Wine Pick of the Week
2010 Sweet Riesling Pacific Rim Columbia Valley (Washington) Alcohol: 8.5% Suggested Retail: $10 (for current 2013 release) “Surprises can come in many guises. We’ve all heard the phrase nasty surprises. Is there an analog on the positive side—pleasant surprise or delightful surprise ? If so, it would apply to our Monday night discovery of this week’s 'Pick.' “Our salmon filets were already in the oven when we realized that we’d forgotten to purchase any wine for dinner, so we began to scrounge. Some serious reds were at hand, but nothing appropriate for this fairly delicate preparation of the…
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2012 Bancroft Ranch Merlot Beringer Vineyards Howell Mountain Alcohol: 15.2% Suggested Retail: $105 “Merlot is viewed by some as merely Cabernet Sauvignon Lite. While that reputation might be deserved for some examples in the $10-$20 range, it certainly doesn’t apply in this case. The 2012 vintage of Beringer’s Bancroft Ranch does contain small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon (6%) and Cabernet Franc (8%), but the balance is all Merlot. The wine takes its personality from that grape and there’s nothing insufficient about it. “Bancroft Ranch Merlot qualifies as a Napa Valley wine, but there are several sub-appellations within that…
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2013 Monga Zinfandel Carol Shelton Wines Cucamonga Valley Alcohol: 14.8% Suggested Retail: $21 “Carol Shelton is a great winemaker. Of course, she also does well with other varietals, but most think of her as a Zinfandel specialist. Carol is based in Santa Rosa and sources Zinfandel grapes not just from the surrounding Sonoma County, but also from Mendocino County and from the Lodi area, which is in the San Joaquin Valley about 35 miles south of Sacramento. These are all good grape growing locations, well-known for producing quality Zinfandel, but in the case of this week’s ‘Pick’ the…
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2014 Chardonnay Rombauer Vineyards Carneros Alcohol: 14.5% Suggested Retail: $36 ”Rombauer Vineyards does a good job with other wine varieties, but they are known for their Chardonnay. The winery itself is situated on the Silverado Trail near St. Helena in the Napa Valley, but it sources the grapes for this week’s Pick from an area south of there. Koerner Rombauer, patriarch of the family winery operation, has been using Carneros Chardonnay grapes for a long time. The Carneros growing region is a swath that includes southern parts of both Napa and Sonoma Counties. Being closer to the San…
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Oro Puro Prosecco Superiore Valdo Spumanti Valdobbiadene, Italy Alcohol: 11.5% Suggested Retail: $19.99 “Prosecco is a sparkling wine made in the northeast of Italy. Unlike Asti Spumante, a sweeter carbonated wine, Prosecco is much closer in taste to Champagne and New World sparkling wines. In recent years Prosecco has surged in popularity, in part because of its affordability. However it’s not just price that is driving Prosecco sales. It tastes good, too. “Made entirely of the Glera grape (which was once known as Prosecco), the Oro Puro is the Superiore or better of two Proseccos Valdo markets in…
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2013 Gewürztraminer Hogue Cellars Columbia Valley (WA) Alcohol: 13% Suggested Retail: $10 “Wines for our reviews are sometimes selected with familiar quests in mind. Among these are affordable Pinot Noir, Zinfandel with more character than alcohol and white wine alternatives to the ubiquitous Chardonnay. Today’s Pick may be triggered by that last category. "Gewürztraminer is at home in Alsace, that slice of northeastern France on the German border, where it accounts for the second most planted acreage after Riesling. It is also grown successfully in many other parts of the world, among them Washington and California. Gewürztraminer is…
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Marca Oro Rosé Brut Valdo Spumanti Valdobbiadene, Italy Alcohol: 12% Suggested Retail: $13 “Who among us doesn’t appreciate a bargain? But if something doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t matter how little you paid for it. Fortunately, in the case of this week’s selection, the Valdo Rosé Brut, we were delighted by both the taste and the price. “From the attractive packaging of the Valdo Rosé Brut, you might think ‘Champagne,’ though it is not. Champagne is a geographic area in France that is home to an undeniably wonderful product, but using ‘champagne’ as a catch-all term for any…
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2014 Dry Chenin Blanc Dry Creek Vineyard Clarksburg Alcohol: 13% Suggested Retail: $12 “Perhaps no winery has done a greater job with Chenin Blanc over the years than Dry Creek Vineyard. Though their winery is in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County, they get their Chenin Blanc grapes from the Clarksburg appellation, which is inland and just southwest of the City of Sacramento. To be more specific, the fruit comes from the Wilson Ranch, which is run by a family that has been farming in this area for generations. “Chenin Blanc is a significant variety in the…
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Pinot Noir (N/V) Liberty Creek California Alcohol: 11.5% Suggested Retail: $11.99* (1.5L) “We picked up this bottle of wine in a supermarket. It was large, cheap and labeled Pinot Noir. Our purchase was another waypoint on our perpetual quest to find drinkable versions of this variety at a decent price. “Pinot Noir is a difficult grape to grow well. To do so requires cooler weather than California’s great Central Valley, which is where the grapes for this wine undoubtedly came from. On the other hand, this magnum-sized bottle (1.5L) went for just seven bucks*, or the equivalent of…
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2014 Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Alcohol: 13.5% Suggested Retail: $18 “The Dry Creek Valley is a recognized grapegrowing region within Northern California’s Sonoma County. It is home to many wineries, one of which has a similar-sounding name. Dry Creek Vineyard was established by Dave Stare over 40 years ago and, while it produces other wines, it’s probably best known for its Fumé Blanc. “Legend has it that Robert Mondavi thought consumers wouldn’t order a wine whose name they might mispronounce, so in the late 1960s he began marketing a white wine made from the…
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2014 Puffin Pinot Gris Capitello WinesWillamette Valley (Oregon)Alcohol: 13.5%Suggested Retail: $21 “This week’s Pick reminds us what fun it is to discover wines when traveling. The 2014 Puffin Pinot Gris is available at The Wine Shack in Cannon Beach and just a few other retailers on the Oregon Coast. It and other Puffin wines are produced by Ray Walsh, formerly winemaker at King Estate and now the owner of Capitello Wines in Eugene. “Oregon produces more wine varieties than just Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, of course, but these are the two categories that bring the most accolades.…
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Hearty Burgundy Gallo Family Vineyards California Alcohol: 12% Suggested Retail: $8.99 (1.5L) “Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy has introduced millions of people to the pleasures of wine. First marketed in 1964, this wine really has nothing to do with Burgundy (the place), but that’s beside the point. Hearty Burgundy is reliable and good value. And, when sampled this week, tasted much the same way as I remember it did when it first came out. In the ephemeral world of wine, it’s satisfying to know there’s such consistency. ”In 2015 most American wine shoppers are familiar with products labeled with the…
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2012 Chardonnay Butternut California Alcohol: 13.9% Suggested Retail: $14 “Butternut Chardonnay is from the BNA Wine Group in St. Helena, which also markets a Butternut Pinot Noir and several other wines under their umbrella. These include a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc labeled “The Rule,” as well as a Nanna’s Short Cake Zinfandel and others. “The label of the 2012 Butternut Chardonnay indicates the wine has a California origin. That usually is tipoff that the grapes were sourced from the state’s Central Valley. That’s not necessarily bad, as this area can grow decent Chardonnay grapes at a price…
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2014 Sauvignon Blanc The Rule Napa Valley Alcohol: 14.6% Suggested Retail: $14 “Nose shows lemon, a little peach and some honeysuckle. The taste is lean and pleasing in a style that’s quite distant from the aggressive grassiness of the New Zealand examples of this grape variety. The winemaker’s tasting notes suggests it tastes of lemon cream pie—that’s accurate for the reviewer’s palate, too. Balanced and almost gentle, this is an easy wine to like.” Food affinity: “Ceviche. Scallops with a green curry sauce. Steamed basa with lemon grass, black mushrooms and cilantro.”
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2013 Old Vine Zinfandel Bogle Vineyards California Alcohol: 14.5% Suggested Retail: $12 “What is Old Vine Zinfandel? There’s no official definition—not by the government and not by winemakers, either, so there is some speculation that the ‘old vine’ designation sometimes goes onto bottles containing juice from grapes planted not so long ago. In general, grape vines reach the end of their most productive life after about 30 years, which necessitates replanting the vineyard. In the case of Bogle’s 2013 Old Vine Zinfandel, the grapes came from vineyards in Lodi and Amador County (prime Zinfandel country) planted from 60 to 80 years…
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2013 Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon Lindeman’s South Eastern Australia Alcohol: 13.5% Suggested Retail: $6 “Our 2013 Lindeman’s Bin 45 was purchased in a supermarket this week for about $5.50. Though still a young wine, being the product of a Southern Hemisphere harvest, the wine has six months more age than an American wine from the same vintage. Apparently, the 2014s are now coming into the American marketplace and, while the bottle photo at the winery website indicates they have moved to screwcaps, we doubt there is much difference in the taste of this wine from vintage-to-vintage. We found…
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Cuvée Agincourt (N/V) Blanc de Sauvignon Blanc Bodkin Wines North Coast Alcohol: 11.5% Suggested Retail: $23 “The thought of a sparkling wine made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes was intriguing. Your reviewer had never tasted one. Never even heard of one ‘til recently. Apparently, they’re not unknown in Australia and New Zealand, where winemaker Chris Christensen found inspiration to create such a wine in California. To our knowledge, Bodkin Wines’ Cuvée Agincourt is the only such wine made in America. “In years past, almost any wine with bubbles was labeled ‘Champagne.’ However, most wineries outside France now eschew using…
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Cabernet Sauvignon (N/V) Liberty Creek California Alcohol: 12% Suggested Retail: $11.99 (1.5 liter) “A wine reviewer’s life isn’t always about first-growth Bordeaux and pricey Napa Cabernet. If those wines are at—or near—the top of the wine pyramid of Cabernet Sauvignon and closely-related varieties, then there are many more options comprising that broader base of the pyramid. Lesser wines? Well, sure. But if they’re lesser in taste, they are also lesser in price—a whole lot less at times! “A couple of days ago your reviewer decided to take a chance on whatever seemed the best bargain in the wine…
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Framboise (N/V) Pacific Rim Washington Alcohol: 16.5% Suggested Retail: $14 (375ml) “We could smell the essence of raspberries the moment the cap came off this bottle. When poured into just one glass, this non-vintage (NV) fruit wine provided a perfume for the whole table. There was a lushness—almost a viscosity—in the nose that was repeated in the taste. “The fruit, fortified by grape spirits, comes from the state of Washington. Two varieties of raspberry are used; Morrison (80%) and Meeker (20%). With a residual sugar level of 20%, it is quite sweet. Though two-to-three percentage points higher in alcohol than a…
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2012 Gino’s Zinfandel Sbragia Family Vineyards Dry Creek Valley Alcohol: 15.1% Suggested Retail: $34 “Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley produces other wine varieties, but few would deny that this growing region is best-known for its Zinfandel. Both the variety and the land are in the blood of Ed and Adam Sbragia, father and son winemakers for Sbragia Family Vineyards. Ed’s grandfather, a Tuscan immigrant, came to Sonoma County just after the turn-of-the-century (not the last one, but the one before that—around 1900). He worked for Italian Swiss Colony, among other wineries. Ed’s Dad, Gino, grew grapes for sale…
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Manteo 2012 Red Wine American Pioneer Wine Growers Sonoma County Alcohol: 13.5% Suggested Retail: $18 “Writers get continual messages about the latest wine releases. Sometimes these accompany unsolicited samples sent for review. Occasionally, however, an e-mailed press release will be intriguing enough for a wine writer to respond and request a bottle be sent. Such was the case with this week’s ‘Pick.’ “According to the Manteo website, American Pioneer Wine Growers marketed wines during the 19th Century using proprietary names derived from American culture. The name of this company has been resurrected by film director and winery owner Francis Ford…
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2013 Pinot Gris Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley (Washington) Alcohol: 13.5% Suggested Retail: $15 “Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio might be called cousins. They’re the same variety of grape, but the clone native to Italy produces a somewhat lighter style of wine than that planted in the Alsace region of northeastern France. “Americans drink a lot of wine called Pinot Grigio. Much of this Pinot Grigio—whether from Italy or the U.S.--is inexpensive, but it isn’t very good. The popularity of this low-end stuff may be due to the fact that it’s still fairly new in the mind of…
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N/V Cabernet Sauvignon Barefoot Argentina Alcohol: 13.5% Suggested Retail: $ 7 “There might be many suggestions as to why the Barefoot brand has had such huge success. Some of them are found in the book The Barefoot Spirit by founders Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, who applied boundless energy and boundless creativity to building the company. In recent years Barefoot has been operated by Gallo, no slouches in the marketing of wine themselves, who have multiplied the already substantial sales. “But the quality of the products obviously had something to do with things, too. A sticker on the…
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1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Res. Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Alcohol: 14% Suggested Retail: $145 (for the current release) After disappointment when opening a Bordeaux of similar age a couple of weeks ago (see our wine “Pick” for April 3), our publisher got nervous about a few other older wines he’d been saving for special occasions. Today’s featured wine had special meaning for him, since it was a bottle given to attendees at Robert Mondavi’s 90th birthday party. Better to pop a cork a little too early than too late, he figured. Fortunately, this wine from the 1998 vintage fared…
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