, Washington, and upper Michigan.

Keep one Rose’ in-house because it’s the most flexible wine on your small wine rack or cardboard wine box. There are a few great Pinot Rose’ wines from California and Oregon but real devotees will tell you the best Rose’ comes from Provence in Southern France. World-class Rose’ comes at less than $20 a bottle. That funky pink wine is about as far from white zinfandel as wine can get. French Rose’ is a great food wine for lighter dishes.

Sparkling wine sales are growing around the world. Drink more and you’ll want more. Too many people have very dry Champagne memories from weddings past stuck in their mind. Today’s entry-level bubbles should start with Italian Prosecco and Spanish Cava. Both offer tremendous values with top bottles available for under $20 and often less. You don’t have to spend $300 a bottle to get the best French champagne either. You can buy great grower bubbles, grower meaning grown and produced usually in small lots, in the $50-$100 range.

The holidays are here and you need wine handy. Enjoy it with guests or keep the bottles around as a great gift. These six wines will help you be prepared. The only better advice is double down and buy a case!

The Best Cab from Your Market Shelf?

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by in California, Newspaper Column 2014

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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.

A Classic Italian Label Delivers

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Italy

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Frescobaldi is a name that belongs along side the Antinori label as one of the great wines from Tuscany.

frescobaldiThe Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni 2010 Toscana is a really nice bold wine perfect for steaks, roasts, and hearty pasta. The Tuscan blend is 50 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 percent Merlot, 12 percent Cabernet Franc, and 8 percent Sangiovese.

The Frescobaldi delivers the typically big and bold taste of a Tuscan. It’s an inky dark red wine with notes of currant, plum and dark fruit. I get chocolate and spices on the mid palate that I really like.

The wine was pretty tannic initially but but opened nicely with a little time in the decanter.

I was taken by the wine’s balance  once it had some time to air. I loved the acidic finish as the tannics softened a bit. This affordable Tuscan is a classic example of really good Italian wine.

This wine is the flagship bottle for Frescobaldi. The grapes were hand picked and went through malolactic fermentation before 12 months in barrels and 2 months in bottles before release. It also comes in at a very reasonable 13.5 percent alcohol.

The wine has pretty consistent scores of 89-91 from top publications through recent vintages.

Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni 2010 Toscana, SRP $25, found on the internet down to $18, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

savinoTesting Out New Wine Device

I’ve been talking with the developers of a new device for saving that extra wine left over when you don’t finish a bottle for a few months. The “Savino” arrived last week.

I have done a phone interview with the company founder and will share that in a future newspaper column.

Tonight’s big Tuscan wine seemed like the perfect first test for this wine saver. We’ll see!

Consider this a tease. I want to run several bottles through the Savino before coming to any judgment. There are lots of stoppers out there but I’ve not seen anything like this. And let’s face it, most of those plugs, corks, and other devices do a minimally crappy job of preserving the wine.

I did include a photo here to intrigue the curious. The product is not yet on the market but will be next week.

Stay tuned for further details!