Wine News Review

Category: Feature Story

  • ‘Turkey wine’ and other Thanksgiving wine bargains to the rescue

    Good news and bad news about Thanksgiving.

    The good news: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat. 

    The bad: such a wide variety of delicious things to eat — which can make pairing the right wine enough to give you mental indigestion.

    But don’t despair.

    Wine tasters around the nation are graciously coming to the rescue (tough work, but somebody’s got to do it).

    Like white?

    If you’re thinking of going with a white, for example, an eclectic  cast of tasters in Nashville — including reps of wine distributors, a wine collector, a sommelier and food columnist — came up with a tasty bunch of recommendations while chowing down with turkey, dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce to assure mouth-watering harmony.

    Some of their selections fit nicely within the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index, or at least the holiday version of it.

    Among their selections, Gewürztraminer, aka “turkey wine” because it goes so well with the main dish. One stood out:

    2006 Covey Run ($8.99) — serves up a “delightful aroma of cooked cling peaches, white pepper and floral notes.” It was the tasters’ favorite: “The wine withstood competing tastes and was not as sweet as the others.”

    Second was a 2006 Columbia Winery Cellarmaster’s Riesling ($13.99) — tasters agreed that its “fruit and perfume ‘rocked’ with the multi-flavored meal.”

    Versatile Pinot

    Stacy Slinkard, wine guide at About.com, offers a list of 10 Thanksgiving wine suggestions, nine of which are $10 or under.

    Her number one recommendation is a California Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2005, ($10), finding it a “delicious compilation of fruit and smoke, full-bodied and balanced.”

    She also cites a few reds, including another Californian, a Rex Goliath Pinot Noir, ($9), which she finds supple and versatile enough “to go with everything from hors d’oeuvres to the main dish.”

    To start off the festivities with some bubbly cheer, she suggests a Korbel Champagne Brut ($10), “a champagne stand by that is perfect for party goers.”

    Don’t worry, be happy

    While acknowledging the banquet-sized range of flavors to be found on a Thanksgiving table, Peter M. Gianotti at Long Island’s Newsday, takes a don’t-worry-be-happy approach: ” … drink what you like, whether it’s apple cider, brown ale or bourbon.”

    But if wine is your Thanksgiving drink of choice, he recommends a diverse collection of whites and reds, including a nicely priced, “berry-driven” 2006 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir ($14).

    Speaking of nicely priced, he suggests a couple Italian Proseccos for the celebratory sparkling wine selection: La Vendemmia ($10), Lunetta ($13).

    Of course, there are many other wine tasters standing graciously by to take the wine anxiety out of Thanksgiving. Stay tuned to Wine News Review in coming days for more of their suggestions.

    Tip: Print out this list, and for that matter the lists from the links above, when you head to your local wine shop. If none is available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar, and similarly priced.

  • Five tips from the ‘Ultimate Guide’ to Thanksgiving wine

    Among the many things for which we should give thanks is that we don’t have to stumble around a wine shop wondering what wine would go well with Thanksgiving dinner.

    But excuse me — did I say wine, singular?

    If there was ever an occasion to have more than one wine at a meal, this is it.

    Take it from wine diva Natalie MacLean, author of the bestselling book “Red, White and Drunk All Over,” who serves up an “Ultimate Guide” to choosing Thanksgiving wines, plural.

    Among her tips (with my links to varietal backgrounders):

    • For starters, think bubbly. Not only does a sparkling wine complement soups or salads, it’s a festive way to kill some time while the turkey’s roasting.
    • Look for a “mouth-watering” wine to pair with the dry-textured turkey meat, say a crisp Riesling or Pinot Grigio. But then again the fruity flavors of Pinot Noir, Beaujolais and Zinfandel would go well, too.
    • Given the assortment of side dishes in the typical Thanksgiving banquet, there’s no need to choose between the reds and whites — you can offer both.
    • A “big, buttery” Chardonnay from California or Chile would suit the roasted, smoky flavors of squash, chestnuts and pecan stuffing, while a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc would provide a crisp contrast to cream sauces’ richness.
    • “End on a sweet note,” like a late-harvest wine or ice wine. 

    Her number one recommendation for a Thanksgiving wine? A Pinot Noir from her current list of picks, she suggested in a recent e-mail message. Depending on your budget:

    • 2001 J. Labet & N. Déchelette Château De La Tour Clos-Vougeot Grand Cru 2001 Ac, Grand Cru, France – Burgundy:
      “Exotic aromas of earth, lovely sour cherries, beets (it’s a good thing) and a certain je ne sais quois pas.” $129.95
    • 2005 Maison Champy Bourgogne Signature Pinot Noir AC, France – Burgundy:
      With raspberry, cherry-drop and beetroot scents, a “staggering value” from a respected producer. $18.95

    There’s a cornucopia of wine experts decanting advice about Thanksgiving wines. Stay tuned to Wine News Review in the days ahead for more of their recommendations and picks.

     

  • Weekend wine bargains: “soft and round” tops experts’ picks

    Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from popular wine experts, spotlighting bargains and best values.

    2006 Ironstone Vineyards Obsession Symphony Sierra Foothills, U.S.A. – California:
    Natalie MacLean — “soft and round with a touch of sweetness” and the brand’s typical fragrance, her best-value white. $14.95

    2006 McManis Family Vineyards Syrah, Calif.:
    Jerry Shriver — serves up tones of black cherries and blueberries … “I could quaff this by itself or with a nice pork roast.” About $11

    Tahbilk Marsanne 2005 Nagambie Lakes, Victoria:
    Jancis Robinson — she calls this quite a rare variety, “pale gold and has an attractively wide range of aromas and flavours – ripe apricots and peaches, ripe apples, something slightly floral, maybe honeysuckle, and just a little bit of honey.” Under £7 in the UK

    Banfi, Toscana IGT (Tuscany, Italy) Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio “Le Rime” 2006:
    Michael Franz — “tasty little wine is fresh and pure and very usefully balanced on the line between light and medium body,” offering pear and white-melon flavors. $9

    Yellow Tail Chardonnay South Eastern Australia The Reserve 2005:
    Wine Spectator — neither heavy nor sweet, “soft and fruity, with spice and floral character piling on.” $11

    Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you 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 Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local 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 dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

    Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

    Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

    Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

    The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!

  • Web sips: New and notable wine headlines, 11/05/07

    Handpicked wine stories from across the Web… including a pleasurable wine soaking, an anti-headache device, “apple wine” woes and a tell-all book about the “pope of the vineyards.”

    Soak in the pleasure of wine, spirits with a few good books
    USA TODAY wine writer Jerry Shriver reports on several wine-related books that have landed on his desk, including a photographic road trip across wine-making America.

    Test Created for Wine Headache Chemicals
    Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have reportedly developed a device that could help avoid the dreaded “red wine headache.” What fun is that?

    Germans fear their ‘apple wine’ will lose name under EU plan
    In our aptly named say-it-ain’t-so category: German politicians are scared seedless that the name of their traditional “apfelwein” will fall victim to new European Union regs.

    Wine, produce, tea prevent cancer tumors
    Very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols in red wine, fruits, vegetables and green tea prevent cancerous tumor, French researchers say.

    Wine Is A Drink Of Divine Love
    Those wine-savvy folks in Croatia get get a blessing during a Saint Martin of Tours celebration.

    “Emperor of Wine” Parker picked apart in new book
    A former assistant alleges errors and cronyism by the “pope of the vineyards.”

    Thirsty for more news? Follow up by digging into continuously updated feeds from national and international news outlets: The focus is on red, white and organic wine bargains.

  • Latest Web wine buzz — from Spanish excellence to Bordeaux bargains

    Tune in to what top wine bloggers and experts are decanting into cyberspace with handpicked highlights of their latest and greatest, ranging from “emerging excellence” from Spain and an un-frugal selection for the wine-lover in your life to Bordeaux strategies and South American bargains.

    “Emerging excellence” is the theme of the latest column by Michael Franz at Wine Review Online — and decent prices might be a sub-theme — for what he calls remarkable wines from three Spanish areas.

    Thirteen wines are listed, ranging from $12 to $30, and most are seen as terrific values, “balanced and packed with deep, satisfying flavors.”

    There’s little doubt that Spain, of all the countries in Europe, is sending us the best bargains in red wine … The only bad news to be reported is that availability in North America is spotty from market to market … So, you may need to do a bit of searching to try these wines, but I believe they are well worth the search.

    Warning: Utterly forget the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index with this item.

    For Dorothy J. Gaiter And John Brecher at The Wall Street Journal, it’s that pre-holiday time of year when they like to recommend “one break-the-bank, you-shouldn’t-have bottle for the wine-lover in your life.”

    This time around it’s the “lusty” Penfolds Grange, made from Shiraz and occasionally some Cabernet Sauvignon. They tasted 10 vintages, going back to 1971, and were blown away.

    We have been writing this column for almost a decade now and have been drinking and studying wine for 35 years, but we have never had such a consistently exciting tasting. We expected to enjoy these wines, but we never would have guessed that five of the 10 wines would rate Delicious or higher.

    Even the cost of Grange seems incredibly modest compared with Bordeaux prices, which as Joseph Ward at The Washington Post observes, have “gone mad.” Like, $8,000 for a case of wine?!

    The good news is that Bordeaux lovers can continue to drink Bordeaux, and not go bankrupt — “with some adjustments.” Ward highlights five Bordeaux finds ranging from $20 to $120 dollars.

    And he offers several strategies to help you latch on to other relatively affordable bottles, including:

    Look for undervalued great wines from earlier vintages — another reason you’ll need a good wine merchant, although the Internet is useful, too. An outstanding vintage for the mainly cabernet-sauvignon wines of the M-doc is 1996, while 1998 favored the merlot communes of St. Emilion and Pomerol. High 2005 prices have put pressure on those earlier vintages, but there are still relative bargains. And those wines have several years of bottle age and are either close to or at their peak, so it won’t be long before you can realize a delectable return on your investment.

    For more down-to-earth bargains, turn to Food & Wine, where Ray Isle serves up the “17 best values” from Chile and Argentina.

    Isle starts us off with a little history lesson: Did you know that when the first Thanksgiving was being celebrated in Plymouth Colony in 1621, grapes had been cultivated in those two South American countries for nearly 75 years?

    Not all of their wines today may be remarkable, “or even good,” Isle says, but “best bottlings” like those listed in this article, ranging from $9 to $20, are extraordinary buys that could easily grace a modern-day Thanksgiving table. A nice primer:

    From Chile, look for crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc from the Casablanca and San Antonio valleys, both located close to the Pacific Ocean, and reds made from Carmenère, a distinctively spicy French grape abundant in Chilean vineyards. In Argentina, the Salta province is known for Torrontés, a native grape variety with a distinctive, floral aroma that makes some of the country’s most interesting whites. But Malbec from Mendoza is unquestionably the country’s marquee variety—its rich blueberry and blackberry flavors, light smokiness and soft tannins lead to immensely appealing red wines.

    Switching continents, Roger Voss at Wine Enthusiast tells us to prepare for another surprise from Austria.

    That is, don’t just think of whites such as Grüner Veltliner and Rieslings when it comes to Austrian wines, because producers have been busily upgrading their red wine-making techniques.

    Ten notable red-wine producers are spotlighted. But, as Voss explains, not all is rosy, at least from a pocketbook perspective:

    There is, sadly, a downside to these deliciously fruity, sometimes complex, serious wines: price. High local demand has meant that for us—especially with the weak dollar—these wines are not cheap. The norm is $25 and up, although there are some wines under $20.

    But it is worth seeking out a selection of the best (see sidebar). Austria has not yet reached the world league for its reds, as it has for its whites. But the producers are moving fast. Ten years ago, this article could not have been written.