Archive for the ‘Dry Wines’ Category
Varietal: Malbec
Region: Mendoza – Argentina
Cost: $9
Winemaker’s Notes: Full-bodied and smooth with intense black fruit flavors and aromas. A good pairing with grilled foods including steaks.
My Review: I have this habit of picking up steaks and red wine whenever my wife is gone for the evening and I’m feeding myself. This past Thursday was just one of those nights and given the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having here in Virginia I decided to take advantage of being able to use my grill and grabbed a steak at my local Fresh Market. While there I browsed the wine aisle to see if anything caught my eye and was recommended with a steak and decided on this bottle of 2010 Dos Lomos Malbec, in no small part because of the unique bottle shape.
Varietal: 100% Malbec
Region: Patagonia, Argentina
Cost: $13 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: A deep ruby-colored wine with rich, smooth blackberry flavors and vanilla aromas. Pairs well with red meats, cheeses, and pastas.
My Review: I’ve been a fan of Malbec for some time now, I’ve found it to be, on the whole, a nice inexpensive alternative to numerous other budget wines where you can get far better quality than your dollar would lead you to believe, especially coming out of South America, and it tends to pair well with the foods I like to eat. Because of that, I was pleased to receive a bottle of Malbec as a sample right at the end of the year, and my wife and I finally decided to pop the cork and give it a try last night.
Varietal: 100% Gruner Veltliner
Region: Austria
Cost: $24.50
My Review: I had picked up this wine last month to open up on Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, and while it made the trip up there, in the confusion of a dozen or so people drinking and talking and having fun, it just never got opened. Oh well, just meant I had to bring it back home with me and drink another time – which just happened to be last night.
As you’ll recall back in August I had an end of summer party featuring a case of white wine, among which was a bottle of Gruner Veltliner that I quite enjoyed. Because of that I had rather high hopes for the 2009 Steininger which, unfortunately, it just didn’t quite meet.
There are a lot of different wine sites out there giving suggestions on what you should be pouring during your Thanksgiving festivities. Since, however, it’s been fairly well established what varietals go well with the traditional Thanksgiving feast, I thought I would change it up and let you know what I’m pouring at dinner, or rather, what I’m taking up to my parents house to pour for the army-sized feast my mother will be cooking.
2009 Coastal Vines Pinot Noir – Sonoma, CA – $10
Well, the end of summer isn’t that far away, so when I was recently sent a mixed case of summer white wines, it seemed a shame to sit on them and try to go through them each individually as I would have quickly run out of summer by the time I was able to get to them all. With that in mind I invited some friends over, opened up all the wines, and tasted them all at once, because let’s be honest, that’s what summer’s really all about. Here’s what I thought.
The first one I tasted was the 2010 La Fiera Pinot Grigio (SRP $8). I got mostly apples on both the nose and the palate with a nice lingering finish with just the right amount of acid. There was a slight hint of sweetness to my palate, but for being the first one I tried, it was a good start and it’s a good value for these kinds of parties.
Next up were two from Tiamo. First was the Tiamo Prosecco (SRP $15) which had a hint of citrus on the nose with medium sized bubbles and a slight bit of yeast on the palate and a mix of crisp fruit. This was definitely not a super-dry Prosecco and it was quickly consumed by my friends.
Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California – USA
Cost: $7 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Black pepper notes and berry aromas for this full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with blackberry fruit, dark cherries, and a long, lingering finish. Pairs well with New York strip steak, spinach ravioli, or Portobello mushrooms.
My Review: This one has been sitting in my rack for a while, and I’m regretting that I took so long to get to it. When I see an inexpensive California Cabernet come my way, I have certain expectations – fruit forward, medium-bodied, and not too dry. With FlipFlop Wines having sent me several samples, I knew they were making nice, approachable wines, but nothing that was going to change the way you looked at a particular grape, which is perfectly fine. Opening up the bottle of 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t change my outlook on the grape, but it may have changed my outlook on inexpensive California Cabernet.
