Wine review #3: red wines, red sauce.

It was comfort food night at the Davises’–that is to say, I was cooking. Gnocchi from a plastic bag and tomato sauce (but to assure you, I’m not a total kitchen shlub: first I sautéed some onions and garlic, reduced the sauce for a while in the cast-iron skillet, and then tossed in some oregano from the garden). Anyhow, we tried three wines from Grocery Outlet with said meal, and here they are (as before, concealed in sacks for an attempt at objective comparison; prices were at my local Oaktown G.O., but your prices may be higher):

1. ’08 Toscana Rosso, le Corbinie, Indicazione Geographica Tipica ($3.99)
2. ’04 Nell Cabernet Shiraz, Yarra Valley, Australia ($5.99)
3. ’06 Luis Alegre Rioja ($4.99)

Wine #1, the Toscana Rosso–since it was only an IGT wine, third rung from the top in the Italian quality system–I had only moderate expectations for, but this was another classic Grocery Outlet example of a wine punching way above its weight. Sangiovese (Tuscany’s major grape, and the one a wine must be based on to claim that area of origin) is a lighter grape, and we were pleased to see that the winemaker had respected that and not tried to mash it into an unrecognizable opaque purplish mess to suit lowbrow American palates. That is to say, it was a lighter-bodied wine, just able to be read through, with a nice mix of fruit and earthy aromas on the nose–a fine compromise between New and old-world styles. Acidity and tannins were gentle but not flabby, making it perfectly accessible to drink now, and a wonderful pairing with the tomato sauce (as you might’ve guessed, as pairing foods and wines from the same geographical region is almost always a safe bet). All in all, an outstanding value and would also be great with pizza, pesto, and other rustic Italianate fare.

Wine #2, the Nell Cab/Shiraz would be the perfect wine to give someone who only thinks they like white wines. They say red wines are “Too harsh” or have “too much bite” or whatever? Not this one. Despite being made from two robust grapes, the winemakers clearly chose a drink-now, fruit-forward style, because there was nary a studly tannin nor crisp acid molecule to be found–just lush dried red fruit and silky-smooth palate. I tend to prefer my cabs and shirazes to have more tannic backbone (this one wasn’t even stout enough to stand up to leftover steak salad), but as I noted above, if you know a friend who’s just tiptoeing into red wines, this bottle has its place.

Wine #3, the Rioja I was excited about, since many would argue that Riojas are Spain’s most notable red wines; Rioja is the first Spanish region The Wine Bible talks about, and is the reason that Californian oenophiles such as myself have any knowledge of the tempranillo grape. Also, since Spanish wines aren’t as popular with collectors/investors, there are great bargains lurking roundabout. But I’m sad to say that this bottle was not the sassy, well-rounded food complement we were hoping for; while the aromas of cherry cough syrup, bubble gum, oak, and tar were intriguing, the aftertaste was notable bitter and generally the wine struck us as out of balance. So our search for that great affordable Rioja will continue.

As always though, it was a fun evening of tasting, and a lot of wine education for $15.

Wine review #2: battle over shrimp

For my second Grocery Outlet-sponsored wine review, I chose three whites that I thought might be good or interesting pairings with the chile lime shrimp pasta that my wife made. The three contenders were these; all were $7 or less:

’05 Tremani Russian River Pinot Gris (Sonoma, CA)
’06 Kremser Pfaffenberg Riesling (Kremstal region, Austria)
’08 Dr. Reezling Riesling (Rheinhessen region, Germany)

The Tremani, despite being five years old, still had a hint of fresh honeysuckle on the nose, a bit of pear, and the spiciness we’ve noticed on other bottles of pinot gris we’ve had. 14.2% was eye-poppingly high alcohol, especially for a white wine from a slightly cooler AVA, but it was well-integrated and didn’t make my sinuses tingle as high alcohol in crappy wines will do. Just a tiny amount of residual sugar helped this wine do okay with the meal, although its ideal pairing would probably be something more like a white fish or chicken salad. So in summary, definitely worth the price, and as always, it was fun to get to know a less-common varietal a little better.

We’ve hardly had any Austrian wines, so I was quite curious about the Kremser. My sister had told me that some Austrian wines have similar qualities to their German neighbors (that is to say, steep hillside vineyards and cooler weather leading to crisp, acidic wines that make great food pairings), and since Kremstal is one of the more notable of Austrian regions, this bottle was promising. The first thing we noticed was the beautiful golden color, as well as some floral and dried honey aromas. Something I’ve come to love about lots of European wines is how the soil (terroir for you cork dorks)  really comes through in the nose, and the rocky soil of the Kremstal area shows up here with an intriguing mineral note, as well as the hint of kerosene that’s a trademark of old-world rieslings. This wine was dry, however (so it didn’t work as well with the spicy food), but would’ve been great with shellfish, for example.

Finally the Dr. Reezling (which had the cheezy description on the back), since it had noticeable sweetness, proved to be the best complement for the food. The nose wasn’t overly complex–whiffs of lychee, citrus, and stone–and the acidity wasn’t as refreshing as other German wines we’ve had, but it wasn’t flabby and would also make a great accompaniment to spicy Indian or Thai curry–maybe even Mexican food! So all in all, another worthwhile purchase, and fun excursion to the Old World.

My first post (and my first paid wine review).

Preamble: My wife and I have been enthusiastic Grocery Outlet customers for several years now, and enjoyed dozens, if not hundreds of wines we’ve bought there. Recently I connected with their brand marketing specialist Kelly Knight Martak on Twitter (she manages the @groceryoutlet account), and she offered me the chance to review some wines to help promote their upcoming 20% off all wine sale (from 3/30-4/3). I happily accepted; this review is the first of several covering the $50 worth of wine I got as part of the deal.

First a word of introduction about wine shopping at Grocery Outlet: the analogy I use is thrift stores. Its unpredictability means that it’s not for everyone, but if you’re open to adventure, stop in regularly, and know what to look for, you will pick up things ranging from decent to amazing, not to mention finding items you never would anywhere else. And when you can buy a bottle of wine for the same price as a gallon of organic milk (or sometimes even regular milk!), my thought is that it’s a gamble worth making–and you can learn something every time you open a bottle. So on to tonight’s wines, three whites, all from the Oakland, CA store:

’06 Chateau Cantelaudette Graves de Vayres ($4.99–white Bordeaux, sémillon/sauvignon blanc)
’06 Ken Forrester Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc ($5.99)
’06 Lusso Grillo/Chardonnay (Sicilia Indicazione Geographic Tipica; $3.99)

Again, with these prices, it’d be hard to go wrong, but these bottles caught my eye because we’ve had plenty of New World sauvignon blanc (CA and NZ), but not as much Bordeaux; we had a chenin blanc from the Loire recently and loved it, so I was curious about an example from South Africa, where it was the most-planted white grape according to our ’01 edition of the Wine Bible, and finally the Sicilian wine included Grillo, a grape I’d never heard of before. We tasted them blind, both to improve our skills, and in an attempt at objectivity.

Wine #1 turned out to be the chenin blanc, the wine we liked best of the evening. Clean and crisp, its balance between fruit and mineral notes fit my experience thus far with South African wines, in that they seem to be in between the more restrained Europeans and more robust, fruit-forward New World wines. I mostly noticed the lemony notes on the nose and the palate, but my wife also picked up on some apricot and peach aromas, which helped her peg it correctly as a chenin blanc. The acidity wasn’t outstanding (Stellenbosch evidently has a climate similar to the hotter parts of Spain or Italy), but it wasn’t flabby either, which is to say that I could imagine it pairing nicely with a white fish, pasta with alfredo sauce, or sushi. Well worth the $6, and nice to learn a bit more about a grape we’ve almost never seen in CA wineries.

Wine #2 was the Sicilian grillo/chardonnay, definitely the oddball of the evening–a wine that would never appear on a sommelier test as one of the world’s “classic” wines (e.g. German riesling, Napa cab, Spanish tempranillo, etc.)–but interesting, and for $4, that’s a win. Its golden honey color immediately catches the eye, and the prominent musty earthiness on the nose clued us in that it was a) old world, and b) more than a few years old. Given how hot Sicily gets, we weren’t too surprised at the low acidity, but its borderline-flabbiness meant that it wouldn’t be that great with food, although the buttery and burnt toast aromas that came out as it warmed up were quite fascinating. And  knowing that it was an Indicazione Geographica Tipica wine (the third run down from the top in the Italian classification system, and from the largest region in Italy, no less), we had pretty low expectations, and still felt that we got $4 worth of knowledge out of it.

Wine #3 then was the Graves/white Bordeaux, and as with the grillo/chard, we were a little disappointed because it was either a little over the hill, or just not that interesting to begin with. If you like your white wines fruity, this is not the one for you, because the mineral/chalky aromas from that gravelly Graves soil were by far the most prominent in the nose. As I understand it, a strong earth component is typical for white Bordeaux, but this one didn’t have as much of the citrusy brightness from the sauvignon blanc, or richness from the sémillon as we hoped, so the overall impression was that it just wasn’t very lively or complex. However, with some shellfish. . . .

So in conclusion, despite two of the three wines from this evening being a bit underwhelming, I’d still say that for Bay Area folks at least, G.O. might be the most affordable way to further your wine education.

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