Category Archives: Great Wines under $20

(WBW #52) 2 Cabs from Chile under $20: Casa Lapostolle & Santa Rita

Determined to find an interesting Chilean wine under $20 in order to participate in this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday,wbw-new4 this afternoon I trudged to the Ventura Wine Company once again. They had three choices in the $15-20 range; two cabs and a cab blend. A hand drawn, store produced shelf talker raved about the 2006 Casa Lapostolle Cabernet Sauvignon “Alexandre” from the Apalta Vineyard (15 alc%) in the Colchuaga Valley; of course it was the bottle closest to $20.

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Adding to the mix was dinner. I had put lima beans on to soak the night before and planned to cook them with a ham bone, bacon, mushrooms, and anduille sausages–pretty rich and spicy. What I really wanted with it was a syrah or even better, a GSM like the Twisted Oak one I’d had the previous week with David’s homemade spicy red sauce with spicy Italian sausage. Ventura Wine Company owner Nick reassured me this Casa Lapostolle would work fine with the lively bean, sausage and bacon soup so I went for it.

Since we had to go to Trader Joe’s anyway for the sausage, I checked out their selection once again and decided to make the tasting more interesting for myself by getting a 2006 Santa Rita Reserve Cabernet Sauvigon from Maipo Valley (14.1% alc) at half the price so I could compare the two.

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I opened both and started tasting toward the end of cooking dinner, while the cornbread was in the oven. Right off the bat, I preferred the Lapostolle–there was more depth and richness. But was it $10 better? I wondered, because the Santa Rita was nice enough. The kitchen was full of bacon smell which made the nose a bit of a challenge but clearly there was more to the Lapostolle. I poured more in the glasses to let it breathe while we set up for dinner.

I’m typically not a huge fan of cabs full of bell pepper and herbs, and a cab like that I suspect would have been awful with the meal. As it was, the wines didn’t take anything away but didn’t add much. The Santa Rita didn’t stand a chance with the spicy sausage soup. Surprisingly, the Lapostolle had plenty of body and fruit to work with the soup and enough acid to cut through the richness of the bacon infused meal.

During clean-up, I continued to test and taste. The Santa Rita softened nicely when allowed to rest awhile. I left some wine in the glasses and went to a poetry reading. When I returned, yep, I still preferred the Lapostolle which is made from 60 year old non-irrigated vines by the family which makes Grand Marnier; the Santa Rita continued to be quite pleasurable.

SCORING: 1-5 points per category; 20 points total

SEE: Both had nice bright garnet color in the glass, with a tinge of brown to the Santa Rita.

CL–4;  SR–4

SWIRL: Both are pretty, the Casa Lapostolle with better legs (and with higher alcohol).

CL–4; SR–4

SNIFF: I’m recovering from a cold so my sniffer is not in top notch shape. However, the Lapostelle certainly came off with more fruit– cherry in particular while the Santa Rita…well I almost got light headed trying to find and figure out the fruit. The fruit was actually a little more like a cherry/berry Hawaiian punch, and a little too sickly sweet. I did find tar, cloves, and anise easily in the Santa Rita, especially after I switched glasses from the everyday dinner wine glasses to crystal tasting glasses, careful to prime them with some SR wine first.

The nose in the Casa Lapostolle “Cuvee Alexandre” was more complex. Instead of the sweet Hawaiian punch of the Santa Rita, I found the floral and spicy notes of the clove and cinnamon of Cecil Bruner roses and white carnations. Also, some savoriness–a creamy meatiness–as well as tobacco leaf.

CL–4; SR– 3

SIP: SR Light, friendly; could use a bit more time in the bottle or leave open for a while to tone down the tannins some. CL ‘ is fuller and the tannins are better balanced, red licorice, red raspberry. The CL has a long, pleasant finish with some anise.

CL–4; SR 3

Next time for Wine Blogging Wednesday, I may try to get away with getting a glass or two at a wine bar rather than spending that much on wines midweek when recovering from a cold! While I liked them both, for the money there are other wines I prefer. I didn’t find these wines as great of a bargain as I’d anticipated or as some great for the money as many local California wines or Australian wines I’ve had recently. For my almost $20, I think I’d rather spend it on a different  Lapostolle family specialty–Grand Marnier.

Not to mention that there’s plenty left for me to continue tasting throughout the week to see what happens next!

TOTALS:
Casa Lapostelle: 16 out of 20–Worth Finding
Santa Rita: 14 out of 20–Worth Drinking

WINE PREDATOR’s 20 POINT SCALE:
4 areas worth 5 points each to add up to a point score totaling 20

WINE PREDATOR’s SCORE:
5-8………. Terrible; Lose the Trail
9-11…….. Emergency Rations
12-14……. Worth Drinking
15-17 ……..Worth Finding
18-20 ……TRACK IT DOWN!

(BTW, my scoring system is under construction…I hate grading which is one reason I left teaching but scores can be useful I realize).

Read about a visit to Casa Lapostolle here.

A more or less generic video of Casa Lapostolle, beautiful all the same with Andean flute and views of the snowy mountains in the background :

(WBW #52) Search for Chilean Reds Under $20

What is it they say about good intentions? The road is paved with them?

Jeez, I must have a whole freeway system…

Last month I found out that Wine Blogging Weds #51 asked for Baked Goods: what to drink for dessert, specifically madeira…yummy! I enjoy a good glass of dessert wine many evenings, and was thrilled for an excuse to test drive madeira–except I couldn’t find any. I did have on hand a few Australians:  Jonesy Port, as always, as well as a 2002 Lillypilly Noble Blend sweet white wine and a 2002 Hazy Blur Baroota Late Picked Shiraz I was itching to try which I picked up from the Grateful Palate.

wbw-new1But Nov 12 came and went in a blur of birthday festivities for my boy and so did Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 leaving me waiting for  WBW # 52 : Chilean Value Reds.

Back in college in the 80s, I used to drink a lot of Chilean wines under $5. Gato Negro and Gato Blanco as I recall and a few others from the Maipo valley were the $2 Buck Chucks of the day. This was before everyone and their sister in the US were growing grapes and were making wine.

Finding an interesting Chilean under $20 and drinking it and writing it up by the next WBW, Weds Dec. 10, would be no problem I figured. Well here it is Tuesday Dec 9 and I am still empty handed when it comes to a Chilean Red Under $20.

I started at the best local wine retail outlet, The Ventura Wine Company, and glanced around. Last time I was there but nothing caught my eye (except the Whirling Dervish Sauv Blan once again) so I emailed David of the blog Vinomadic for some suggestions. He’s spent quite a bit of time in Argentina and wants to import some of their smaller, sustainable wines here.

He emailed back a few suggestions including links to Kingston Vineyards and Organic Vintners. Unfortunately, i’d have to drive 30 minutes to get to a store which carries the Kingston and it’s too late to order anything from Organic Vintners.

David and I did check a Ralph’s in Sherman Oaks which offered two wines and we split the cost of the one on sale for $22, forgetting that the WBW is for Chilean Wines UNDER $20. The merlot wasn’t particularly memorable (I don’t even remember what it was!)  so I left it behind with David to see how it might develop over time. Earlier David had opened a imageresolverbottle of Twisted Oak and not much could follow that beautiful GSM which is a steal at $25 a bottle:.

2005 Calaveras County Asterisk Percent Pound Ampersand At Exclamation (Red Blend, Mourvedre Syrah Grenache) Arrrr, the name of this wine is so disgusting that the Scurvy Dogs who provide our web site can’t even print the title… More Details

Yesterday, I desperately searched the shelves of Vons (two more Chilean wines which failed to move me toward the checkout counter although I did pick up a 6 pack of Alaska’s Winter Ale complete with real spruce!! yummy!), I scavenged at my favorite wine store, Big Lots and came up with some interesting wines: a mysterious Tistyra 2000 merlot in a very impressive bottle (hope it tastes as good!), Artisan’s 2005 Napa Cab, and Parson’s Creek Old Vines 1999 zin ($3). Nothing like the steal of the Jamieson Canyon 2002 Napa Cab for $4 which I found for sale on the web for $25. Next I tried Smart and Final; I came home instead with a few bottles from clearance: Chateau Greysac 2001 Medoc for $14, a BV Chard for $14, and two bottles of Bonterra Chard for $8 each.

Lots of interesting wines for under $20 but still no Chilean Red. I am going to try the Ventura Wine Company once more. I might even be making a road trip…

Teusner “The Riebke” Ebenezer Shiraz 2004 & filet mignon: essentially excellent

Bacon wrapped filet & Teusner “The Riebke” Ebenezer Shiraz 2004

Give a little whistle (bacon!) Try a little bacon (whistle!)

OK, yes, maybe I’m a little bacon crazy. A little.

But who could blame me after being at the Grateful Palate warehouse sale a few weeks ago for almost three hours smelling the stuff cooking? And of course, sampling.

I came home with a huge need for bacon. I was tempted to fry some up right then and there, with some eggs maybe, for a late lunch.

Instead, I went to the grocery store where I scored two beautiful filet mignons–on clearance at 30% off! Just in case, I had the butcher check them over, and he approved, so with a warm loaf of french bread under my arms and a bag of russets, I headed home to wrap my filet in two thick slabs of clove and garlic bacon; the Big Monkey dribbled gorgonzola on his when it came off the grill. With baked potatoes and broccoli on the menu, the remaining dilemna was which wine to pour? After all, I had two cases of the good stuff, fresh from the warehouse!

The Big Monkey loves those cab/shiraz blends, and I looked long and hard at the ones I bought. And I can’t wait to try the Stray Dog GSM, but I wondered if it would have enough pow for the filet and bacon. So what I opened was the Teusner Riebke Ebenezer Shiraz–if anything could stand up to that steak and bacon I figured it would be an Eb Shiraz–and I was NOT disappointed. Yummy!  This wine typically retails around $20, and I picked up two bottles for $10 each. I should have bought more!

Teusner "The Riebke" Ebenezer Shiraz

Teusner’s “The Riebke” Ebenezer Shiraz

The color is gorgeous dark purple, and the nose is filled with lucious black fruit–cherry and plum, especially. It had good structure, and surprisingly low alcohol at 14%, which for us made it more balanced than some of the other shiraz we’ve enjoyed. There wasn’t a whole lot more going on other than that lovely perfectly ripe fruit (not jammy, not over-ripe but perfect!) and maybe a little dark chocolate–a bit of the edge of super dark chocolate, a bit of that richness.

We didn’t care really for the particulars in the moment–it was such a pleasurable, feel good, taste good wine with a wonderful rich meal.

Hmmn…but could we have gotten more out of it if we hadn’t enjoyed it so quickly? We opened it not long before we ate; maybe with a little more air time, more would have been revealed. Let’s see if I can make that happen with bottle number 2! (where might I hide it??)

The only disappointment? By August 2008, according to Michael Pollard, Grateful Palate dropped Teusner from their roster of wines (or was dropped, who knows). What a huge disappointment! I do know I want to know more and have more of winemaker Kym Teusner!

Now I wonder if I head over to the Grateful Palate’s retail store on Del Norte in Oxnard if I could pick up some more????

(WBC Post 5) Biodynamic & mostly organic Quivera

Biodynamic & mostly organic: Quivira

Saturday morning I packed up and left my sweet zin suite at the Flamingo Hotel to jump on a shuttle with other attendees of the First Wine Bloggers Conference for a hike through the wine country…except I watched the shuttles head off into the morning without me.

Fortunately, I could jump on my cell and talk with organizer Allan Wright who sent me to Quivira, and since I had both a car and Quivira marketing director Nancy’s card, I was set with a quick call from her for directions. Off I went down the chill autumn, chasing after the van, and dodging bicycles on the back roads of Sonoma County’s Dry Valley Creek Road until I found myself pulling into the idyllic, picturesque barnyard setting of Quivira, chickens, solar panels, and all.

Farmer and winemaker Steve Canter was at work with the dozen or so bloggers, explaining biodynamics and homeopathy and everything else under the sun including cleansing and purification rituals he uses (go for the power of the earth, Steve!!).

And then we went for a lovely walk, visiting goats, and Ruby the pig, and picking grapes off the vines (my favs were the old zins of course), looping along unusually dry Wine Creek to Dry Valley Creek, both which eventually feed into the Russian River, then under a fig tree, and up a ridge planted in zin and down along the olive trees to the barn.

Steve and Nancy tag teamed a bit, telling stories about the vines, the wines, and the processes both of biodynamics and organics in practice here. Of particular interest to me was how they are healing Wine Creek by building weirs to slow down the water to create better habitat for steelhead and other native species practically wiped out by the previous channelization and control of the creek.

Approved Biodynamic wineries like Quivera can use this seal

Approved Biodynamic wineries like Quivera can use this seal

The idea behind biodynamics seems an obvious one: in order for a wine to reflect the land where it came from, it needs to be fed as much as possible by an integrated series of local, native, natural influences. That means Continue reading →

Grateful Palate Warehouse Sale: thanks for 2 great cases!

Art Predator Scores 2 Cases at Grateful Palate Warehouse Sale!

Art Predator Carries out 2 Boxes of Wine!

Art Predator Carries out 2 Boxes of Wine!

Yes, that’s me there, carrying out two cases of wine, 4 pounds of bacon, and two jars of jam that I scored at the Grateful Palate Warehouse sale today! Even though many of the prices were higher this fall than they were in the spring (from 10-20% higher…which I guess isn’t too bad considering the fate of the US dollar when compared to the Australian).

What did I get, you ask? Which wines will I be drooling over and writing about this fall and winter?

3 Sparking reds! Hmmn,  should be 4–somehow I missed out on a bottle of the $8 Paringa, but my friend Kathy got some, I know; hopefully she’ll share! I did get one bottle of Trevor Jones ($14), and passed on the magical Majella ($25)  we enjoyed last spring in favor of something very unusual and impossible to buy anywhere else in the US–2 bottles of “The Doctor” sparkling shiraz by The Willows for $23. After GP imported it here, they found out they couldn’t sell it because of the word Doctor on the label. Can you say “duck”? We’ll have one of these at Thanksiving, for sure!

Since I’ve been on a mourverde kick since I tasted the 2002 RBJ Mataro last summer, and since I love the 2001 mourverdre/grenache theologicum, I picked up a Veritas 1998 shiraz/mourverdre, another RBJ Theologicum mourverdre/grenache (I know, another one–but I like it!), and a 2000 Hutton-Vale grenache/mourverdre. There was a bottle of a GSM somewhere in the warehouse that I meant to pick up, but I lost track of it in all of the excitement. Or maybe someone picked it up before I made it back over there with my cart!

Then there’s my collection of Barossa Valley shiraz–2 of the wonderful Chris Ringland 2006 Ebenezer shiraz which is about all gone from the stores and the warehouse ($18), a Barossa Scholar shiraz (project of a local school), not to forget the  $9.99: Digger’s Bluff Stray Dog 05 GSM (made by the son of the granddaddy of Australian wine I hear) plus a Lens & Cooter 2003 Victor shiraz, and 2 cab/shiraz blends for the Big Monkey–McLean’s Farm 2002, and 2 Old Plains 2003 cab/shiraz.

Then there’s the oddball: Tscharke Montpulciano 2006 which I just had to give a try ($17)–just because I didn’t like the tempranillo doesn’t mean I won’t like something else!

The most expensive wine of the day, and possibly the most exciting, is a 1998 Brothers in Arms shiraz. I think I will save that for a rack of lamb or duck. I found it a couple places on-line for $75; I took it home for $25!

Since I love my port, I picked up a bottle of tawny Jonesy for 20% off retail, and a bottle of the Barossa class port 2000 which blew my socks off last summer. A split of that went for $4.99 last spring but was up to $7.99 this fall. Ouch! I definitely liked things better when the dollar was stronger.

Who needs jewelry for Christmas? Wine’s just fine!

And a partidge in a pear tree!