Part of becoming a connoisseur of cheap wines is knowing where to look for them. I’ll share with you one of my little secret places I attempt to seek out cheap wine: the “Reduced for Quick Sale” shelf at your local supermarket. At Meijer, my local super-mega-ultra-store, this shelf is usually located in the bottle return area. Not a very pleasant place to be searching for wines, but just think of it as a treasure hunt! You may find a bounty of cheap wines that you never knew existed.

While picking over the wines yesterday, a cartoon label caught my eye: Big Daddy Vineyards Merlot. I picked up the March 2002 vintage for about 6 dollars.

Why was this reduced for quick sale? Was it worth enduring the stench of the bottle return area to bring home this wine? Yes, yes it was. It’s almost sad that this wine traveled all the way from Argentina to end up in my bottle return area.

Big Daddy knows how to make a good cheap wine. Believe it or not, the first attribute of this wine I picked up on was the light hint of bacon. Mmm bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon? Big Daddy loves it, that’s for sure. Look at that belly! On top of the bacon was a strong berry with a leathery taste.

If you’re looking for a full bodied cheap red wine with a lot of character, give the Big Daddy Merlot a try.

Rating: 8/10 - High score for originality
Price: 6.00
Place of purchase: Meijer
Vineyard Info:
Big Daddy Vineyards
Mendoza, Argentina
www.bigdaddyvineyards.com

U.S. Wine Consumption Grows for a Record 15th Consecutive Year, but Momentum Slows | Articles | Wine Spectator

Powered by ScribeFire.

Catch Champagne Sales - 06 January 2007

Wine Sellers Dream of Amazon - 18 January 2007

British Spending More on Wine, Less on Beer - 13 August 2007

TiVo and Amazon will Deliver Digital TV Shopping - 24 July 2008

Although I missed the boat on this one completely, the results are in for the latest Wine Blogging Wednesday over at CorkDork. This month’s objective was to try new red wines from New Zealand. 31 bloggers participated this time! Check it out!

Best of the wine blogosphere for November 3rd through November 14th:

• “stormhoek. made In south africa. drunk in west texas.”
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51: Baked Goods
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51: Baked Goods
• Wine with a Cause III
• Wine vote carries Obama to victory!
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51:
• WBW #51 Baked Goods and Madeirized Wine
• It?s Not What You Make, It?s What You Stand For
• Wineries in Social Media
• Kohl?s or Couture?
• Drink Charitably: Twitter Taste Live w/ Humanitas Wines (November 21)
• Domestic Riesling
• November Wine Events (Reminder: WBW #51 is Nigh!)
• A Letter To Steve Heimoff
• Bargain Wine of the Week
• Thanksgiving Wine Under $20: 2008 Picks
• My Problem with Terroirists
• Chateau Montelena Sale Canceled
• Wine Blogging ~ Are Wine Bloggers All Just Writing for Themselves as a Community?
• Thinking Out Loud

In 1964 the Beatles released Meet the Beatles in the United States, the first Ford Mustang was produced,  Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater for President and the grapes for the 1964 Gran Reserva Rioja of Faustino I were harvested. They made 219,500 bottles and I drank one last night. I can?t help but be struck by history when I taste older wines.  By the way, I just turned nine a month before they picked these grapes, which means I?m becoming part of history too.

To experience these wines is to touch a piece of history as no one makes wines in the same way anymore. Too much science has entered both the winery and vineyard and that?s a good thing. The great thing about an old Rioja Grand Reserva is that they were only produced from the best vintages and from the best wines, which means that you won?t find the faults you often see in older wines from lesser years and pedigrees.  A wine like this lets you reach out to winemakers of the past and be touched by the way they thought.

The 64 Faustino Gran Reserva shows not a trace of cassis, raspberries, new oak or alcohol.  Part of that is its age, but I?m willing to bet it never showed any of those things. Years in barrels (old) and bottle before release assured there was no baby fat on this wine when it was deemed ready for sale. The winery did the maturing for you.

The most striking thing about such wines are the aromatics. It is almost (almost) anti-climatic to taste them. The other is the finish, which is long and haunting. They are wines that invite you to think. Think about not only the way they taste and smell, but about the people and times in which they were born.

There is no such thing as great young wine.  Very good, very enjoyable ones yes, but great ones no. Young wines only have the potential to be great. Drinking young wine all the time deadens the palate making it only sensitive to power and fruit. In today?s hedonistic market driven by immediate pleasures most of the greatest wines are consumed before they actually become great. It?s a terrible waste as today?s wines could be the best ever made and, in addition, never have there been so many wonderful wines designed to be drunk young. More often then not, these ?lesser? wines are more pleasurable to drink in their youth than more distinguished and pricy bottles.

For every wine there is a season, connoisseurs should be able to pick the proper season to drink wines made to age. Now we give potentially great, age-worthy (age-necessary) wines points at birth and that defines them forever. It is more important how a Bordeaux or Barolo tastes at two than how it tastes at twelve. That is obviously half-ass backwards. There are wonderful wines for drinking young and grand wines that don?t achieve their regal stature for years.  Trying to make those wines ready to drink upon release denies their true potential. It is silly to think that a wine can become instantly profound. Like the people that make them, few wines become become complex as adolescents.

It would be depressing to think you achieved your intellectual peak at thirteen. Why do the same thing to the world?s finest wines.

The latest edition of Decanter (March) came out this week, and several articles caught my eye.  The first was entitled Start Your Own Wine Cellar. As I’m often torn between buying bottles to drink and those I think I may like to keep for a special occasion, I was drawn to the profiles of the 3 different types of people for whom Decanter made recommendations. There was the couple who did not know much about wine, but wanted to learn and had £500 to get them going. At the other extreme was the couple who already drank a lot of good Bordeaux and had £5000 to spend. I found myself drawn to the example in the middle, someone who knows her grape varieties, but would not describe herself as a connoisseur. Decanter put together an interesting cellar at a cost of £1000 for her.

The one question I was left pondering with the suggestions was the distinction between wines for drinking 2008-2010+ and for 2010-2018. Why do a couple of decent Italian reds from 2004 fit in the first category, but a Portuguese 2005 and a Spanish 2003 fit in the second? I know it’s down to how it is made and matured, but how are you expected to know that for the slightly more unusual wines? Labels don’t always given enough information and certainly very few give how long to keep the wine for.

I always peruse the Wines of the Month to see what recommendations I can pick up. These wines are available from stockists in the UK so I feel sorry for foreign readers who may be unable to source them. However I’m always a bit frustrated to read other reviews elsewhere in the magazine and see the dreaded ?N/A? next to them. Although I figure what’s the point in reviewing them if they aren’t available in the UK I have to keep reminding myself how international Decanter is. In this month’s issue 4 of the 9 letters are from non UK readers. I am sure this helps the editorial team keep an international focus which is good for all us readers.

The panel tastings this month are both French, 2005 St Emilions and 2005 cru bourgeois. I was stunned to see a great value 2005 cru bourgeois at £7.35. I must seek it out.

Next month’s edition features Italy and is out, according to the ad in the magazine, on February 6. Oops ? I think they forgot to change the date from last month’s edition as I’m sure they mean March 6th!

Found this on the clearance rack for $8. I just drank some with dinner. First glass, with a pasta & tomato sauce: started bland and finished odd. Second glass I drank without accompaniment; worse - actually gagged on the last swallow. In the morning I'll pour the rest down the drain.

Israel's West Bank settlers have been ratcheting up their violence, defying their own government and flouting international public opinion.

Chateau Petrogasm’s resident beer nut and co-founder, Andrew Stuart, will occasionally be posting reviews of beers both domestic and foreign. We encourage all fans of beer and of Chateau Petrogasm to do the same. A note on the review: Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute I.P.A. has been hailed as perhaps one of the best I.P.A.’s being made in the United States. Brewmaster Sam Caglione is also considered to be one of the most talented and influential Microbrewers working in the beer industry today. I would love to hear feedback on this review, particularly whether or not you find it to be a positive or negative review, and your own thoughts on this beer.

-AMS

Share This

A couple of weekends ago, I attended the grand re-opening of Wine Connection in Pound Ridge, NY. Max Marinucci moved his store to a handsome, custom-built facility and it was an amazing tasting by any measure. There were about six Barolos available from producers that ran the modern-traditional axis, E. Pira, G. Mascarello, G. Conterno, and Sandrone among others. They also poured the 2004 Hudelot Noellat Richebourg (about $259; find this wine), and several current release Bordeaux. Then there was the amazing 1985 Leoville Las Cases (about $379; find this wine), whose aroma was so enticing with tannins were smooth as silk.

And the price for this tasting? Free.

In this tough economy, even seeking solace in a wine glass can still cost a lot. But there is one place where you can still taste fine wine for free: New York wine stores. Granted, you’re standing up and the pours are sometimes barely enough to cover the bottom of the glass, but they are a great opportunity for broadening your tasting experience–as well as talking with some interesting people who are usually doing the pouring.

While there are many silly (separate entrances for separate licenses) and annoying (not being able to to sell cheese in a wine shop nor wine in a food shop) aspects of New York wine retail laws, the free tasting is a definite boon for consumers. Stores can’t charge for tasting since that would be profiting from the sale of liquor on-premises, which requires a different license. Other states have different rules about in-store pourings and they are not always free, but are often a good value. (Sadly, one place where free tastings may someday be illegal is the little-known wine country called France.)

And the downturn in the economy means that some shops are eagerly pouring wines (or, technically, having the distributor reps pour the wines) to attract foot traffic. So check out your local retailers and see what’s on the calendar. Here’s my map of my favorite NYC wine shops.

Dulka is one of the most famous wine producing families in the town of Sremski Karlovci, near Novi Sad in Vojvodina. They produce wine since 1920 and have won a handful of awards at the Novi Sad agricultural fair throughout the years. Apart from producing wine, this familiy also produces bermet and brandies of highest qualities.

They have just recently started growing Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2005 is their second vintage. However, this wine is quite rich in both aroma and taste, much richer and deeper than other pure Cabernets around. The color is dark ruby red, the nose rich, so reminiscent of forests and the flavours are those of forest fruit and chocolate. It’s a good wine, can be enjoyed on it’s own.

Score: 8/10
Price: 540 RSD (?6.5)
Retailer: Rodi? MB, Airport City, Belgrade

Technorati Tags: Wine, Serbian Wine, Vojvodina, Sremski Karlovci, Novi Sad, Bermet

I like light reds. Pinot noir, gamay, barbera all make food-friendly wines that can be light in style as compared to, say, cabernet sauvingnon or zinfandel, which are fuller bodied (and often higher in alcohol).

Talking about the flavor profile of wines, from light to full bodied is, in my view, a really constructive way to talk about wine. Heck, entire stores such as Best Cellars in Manhattan and wine lists at numerous restaurants arrange wines this way.

So I was surprised to hear a boutique wine distributor tell me the other day that “light” is verboten! Here’s what he said:

“Light is bad. It’s the kiss of death for a wine. I instruct my sales staff to never describe a wine is light–it’s not beer after all! Succulent and fruit forward and food-friendly, yes, but light, no.”

It’s probably just a question of semantics since he does have many light-bodied (my term!) wines in his portfolio, which I don’t think even has one Aussie shiraz or Cali cab. But I was struck by his hostility to the term and, needless to say, I don’t think it is the kiss of death; rather, it’s a strong endorsement in my view! What do you think?

A few weeks ago, a f