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Sandy Springs
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January 5th, 2006
Cheap Sips!
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Beginning with this issue you will notice
wines have been given a
score, based on a 100-point scale. Jane Garvey must taste
3-5 wines for every one
making the revue. Consequently, your reading time will be
better served by exploring
the best of her tasting exercises, and as such, NO WINE SCORING
UNDER 85 WILL BE
PUBLSIHED in our weekly wine review.
Planning festive football feasting as the Super Bowl nears
while staring at wallets flattened by holiday spending reminds
us that we need good cheap wines at this post-holiday season.
We sure don't want to give up drinking wine just yet (at least
I don't), so the challenge is to find the most bang for the
buck. Good, cheap vino is what I like to call "Wednesday
Wine" at any other time of the year.
Did I say "cheap?" Yes, we did. "Ok,"
you wonder, "but good and cheap?"
Yes, I said that, too.
Too many consumers and retailers assume that if we're drinking
cheap wine, it must by definition be terrible. "What
do you want for that money?" I often hear from retailers
peddling chimney drippings as something we have to tolerate
at lower prices.
"Something I want to drink" I always shoot back.
Some folks often think that those words '"good"
and "cheap" couldn't possibly juxtapose when describing
a wine, but they can. Back when country folks made (literally)
wine their beverage of choice, wine wasn't set upon an altar
like some sort of icon. It was for savoring with meals. Every
day. And tasting good was a requirement as well. So why today
do we lose sight of that goal and instead devote all our wine
consumption money and energy into chasing the most expensive?
Spending money is easy. What's tricky is to buy good wine
while spending little. Gone are the days when I remember great
values for $1.99. But there's a good chance I can find something
I WANT to drink for $8.99.
To do this, avoid most of the wines whose labels have anything
to do with critters. I call that stuff "critter crud,"
in fact. While there are a few exceptions, most "critter"
label wines are abominations.
Instead, expand your horizons, get out of the commercial quaff
trap, go a little exotic, and prepare to explore and discover.
Here are a few that I'll be enjoying to get through the lean
post-holiday spending cycle. And they meet the requirements
of entertaining for the upcoming Super Bowl.
Jane Garvey
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Where to Get: Widely available:
Beverage Artist (Suwanee--Peachtree Suwanee Crossing Chopping
Center); Beverage Super Store (Suwanee), Bullock's (both), DeKalb
Farmers Market, Dixie Beverage (Hwy. 92, Woodstock), Georgia
World of Beverage (Fairburn); Harry's Farmers Market (Gwinnett,
Marietta), Mac's, Jax (Cumming), Peachtree Wine Merchants, Smoke
Rise Bottle Shoppe (Stone Mountain), Sigman Bottle Shop (Conyers).
Tower (both), Whole Foods (Ponce, Buckhead, Sandy Springs),
Windward Beverage Mart (Windward Pkwy./Hwy. 9, Alpharetta) Athens:
Wine & Spirits Warehouse |
Segura Viudas
Brut Reserva (NV)
Penedes, Spain
Score: 89 Points
Tasting Notes: Medium-bodied
dry white sparkling wine; medium yellow. Lovely aromas of yeast
and fresh white fruits, pear, with clean, crisp, pear flavors.
Nuances of ginger and quince. Lively, persistent medium bead.
Long, crisp, clean finish. Amazing valueServe chilled, about
45 degrees, in tall tulip-shaped glasses. It may be cheap, but
it's so good, it deserves a good glass.
Food Pairings: Just about
anything savory: Dim sum; potstickers, tapas, toasted nuts
(especially cashews, peanuts), lightly salted potato chips
and French onion dip; hummus; spicy tomato pickled shrimp
(see St. Joseph Hospital, Savannah, cookbook), lemon/Pommery
mustard shrimp (Whole Foods), chicken pot pie, pinwheel and
flat bread roll-up sandwiches, tarragon chicken salad (Publix)
Price: $6-9
Wholesaler: National Distributing Co.
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Where to Get: At Jax (Cumming),
Roxy Package (Marietta--Olde Mill Center, magnums $12); Green's
(both); Habersham (both stores in Savannah)
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Peter Mertes
Privatkellerei Qualitatswein 2004
Pfalz, Germany
Score: 85
Tasting Notes: Light-bodied slightly
sweet white wine; medium pale slightly greenish yellow. Inviting
fresh white peach aroma and flavors. Easy to drink, not complicated,
and certainly not the best Riesling you've ever had. But what's
there is very pleasant, and flavors develop in the glass. Crowd
pleaser. Best with food. Very good value, and blue-bottle package
looks smart. Serve moderately chilled in tall tulip-shaped glasses.
Food Pairings: Lots of crowd-pleasing
foods, especially if they have some acidity as it's lacking
in the wine: fried chicken tenders with honey-mustard dipping
sauce; fried catfish; baked fish or chicken with mustard-flavored
white sauce; chicken tarragon salad (Publix); hot dogs on
sauerkraut with good mustard; pork steaks or baked chicken
breasts with mustard cream sauce; mild Massaman curry; pud
Thai; chicken satay; roast turkey, Chinese dumplings and egg
rolls
Price: $6/750ml; $12/1.5 litre
Wholesaler: Savannah Distributing
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Where to Get: At Beverage Super
Store, Beverage Wareshouse, Embry Village Wine & Spirits
(I-285/Chamblee-Tucker Rd.), Harry's Farmers Market (Gwinnett,
Marietta), Sherlock's (Marietta & Kennesaw), Smoke Rise
Bottle Shoppe (Stone Mountain), Tower (Doraville), Whole Foods
W Paces Athens: Publix (At. Hwy.) Restaurant: Eclipse di Luna |
Marques de
Caceres Rosado 2004
Rioja, Spain
Score: 90
Tasting Notes: Light-bodied dry
rosé wine; medium cora-salmonl pink. Aromas of watermelon and
aromatic spice; touch of rhubarb. Flavors grab a handful of
all the red fruits--raspberry, watermelon, strawberry, rhubarb--welding
them together into one impressive mouthful. Lovely texture,
well integrated fruit flavors, lovely balance. 2004 vintage
is the best this wine has tasted in a long time. Grapes: Tempranillo.
Wicked awesome value, sometimes as low as $5. Serve in white
wine glasses, moderately cool, abut 45 degrees.
Food Pairings: All sorts of
foods: wings; ham of all sorts, such as ham salad, ham croquetas,
grilled ham steak; Mexican casserole type dishes, not too
spicy, such as chicken enchiladas; fajitas; Cuban sandwiches,
such as the "medianoche;" muffalettas (E. 48th Street
Market), Creole-style barbecued shrimp, Brunswick stew, turkey
meatballs glazed with mushroom sauce (Whole Foods), fried
chicken with honey mustard sauce, paella, fried catfish or
shrimp, pasta with salsa puttanesca, pasta salads with sun-dried
tomatoes, grilled vegetables.
Price: $7
Wholesaler: Empire Distributing
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Where to Get: At Embry Village
Wine & Spirits; Fiesta Package (Decatur), Georgia World
of Beverages (Fairburn), Kroger Ansley; Haynes Bridge Bottle
Shop; Old Crabapple Bottle Shop (Alpharetta); Paces Bottle Shop
(Paces Center, Atlanta Rd., Smyrna), Athens: Five Points Bottle
Shop; Shiraz (Pulaski St.), Wine & Spirits Warehouse Hiawassee:
Bacchus |
Vinos Gustin-Padre
"Valcantara" 2003
Cariñena, Spain
Score: 91
Tasting Notes: Light-medium-bodied
dry red wine; medium garnet. Aromas and flavors of morello cherry,
blueberry, with a touch of vanilla. Lingering finish, with soft
tannins, and lovely fruit-acid-tannin integration. Red wine
with a lively lightness on the palate, so it's never tiring
or heavily tannic. A tinto joven, so it spends very brief time
in oak, leaving superior fruit flavors Outstanding value. Grapes:
Garnacha/Tempranillo. The largest of four DOs in the old kingdom
of Aragón in northeastern Spain, Cariñena is a region as well
as a grape. Serve cool, about 65 degrees, in large-bowled, tulip-shaped
glasses.
Food Pairings: Less appropriate
with beef than with lighter meats, such as veal or chicken.
Chicken enchiladas, roast, grilled or fried chicken, wings,
roast Cornish hen. Also black olives, caponata, stuffed cannolini,
braised lamb, pimento cheese (major yum!), hunter-style salami
(Shield's Market, Decatur); soppressata and similar deli meats,
sandwiches, panini and wraps, three-bean salad, light tomato
sauces on canelloni, Chinese-style barbecue, grilled or baked
salmon.
Price: $9
Wholesaler: Unique World Wines
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Where to Get: At DeKalb Farmers
Market, Embry Village Wine & Spirits; Peachtree Wine Merchants
(Cherokee Plaza, Brookhaven), Windward Beverage Mart (Windward
Pkwy./Hwy. 9, Alpharetta), Sigman Bottle Shop (Conyers). Tower
Doraville; Habersham (both stores Savannah) |
Valdivieso
Malbec 2004
Central Valley, Chile
Score: 88
Tasting Notes: Medium-bodied
dry red wine; clear, perfect ruby red. Bright berry flavors,
with an emphasis on blueberry and very dark cherry in the aromas,
as flavors tilt toward blackberry, touch of black currant, with
round tannins and moderate acidity. Interesting touch of tobacco
in the close. Easy tannins; luscious texture. Half pure tank
fermentation helps preserve the fruit, while for the other half,
tanks had French and American oak staves to enhance complexity
at a low price. Interstaves are a winemaker toy that many use
to craft good, inexpensive wines.
Food Pairings: Black oil-cured
olives, caponata, meat-filled empanadas, Whole Foods' smoked
mozzarella pasta salad; Asian-flavored flank steak (warm or
cold); 'burgers, ham-and-cheese sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches
such as "medianoche," wraps, antipasti with salami,
grilled chicken, grilled sausages, creamy bleu cheeses (such
as German Cambozola)
Price: $9
Wholesaler: New World Beverage
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Where to Get: Good availability:
Candler Park Super Market, Decatur Package (2003), Embry Village
Wine & Spirits, Tower Doraville (2003), Old Milton Beverage
(Alpharetta), Smyrna World of Beverages; Whole Foods (Sandy
Springs), Parkaire (Marietta), Georgia World of Beverage (Fairburn)
Athens: Shiraz (Pulaski St.); Habersham (both stores Savannah)
Restaurants: Vinny's on Windward (2003) |
C & G
Marano Barocco Rosso del Salento (I.G.T.) '04
Puglia, Italy
Score: 86
Tasting Notes: Light/medium-bodied
dry red wine; medium dark cherry red. Somewhat shy aromas of
aromatic spice and dark fruits, with clean morello cherry, plum
and aromatic spice flavors. Not a lot of depth nor length of
finish, but what's there, to quote Spencer Tracy, is "cherce."
(In the film Pat & Mike with Katie Hepburn--in case you
wondered.) Supple tannins. Easy to enjoy. Clearly Italian, too,
not a fruit bombe with residual sugar. Grapes: Negroamaro (means
"bitter black one") and Malvasia nera. Puglia is Italy
from the spur to the heel of the boot; the heel is Salento.
Trivia: Puglia makes more wine than all of Australia. Good availability:
Serve at cool room temperature, about 65 degrees, in large-bowled,
tulip-shaped glasses. Food Pairings:
Intense flavors, especially garlic: Creamy liver pâté, black
oil-cured olives, muffaletta (E. 48th Street Market), Mexican
tortas (Puras Tortas!!), ricotta-filled cannelloni, lasagna,
caponata, awesome with grilled eggplant and other vegetables,
wings, grilled thinly sliced flank steak (if served cold,
serve with garlic mayonnaise on the side); from Whole Foods:
very garlicky pasta salad with smoked mozzarella. turkey meatballs
with mushroom glaze, lamb braised with ginger sauce, fried
chicken, roast pork or chicken with classic bread stuffing.
Price: $9
Wholesaler: Unique World Wines
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