Where do you find these wines in GA? Letters to Jane Garvey April 6th 2006 Offbeat Reds

Do you feel stuck in a Cabernet/Merlot trap? People often ask me if there's anything else to drink out there.

Happily the wine world is a big and wondrous place, full of varieties you may not have explored to date. How do you decide what to sample?

It can be tough business for retailers to get consumers out of their ruts. Years back, a friend was trying desperately to sell a customer a bottle of Marquйs de Cбceres Rioja, made from the Tempranillo grape. The gentleman kept saying: "But I don't understand. What is it? I don't get it?"

"What's to get?," I kept wondering to myself, as I felt my friend's frustration with the customer. We both tried to tell the gentleman that Tempranillo was another grape type. Just like Cabernet Sauvignon, which he did understand, was a grape type. But he persisted: "I don't understand."

Finally, I gave him my card and told him if he didn't like it, I would personally reimburse him for the purchase. I meant it (knowing full well that wine wasn't about to come back my way unless it was cork-tainted or otherwise flawed. And it didn't.)
Getting oneself outside the grape box shouldn't be such a tough exercise. The evaluation is easy. You either like it or you don't. It's either a yum, or it's a yuck.
Still, one might want to construct some reasonable tests for coming out of the box with a bit of direction and purpose.

First, try to evaluate what it is you like about red wines. Do you them big and bold, tannic and oaky? Or maybe that describes exactly what you don't like. Maybe you prefer them lighter and more subtle. Neither is incorrect. It's a matter of taste. But don't let people who critique a lighter style wine as "watery" or "a little light" sway you from pursuing what pleases your palate. Odds on, such a wine will go better with food anyway than do those jaw-breakers some folks pursue. Let 'em have all they want, I say.

Many people say they don't like red wines because they're too "thick," a word I hear often used to describe big Cabs and Merlots. So I conclude that people who describe wines thus would prefer lighter bodied reds, and reds that have gentle tannins. That was the solution for a former neighbor of mine, who now happily drinks Beaujolais and Pinot Noirs, and steers clear of big Cabs.

Other people tell me they don't like reds as they're too "dry." When I hear this, I know exactly what's wrong. That consumer doesn't like aggressive tannin. Nothing wrong with that perspective.

At a tasting when she was in her 20s, my niece couldn't get a handle on what she didn't like about Spanish red wines. Something bothered her, "gave her chills," she used to say. Trying several other wines with her, I finally hit it: She didn't like obvious oak in her red wines. I steered her to wines that were tank fermented and aged, or aged in neutral oak, and she was happy as could be.

And so it goes.

But no single variety will either switch your engines on or off. More likely, what will please your palate depends on how the wine was made. Still, specific grapes are more likely to be vinified (made into wine) in specific ways. Zinfandel is likely to have a good hit of American oak, for instance. Don't care for a good dose of vanilla on your wine? I can understand that; I don't either, and prefer Zins aged in French or other oak. Zinfandel also is likely to be high in alcohol. Not your thing? Then drink something else. This is not about right and wrong answers, but about preferences.
There is no requirement that you like one thing or another. Please do not think of yourself as not being "sophisticated" if you dislike a given grape type. Nor should you announce that you're not a "connoisseur" if your taste doesn't embrace every grape type.

But do try as many different ones as you can. And try something you didn't like the first time maybe once or twice more, in case it was a particular approach to that grape that you didn't care for. There are hundreds of varieties out there, and the point is don't box yourself into a single sort just because somehow you think that's "sophisticated." Or that's what "connoisseurs" drink. (These are two words I would personally like to put through the paper shredder.)

Sample these, and see what pleases you. Give them a chance, though, by serving them at cool room temperatures (around 60 degrees) to emphasize fruit and not alcohol, and find good, straight (not rolled) edge glasses with large (but not swimming-pool sized) tulip-shaped bowls so the wines can breathe a bit before you savor them. And get a decanter that's flat-bottomed so you can expose a lot of the wine to air at once time. You don't need to spend a fortune on either of these wine accoutrements, but they'll more than pay you back in enhancing your enjoyment of wine.

Jane Garvey

Food Pairings: Great for lighter, casual fare: Spicy (but not hot) salamis; grilled sausages; pizza; sundry sandwiches (such as Philly cheese steak, wraps, braised beef with parsnip mashed potatoes; grilled pork tenderloin; pot pies or similar crust-enclosed stewed meets such as empanadas or Australian meat pies, and even Jamaican meat patties if not too hot spicy; roast chicken, Cornish hen (very good), quail

Price: $10
Wholesaler: Savannah Distributing

Food Pairings: Full-flavored foods: Smoked meats, such as smoked liverwurst, Kansas City-style or Texas-style smoked beef brisket; ribs; smoked lamb shank, Chinese barbecued steaks or pork dishes; duck, Philly cheese steak with peppers and all the trimmings, sausage and peppers, lasagna, moussaka and similar layered casserole dishes, creamy blue cheeses (Gorgonzola dolce) and high-cocoa dark chocolate.

Price: $11
Wholesaler: Quality Wine & Spirits

Food Pairings: Assertively seasoned and rich foods: Smoked liverwurst; chorizo and other spicy salamis; barbecue with tomato-based barbecue sauce; roast duck; mole poblano; grilled lamb or ham steak; hanger steak with sesame-soy sauce; Chinese barbecue steak; ok with dark chocolate

Price: $14
Wholesaler: Quality Wine & Spirits

Food Pairings: Black olives, assorted salamis; peppered liver pаte'; steak au poivre, with Cognac cream sauce; salami; smoked meats, roast duck or venison, smoked chicken, grilled or roasted Cornish game hen, roast chicken, braised meats and braised chicken thighs with caramelized onions and parsnip mashed potatoes; braised lamb shanks with barley "risotto"; firm, mild, aged cheeses

Price: $14
Wholesaler: Continental Beverage

Bokisch Graciano 2003
Lodi, CA

Score: 93 Points

Tasting Notes: Big, full-bodied but fruit-focused dry red wine; deep purple red. Lovely stuff!!! Lively aromas of dark berries (currants, flavors suggest aromatic brown spices-pepper with dark berries, currants, and a slight suggestion of chocolate. Tannins are completely silky. This is just gorgeous. Grape type: Graciano (grah-see-AHN-oh) is grown in Rioja, Spain, and is rarely found in this country. With its voluptuous fruit, this one doesn't taste very much like a Spanish wine, but then it really isn't one. Aged for 16 months in neutral oak, so it's definitely not wood water. Limited production. Very fine value.

Food Pairings: Peppered liver pate'; Serrano ham; mild creamy-textured cheeses (such as Sweet Grass Dairy's Thomasville Tomme); smoked meats; Chinese beef and pork dishes (not afraid of soy); chicken or pork satay; grilled meats; game (especially venison); high-cocoa dark chocolate

Price: $25
Wholesaler: Ultimate Distributors

Food Pairings: All manner of Asian dishes: Chinese barbecue; Peking duck or other Chinese duck dishes; moo shu pork; soy-influenced Chinese pork dishes (but not sweet and sour); Chines barbecued steaks; roast chicken, Cornish hen or duck; roast pork tenderloin; beef-stuffed Malaysian pancakes; soy chicken; lamb with ginger; Asian hangar steak (Whole Foods)

Price: $25
Wholesaler: National Distributing Co.