MORE BARGAINS 2022/3

It seems impossible to find a bad bottle of wine these days. Every trip to Costco, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Sam’s and Plum’s I seem to find a new desert island wine under $10.

Like most of my posts, this one will also be added to regularly. When too long to read, I’ll set up another MORE BARGAINS 2024 or heaven forbid, I run out of interesting, great cheap wines to write about.

Tasted December 16, 2023

We were shopping at Costco the other day and I spotted three bargain wines that I couldn’t resist. The first we tasted is estate bottled 2021 Chateau De Grézels Prestige (70%Malbec/30%Merlot) Cahors (13.5% abv) FRANCE, $7.99 at Costco. Though hardly a blockbuster, it is very nicely balanced, fresh, clean berry fruit and a soft easy finish. Easy to enjoy. The second wine is an old friend that for some reason I had expected to be more expensive. The 2020 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet South Australia (14.5% abv) AUSTRALIA also $7.99 at Costco is quite a remarkable wine for the money. It really tastes like a much finer more expensive wine. The first whiff says “classic Aussie” red earth, ripe black fruit and sweet oak while the palate is rich with dusty spice and a green herb hint as the gripping finish takes over. I would have never picked this as a bargain basement Aussie had I tasted it blind. The third bottle is 2021 Dominio de Alma Tradición (70% Monastrell / 30% Syrah) Jumilla(14% abv) SPAIN. The color is that black cherry skin color but the aroma is restrained. It is a bit more forthcoming on the palate but still quite restrained. I think this wine needs to air a bit more so, if you’re reading this as I write it, stay tuned. I’ll re-taste tomorrow. I cannot believe that James Suckling gave the wine in my glass 92 points. Next day, it gained a little but not enough to get any kind of praise from me. Pretty bland stuff.

Tasted October 29, 2023

I wouldn’t necessarily classify a wine that sells for $15 as a “bargain” but, it is a remarkable wine for its unusual quality:price ratio. I’ve found few really good mid-priced Malbec. Seems like they come in two flavors; cheap and very good. fresh and appealing for the money and expensive massive blockbusters. Most of the tweeners are pretty boring. 2021 Wapisa Rio Negro Patagonia Malbec, ARGENTINA (13.9% abv) $14.79 at Costco fills that niche. It is a medium bodied wine of great depth, complexity with engaging, even compelling, flavors and smells. The deep black red color suggests the black hole that just sucks you in with a sniff. Immediately after opening, it showed a lot and as it aired, it just gets better spicier and more exotic. Though not fat or over ripe, its classy demeanor really grows and builds value. This is a desert island wine now and should continue to develop for several years. The balance is perfect. GOLD

Tasted September 27, 2023

I purchased a six pack of 2010 Chateau Gamage Bordeaux Supérieur Selection Exceptionelle (Merlot dominant with Cab Sauv and Cab Fr) Bordeaux FRANCE (13.5% abv) several years ago when I was still working for Great Lakes Wine and Spirits. It was a pretty fancy presentation in a wooden box with a black and gold gilded label. Over the ensuing years we enjoyed several bottles of what seemed like a pretty decent wine in a good year. Very nice, but pretty basic Bordeaux. Tonight with my famous stuffed poblano peppers we drank the last of the six pack. What a surprise!! It just goes to show that patience is rewarded. The bouquet couldn’t be more classic with a nose full of cedar, leather and tobacco infused into the lush ripe maturing fruit. More of the same on the palate with a remarkable gripping core of black fruit and rich but silky tannin. It tastes like a big league classed growth but I’m pretty sure I paid well under $10 for it back in about 2013-14. This is what cellaring wine is all about.

With that kind of experience, how could I possibly stop myself from opening another 2010 Bordeaux to see if the Gamage was a fluke or whether the vintage was actually ready to drink now. Digging for something else among the 2010’s I discovered that I still had two more bottles of the Gamage (above)! There were three bottles of Chateau Sauman so, with mixed meats, vegetables and sauces cooked a la fondue we enjoyed a bottle of 2010 Chateau Sauman Côtes de Bourg (Merlot, Cab Sauv, Malbec) Bordeaux FRANCE (14.5% abv) again, under $10 when purchased 10 years ago which proved to be ready to drink, that is, balanced and rich flavored, but a bit of a disappointment after the Gamage. This wine has plenty of character, possesses Bordeaux terroir and certainly has the stuff to age for quite some time yet, but the wine itself just doesn’t have that magic that one relishes when a fine sip of Bordeaux slides across the palate. Perhaps to its determent, is the very prominent herbal component that grows as it melts on the palate. Had we not just enjoyed the Gamage, I’m sure I would have spoken much more highly of this reasonably pleasing wine. I have a couple left so we’ll see if a few more years helps it out any. While the Sauman did improve after a day, I was still a bit restless regarding 2010 Bordeaux so with the remainder of the stuffed peppers, we dove into a bottle of 2010 Chateau Hyot Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux (Merlot with some Cab Fr and Cab Sv) Bordeaux FRANCE (13.5% abv) likely about $10-12 when purchased 10 years ago was a big step up from the previous two wines in terms of structure and size. Initially, the very spicy almost perfumed wood accent seemed a bit out of place but after a day on the side board everything seemed to be in balance and the wood spice became much more earthy, forest floor and terroir driven. Surprisingly, it really lightened up. In fact, after a day open, it seemed lighter than the Gamage or the Sauman. This is a wine that needs a few hours of air, but it is ready to drink and will prove very satisfying over the course of an evening if opened a few hours in advance.. Like the Gamage, once aired, it will simply disappear when put on the table.

Tasted September 20, 2023

I debated wither it was appropriate or not to include these two wines in the “More Bargains” category considering their prices but, compared to the other wines we tasted that night, these were the least expensive of the lot (the others were $25 to $40) and, to my taste the best by a good margin. We were at our friends Drs. Suresh and Sarla Puri for a Rude’s wine tasting event in Grand Rapids. As always, the tasting was double blind. Other than Suresh, no one (even Sarla) knew the topic or in what order the wines were served. I was completely stumped. From the warm-ups to the actual tasting, most of the wines had an oldness that seemed to mask the fruit and provide an array of earthy, terra cotta and wood spice that seemed like the wines couldn’t have been purchased by Suresh in recent history for this tasting. So, on one hand, I might have guessed that these wines were older wines from his cellar or on the other hand, maybe from a region where age simply for the sake of age is viewed with reverence. The middle east, northern Africa, South America (not Chile or Argentina, however) all produce wines that when released young taste old. The last place on earth I would have guessed was a technologically modern western European wine region. Boy, was I wrong! These wines were all from Italy, mostly the Piedmont, Tuscany and nearby. I won’t bore you with all my notes which mostly say things like “old, gravely, forest floor, earthy, incense” and so on. Here, I’ll list the two wines that I really liked and made in what I would call the international style. Yes, I am a critic of this style when it gets in the way of terroir but these two wines clearly embodied the essence of all the other wines while offering up clear, supple, mouthcoating, ripe fruit.

2017 Il Conte Villa Pandrone, Rosso Piceno Superiore Marinus (70% Montepulciano / 30% Sangiovese), Marche, ITALY (14% abv) $19.99 stood out immediately with its deep black red color, massive fruit, mouth-filling middle palate and big rich texture throughout. What made this wine particularly endearing to me was that in spite of all the big ripe fruit up front, there was loads of charmingly complex flavors and smells that embodied all of the old earthy components of the other wines without tasting old or earthy; a very modern wine, indeed, without sacrificing the nuances of tradition. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a wine from Piceno before, but will certainly be on the lookout now. For me it was a clear GOLD MEDAL wine. I scored it 18+/20 while the group score was 16/20 and third place overall.

2019 Marchese di Barolo Maraia Barbera di Monferrato, Piedmont, ITALY (13% abv) $14.99 for me showed the most class of any of the wines we tasted. Like most of the wines, there exists a complexity of age and terroir. Here, however, the wine’s age is well knit together with expressive fruit that allows the translucent juicy mid-palate texture to coat and linger. The suppleness carries through to the fresh soft finish. Hardly a blockbuster, but clearly a wine of breeding and subtlety that one enjoys with flavorful food that before you can blink, the bottle is empty. I probably under-rated it at 15+/20 (SILVER or BRONZE) but that is consistent with the group which also gave it an average of 15+/20 and fifth place overall.

Tasted August 30, 2023

About a month ago, I saw an add in the Wine Enthusiast Magazine for a wine I used to buy with regularity from the Chicago Wine Company (Auction House) that came from personal cellars. Presumably, the person died or for whatever reason no longer drank wine. The last bottle of Palacio/Senorio de Arganza that Alice and I enjoyed was from the 1964 vintage (see “Unusual Old Wines That Beg to be Opened” dated April 2, 2017 by scrolling way way way down on the home page). So, having never actually purchased a current vintage at retail, I asked Dick Scheer of the Village Corner what he knew. He informed me that I could buy a case of the 2020 Palacio de Arganza Castilla y Leon Cabernet Sauvignon/Mencia SPAIN (13% abv) for $144 per wooden case of 12. So, of course, I couldn’t resist buying a case. When I first opened the wine, the strong earthy, grapy aroma was so strong, I thought for a second it might be affected by Brettanomyces. But, as it aired, clearly this wine had no faults. It does, however, carry a powerful wild grape-like aroma that stays well into the mid-palate that is not at all unlike a Michigan red hybrid. It is clearly a much finer version of the wines I used to make in Holland Michigan! The fruit is so pure in the nose, almost fruit berry liqueur-like yet it is very wild and foresty and as soon as it touches the tongue, a big red hybrid grape flavor flushes over the palate. Hence, it does taste like Michigan wine to me, in a good way. It is clearly classier and offers a much more cedar and red fruit character than any Michigan red I’ve enjoyed. I told Dick what I was tasting and he probably thinks I’ve lost my palate. I’ve had two bottles now and I do love the wine, and look forward to drinking it over whatever time I have left in the here and now. Here are Dick’s notes: “Sweet, warm climate nose. Ripe blackberry jam. Mencia contributes a purple fruited cooling edge. / Sweet and easy again. Good acid of Mencia and the region. Clinging finish. 91/100”

Tasted May 14, 2023

We happened to be in Grand Rapids last week and needed to kill some time so we stopped in to Mega Bev (formerly GB Russo and Son’s) to say hello to Dave Russo and see the “new” place. We were surprised to learn that it had been almost four years since he sold the business. It is a pretty amazing store with beau coups inventory of everything in every price range. Dave noticed that I had a bottle of Kenwood Cab in my hand and suggested the 2018 Kenwood Jack London Vineyard Sonoma Cab stating that it was a fantastic deal. He was absolutely right! 2019 Kenwood California Cabernet Sauvignon CA (14.5% abv) $9.50 is as Dave warned, not the same as the Sonoma Cab of yesteryear. However, for the money, it is very good and without tasting it side by side with the Sonoma, I would say it is remarkably similar. We have had it in restaurants too where it is typically one of the cheapest wines on the list and always solid. It has everything you’d want in a red house pour; structure, plenty of fruit, balance and a long finely textured finish. I would definitely give it a SILVER. Then we opened the 2018 Kenwood Jack London Vineyard Sonoma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon CA (14.8% abv) $16.00 which he recommended and yes, it is a remarkable value. I think I paid more than $16 for it twenty years ago! The wine is everything one hopes for in a Sonoma Cab. Even the color looks luxurious. The nose is pure and elegant with ample black fruit just restrained enough to let the vineyard speak. On the palate, soave silky texture and lingering raspberry-like fruit essence gracefully finishes clean and dry. If you’re looking for power, this is not your wine. But, for a glass of wine with finesse and drinkability that will pair with just about everything, this is GOLD medal all the way.

Tasted March 20, 2023

While in Tucson, we visited the local Trader Joe’s and, of course, filled our cart with many delicious wines at the cheapest imaginable prices. This one we didn’t get a chance to drink before we left so opened it last night watching MSU win with a strong finish and the rest of the Big 10 to continue to collapse in the second half and bow out of the tournament. 2017 Marques de Colbert Reserva (50% Bobal / 50% Tempranillo) Utiel-Requena DOP, SPAIN (13% abv) $5.99 at Trader Joe’s is from a mountainous region just west of Valencia. I don’t think we ever had a wine from here before. There is clearly Reserva character with sweet American oak scents mingled with very fresh, bright red fruit. Bright, but not edgy or raw, the texture is round and mellow on the palate though plenty of energy and spice at the core. It finishes with a unique leathery perfumed fruit essence. It is indeed a remarkable value at $5.99 and if I were to rate it based on bang for the buck, I’d give it a high SILVER, maybe even gold.

Tasted December 28, 2022

This should be my last entry of 2022 and will start “More Bargains 2023” with the upcoming new year. About this time last year, we attended a wine tasting at the Piersma’s in Grandville where a couple of the warm up wines were from a Costco 2018 Bordeaux 90 point Wine Enthusiast four pack Collection. I was impressed with the wines then and bought one of the four packs for Alice but I never got around to drinking any of the wines. Last time we were in Costco, the 2019 pack was on display so I had to have one. This is four bottles of 90 point Wine Enthusiast Bordeaux for $29.99. Do the math, that’s less than 8 bucks a bottle. So, today I was doing some rearranging in the cellar and decided to compare a couple of the wines in the packs. We tasted 2018 and 2019 Chateau Thomas, Francs Cotes de Bordeaux, FR $7.50 at Costco. Just prior to this, we were sipping a delicious $20 Spanish Priorat yet, as soon as I got a nose full of the 2019’s aroma, it was an “oh yea” moment. Even the cheapest Bordeaux just has that wonderful unique smell of the terroir that explains why it is so popular world wide. On the palate, that welcoming pure alluring fruit that was screaming BORDEAUX! stayed steady as a soft but richly textured Merlot complexity of black berries and red plums washed across the palate. No wonder Wine Enthusiast rated this a 90 pointer. Alice tasted the 2018 first and was similarly impressed with the class and regional identity. But, when she moved on to the 2019, she agreed with me that there was just something else. Maybe it is another layer of vibrant pure fruit. In spite of the wines being identical in all objective tasting criteria, the 2019 was just enough amped up to be more enjoyable. The mouthfeel seemed just a tad juicier and fresher making the tannin just a hair less intrusive. The 2019 wine’s voice says, “drink me now”. For an update on the 2020 Costco Bordeaux four pack, see “Hot Costco Deals” dated October 24, 2023.

How it is possible to grow, make, ship and distribute a fine wine grown in fairly expensive real estate for under $8 is a mystery to me. Though a decent sized vineyard (23 hectares) of 50+ year old Merlot and Cab Franc vines does offer some economy of scale, we’re certainly not talking mass production. What a bargain!!

WHEN IS A BARGAIN NOT A BARGAIN? RUDE TASTERS 11/16/2022

Every spring, Last Bottle, on-line wine seller, has their deep discount sale, and afterwards all the odds and ends are boxed up and sold as “mystery cases” or “mystery six packs”. They assure you that you won’t regret it. All of the packages are worth way more than what you pay for them. So we bought the cheapest case for $150. It was titled “Summer BBQ Wines.” Well, when the box arrived and we looked inside, we decided that it was a perfectly orchestrated wine tasting all ready to go. Two flights of five and two bottles to get everyone in the mood. So we volunteered to put on a tasting for our old GR wine group, the Rude Tasters, which has been getting together every month since fall of 1973, As always, the tasting is double-blind. No one other than Alice and I know what the theme is about and only I know which wines are served. Though I don’t know the exact order, I do know the theme of each flight and the theme of the warm-up wines.

WARM-UPS 2017 CARLSON Charades Red (Cab Sauv/Syrah/Petit Verdot) Santa Barbara County CA (14.1% abv) $30 is fat and ripe with a distinct Maraschino nuance and a round, full finish. 2017 DERBY WINE ESTATES Fifteen 10 Red (Grenache/Syray/Mourvedre/Counoise/Cinsault) Paso Robles, Derby Vineyard CA (14.4% abv) $34 is also big and ripe but with better texture with more strength and more supple. The group liked both about equally. The object of these two wines was to show a Bordeaux/Aussie style blend along side a Southern Rhone blend to tune our palates for the two flights ahead which were just that.

1st FLIGHT (Rhone Style Blends) 2016 DERBY WINE ESTATES Fifteen 10 Red (Grenache/Syrah?Mourvedre?Counoise/Cinsault) Paso Robles, Derby Vineyard CA 14.9% abv) $34 which, other than the alcohol was the same wine as above but one year older. 2016 must have been a pretty sunny vintage because I did not pick up on the fact that it was the same as the warm-up. Oddly, it actually seemed younger, fresher with even more supple fruit that leaned toward cherries as it hit one’s palate. My score 17, group score 16.1 FOURTH PLACE TIE 2019 DOMAINE DE POULVAREL Les Gres Red (Syrah/Grenache) Costieres De Nimes FR (14.5% abv) $24 did not strike me as typically French, but I did like the very vividly raw, fresh fruit and fine, elegant texture (some tasters felt it was too tannic). My score 18, group score 15.2 NINTH PLACE 1019 DOMAINE L’ABBE DINE Red (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre) Cotes du Rhone FR (14.5% abv) $26 is a nice wine with supple fresh, easy-to-like fruit, but doesn’t have quite the complexity as the Poulvarel above, though the longer it stayed open, the more balanced and the better it got. I raised my score twice in fifteen minutes. My score 17, group score 15.1 TENTH (LAST) PLACE 2017 ZINKE Grenache, Central Coast CA (14.4% abv) $28 is a rather odd wine to me. I would have never guessed Grenache nor would I have guessed five years old. It seemed much older than that with cinnamon spice. Although rather thin initially, it did flesh out a bit with some air. My score 16, group score 15.8 SEVENTH PLACE TIE 2015 KING ESTATE Petite Sirah, Rogue Valley, Carpenter Hill OR (14.0% abv) $55 clearly went right over my head. Had I given it a decent score, it would have taken first or second place. But, to me, in spite of the really superb texture the big, dense black fruit was annoyingly medicinal. Other tasters described it as ripe, hot climate, prunes, tobacco and condensed berries. It just didn’t seem like a wine which I would want to ask for a second glass. My score 14, group score 16.1 FOURTH PLACE TIE

2nd FLIGHT (New World Bordeaux Style Blends) 2019 FABRE-MONTMAYOU Reserve Cabernet Franc, Mendoza AR (14.5% abv) $20 seemed more like a continuation of the first flight than what I would have expected from ripe Cab Franc. There is very little tannin here (less than Michigan Cab Franc for sure) though easy and fleshy enough to carry the fruit and felt balanced on the palate. Alice (keep in mind, she’s an Argentinophile) loved it! My score 16, group score 16 SIXTH PLACE 2020 PACHECO PAREDA Seleccion Robles (oak aged) Malbec, Mendoza AR (14% abv) $24 had a sort of petrol/olive oil like nose that really seemed to block off its other attributes. The wine feels good in the mouth but for the most part, tastes more like grapes than wine. Not a bad taste, just not one I appreciate. My score 14, group score 15.8 SEVENTH PLACE TIE NV BERRYESSA GAP Gozar! Red (Tempranillo/ Petite Sirah/ Zinfandel/Cabernet Sauvignon) Yolo County CA (14.5% abv) $17 probably was the odd ball varietally in this flight and the tasting as a whole. But, it stood out to me and obviously the rest of the group as well. It was probably the most tannic, muscular wine of the tasting. It even felt like strong tea on the palate while balanced by gigantic fruit and a nearly sweet berry liqueur essence. My score 18, group score 17 FIRST PLACE 2017 BENT PRESS Cabernet Sauvignon, California (14.5% abv) $15 was my least favorite. One taster described it as having a farm smell. Well, if they have a diesel tractor on the farm, I get it. There is something old-fashioned and familiar yet in this context, strange too. Again, I was the odd man out. If I’d scored it even average it would have won. My score 13, group score 16.6 THIRD PLACE 2020 PERRIN+DOBBS VINEYARDS Pitch Black Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles CA (13.5% abv) $42 lived up to its name. On the nose, I got an ocean-like salty seaweed, kelp-like iodine that was distinct but remarkably pleasant and addictive. I kept coming back to this wine that grew and grew in the glass. The fruit on the palate and in the finish was as beguiling as the nose. By far, this was the most complex and compelling wine of the night for me. My score 19, group score 16.9 SECOND PLACE

So, why wouldn’t this case of wine be an astounding bargain for $150? The retail value is well over $300 and yes, all of the wines would be just fine with a summer barbeque. The general consensus, however, was that all the wines sort of tasted the same. Sameness to the point where 16 very experienced tasters couldn’t even discern what if any theme was being presented let alone pick out French vs California, Rhone style vs Bordeaux style or California vs Oregon. The wines were all good enough to enjoy with food and probably if tasted one at a time each with a delightful group of friends outdoors standing around the barbie, no one would be complaining. For me who drinks wine to enjoy, recollect, and savor the sense of somewhereness in each wine, they mostly fell short. As I mentioned more than once in this blog site, I’m getting to where the “International Style” of winemaking no matter how ramped up with big fruit and potent alcohol has become boring. It sometimes seems like price is often inversely proportionate to my enjoyment. With many exceptions, the cheaper the wine, the more mass produced the wine, the more it expresses its origin. And, that’s why I drink wine.

By the way, we also bought the $360 six pack. The retail value is well over $1000 yet time will tell if I’d actually knowingly pay $60 for any of them. They are all small production boutique wines and therefore the most desirable and most sought after in the market. If we stay in reasonably good health, we’re planning on keeping that six pack at least five years before we open them. Hopefully, time will allow them to bare their soul.

TASTED 11/05/2022

We don’t go to Aldi much these days because neither store is conveniently located for us. But, we were over at Knight’s Dexter Rd and Alice thought it would be worth a visit next door to see if the Wine Advent Calendars were out yet. Indeed they are including Advent Beer and Advent Hard Selzer Calendars. We have liked the Aldi over the Costco, Sam’s or Meijer calendars because the Aldi calendars have offered many wines that one doesn’t ordinarily encounter in an American super market while the aforementioned calendars are pretty much same old same old. This year, I was disappointed, however. Although there is noting wrong with the wines all were very pleasant, but, compared to past years, this year’s is very generic. Most of the wines proved to be generic blends or varietals. A few with an IGP, IGT or PGI, but only one AOC with a specific identity. If the point of the calendar was to enjoy wines from all over the wine producing world, so far, it has largely failed to offer wines with any distinctive discernable identity. Good? yes. Maybe, like the tasting above, international style trumps terroir. Our friends the LeRoux’s purchased the Costco Advent Wine Calendar and were very happy with the wine quality and quantity (375 ml bottles vs 187 ml bottles in the Aldi Calendar). However, when I saw the list, it is almost identical to the Aldi Calendar; mostly generic wines with little sense of identity. To me it is like buying an assortment of chocolates from a chocolatier and they are all variations on milk chocolate. No real variety. While at Aldi, we grabbed a couple of other wines. Alice spotted the 2020 30 Miles* Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley CA (14.1% abv) $14.99 at Aldi. Now, $15 hardly seems like a “bargain” all things considered, but, if Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon grapes go for $3-4,000 per ton as a base level, doing the math, the wine needs to sell for at least $30 to be profitable. So a Napa Valley Cab for half that amount is a bargain relatively speaking. To pair with that, I spotted a generic California Red; 2020 Intermingle (Zin, Merlot, Cab Sauv) Red Blend CA (13.5% abv) $6.99 at Aldi. For less than half the money, I thought it would be interesting to see if either was any kind of relative bargain. The Intermingle is a very straight forward youthfully fruity vigorous expression of red fruit with good palate intensity and ample mouthfeel. Not a particularly classy specimen but thoroughly enjoyable and balanced for current drinking. If this were entered into a judging, I’d probably go SILVER based on the price/quality ratio though there is nothing memorable about it. At first blush, the 30 Miles doesn’t seem substantially better than the Intermingle. However, as this wine lingers on the palate, its inherent personality and complexity becomes apparent. Yes, location matters. You are not just paying more for the Napa Valley reputation, the 30 Miles is a much more interesting classy wine. At the moment, it is probably not worth double the price of the Intermingle. But, as time goes on, the 30 Miles will continue to get finer and more interesting while the Intermingle will actually become dull over time. So, if I’m in a restaurant and both wines are very young, I’d go with the Intermingle especially if it is something like half the cost of the 30 Miles. Yet, the 30 Miles will reward those who give it more time in the cellar to fully show its pedigree. The nose is much more of the earth than the Intermingle with black berry fruit, wood spice and a peaty nuance. The 30 mile is clean, fresh and seemingly light but with good depth. It reminds me of the Krug/Mondavi wines of the ‘70’s. It will never be a blockbuster like the 2005 Groth Oakville (see “Dead or Alive” October 31, 2022) but, over time (10 -15 years)** it will offer a wonderful tasting experience. It’s tough to give it a score of any kind balancing what it is with what I believe it will be.

*30 Miles refers to the dimensions of Napa Valley (5 miles x 30 miles) which is pretty tiny in the perspective of California wine; well under 5% of the total, yet clearly the standard by which California wine quality is judged.

** I was about to suggest scrolling way down on the “Dead or Alive” post several years ago to read my comments on the 1980 Louis Martini Cab Sauv but then discovered that I’ve never written about it. How is that possible? Maybe I just don’t remember the location of the post. Anyway, we have a couple more bottles, so, I need to open one up soon and add it to “Dead or Alive”. My hunch is that, given time, the 30 Miles will be just that type of well balanced medium bodied wine that just continues to get better.

TASTED 10/26/2022

Whenever we go to Trader Joe’s it is hard not to buy wine even though we don’t need it and really need to drink up all the old wine sitting in the cellar. But, when I saw 2020 Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Shiraz Barossa AUSTRALIA (14.6% abv) for $7.99, I couldn’t resist. It has been a really long time since I’ve seen Barossa Shiraz for less than $10. The more I drink wine from Trader Joe’s and Aldi the more I’m believing that the cheaper the wine the better it expresses it’s terroir. I’m only guessing, but to sell Barossa wine for this kind of money, the vines probably belong to a premium winery that sets a minimum age for its vines and recently went on a replanting spree and is just trying to get rid of the juice until the vines reach a certain age. How else could this wine be so cheap? If this is the case (I’m just saying that you can’t buy $3000 per ton grapes and make $8 wine) maybe young vines are a more “in your face” reflection of the terroir. Old vines have class, subtle nuance and finesse. This wine is all about place. It offers up everything I like about Barossa Shiraz. Though almost over the top fruit forward, it still screams of it’s origin. It is not a biggie, but has a very satisfying depth of flavor and strong sense of familiarity. Isn’t that why we drink wine? If judged in comparison to all Barossa wines I’ve ever had at any price, I’d go high bronze or maybe even a silver. But, at $7.99, this is solid GOLD!

TASTED 5/14/2022

Like I stated about the wine below, I’m really starting to appreciate young Bordeaux. Ironic because I have over a hundred bottles still of mature Bordeaux. When Alice picked this bottle up at Costco, I suggested that as a second wine from a 5th Grand Cru Classe Margaux, we might want to save it for a few years, at least. Alice wouldn’t hear of any of that sort of reasoning. “I bought it to drink” was her firm command. So tonight with a “two tail” prime cut ribeye cap smothered with morels with sides of asparagus (big and fat) and scalloped potatoes, we opened up the 2018 Aurore de Dauzac (61% Cab Sauv / 39% Merlot), Margaux, Bordeaux, FRANCE (14.5% abv) $18 at Costco. From the moment it touched my lips, this wine was so engaging that I knew it would perfectly support our culinary adventure. Our dinner was a classic expamble of fat, fat and more fat so the wine needed to be fresh and bright but vigorous and with enough depth to match up with the multiplicity of flavor on the plate. This wine was up to the task. The fruit was as pure as eating elderberries while standing in a Hudsonville ditch. The balance is remarkable. How can a wine this young, this tannic be silky smooth? Well, it is. The finish rings up another big palate wake up with all the fruit and fresh raw fruit edge alluded to in the first sip. Great wine to drink right now in its infancy. GOLD MEDAL!!!

TASTED 2/2/22 (groundhog day)

While I was reading about an offer of some great growth Bordeaux, mostly well beyond what I normally spend on wine, I popped the cork on a bottle of 2019 KIRKLAND (produced and bottled by Chateau Petit Freylon) Bordeaux Superieur 60% Cab Sauv / 40% Merlot (14% abv) FRANCE $6.99 at Costco. As soon as I poured it, the deep red hue with a good dense black core made me anticipate good things to come. The nose is clean and pure varietal Cab/Merlot aroma with a clear sense of its origin. If the nose left any doubt in one’s mind as to its origin, the palate seals the deal. For such a fresh fruity young wine the sense of terroir is remarkably emphatic. The ripe subtle fruit belies the firm underlying structure. This wine will certainly be a solid performer for at least 5+ years. At 6.99, it way over delivers; SILVER plus plus. UPDATE: Today I purchased the 2020 Kirkland Bordeaux Superieur (Chateau Petite Freylon) 60% Cab Sauv / 40% Merlot (14% abv) FRAMCE $6.99 at Costco and it might not be exactly the same source though still within the Entre Deux Mers region. Same Chateau but a different address. Like its predecessor, there is no mistaking this for anything but Bordeaux and for $6.99, that’s more than enough. Considering the vintage (2020 was pretty warm and many of the wines are said to be bigger than 2019), I’m just a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still happily buy more of this, but it does not quite have the depth of flavor and shear drinkability of the 2019. Though Chateau Petit Freylon is still depicted on the label, it doesn’t claim to be estate bottled. It doesn’t surprise me that the Costco volume is such that they need to source their best selling wines from multiple producers to meet the demand. Possibly they are now blending wine from more than one property to fill that demand.

It appears that Costco only has so much Kirkland Rioja Reserva sourced and generally runs out with months in between with none in stock. I was really pleased to see that in the meantime, they brought in 2016 RIVALLANA (produced and bottled by Bodegas Ollara) Rioja Reserva Red Blend mostly Tempranillo (13.5% abv) SPAIN $9.99 at Costco. Though this wine is a couple dollars more than the Kirkland brand Rioja Reserva, it is well worth it. Clearly in a different league, this is what I think of when I think Rioja Reserva. Though the color is deep black red at the core, the meniscus shows signs of the minimum three years in barrel and bottle. The nose has that classic “oiled mahogany and terra cotta” smell inseparable from the Rioja style. On the palate, a fresh kiss of acid greets the tongue while silky tannin and red strawberry-like fruit mingle. In the finish, the oak returns rolling around the mouth for a few more seconds. Though this is a really exquisite example of Rioja Reserva, if you’re willing to pay an additional $10 there are wines that do deliver much more so as much as this is a gold medal for the money, in an absolute sense, I think a SILVER is appropriate.

TASTED 2/8/22

In Costco’s bargain wine aisle they have a nice stack of wine with Joel Gott’s picture on it. His wines are always very good though typically a bit over priced. So when I saw the price on this one, I had to try it. 2017 PALISADES by Joel Gott California Red Wine (13.9%abv) CA $8.99 at Costco is very price worthy. It does not say anywhere on the label what it is or where it comes from specifically but my guess would be a Syrah based blend from somewhere in the Central Valley maybe Lodi or the Foothills. It starts off with a big black berry scent nicely spiced by hints of forest floor and compost. The palate is also hefty with good mouth filling texture and a very complex Northern Rhone-like tar and bacon fat essence making it very complex yet round and supple at the same time. For the money, it is a dynamite wine and even comparing it to much more expensive wine, I’d still give it solid SILVER with price not considered.

TASTED 2/10/2022

Sitting in our hotel room drinking out of plastic cups we are enjoying a bottle of 2017 CAPTIVE CABERNET California Cabernet Sauvignon $8.99 at the Village Corner. Like the Gott wine above, there is nothing on the label stating specifically where the fruit is grown though it does state that it is produced and bottled by Appellation Trading Co. out of Napa. Ironic that the wine has no specific appellation! In spite of a lack of identity, with this wine, one really experiences complexity, fine quality and intrigue. The color is black purple and opaque. This is really a dandy wine full of complex spice, berries and earth with ripe plummy aromas and a palate sense of wet wood and leather. The texture is huge with rich mouthfeel that carries well into the finish. Blind, I would have guessed it was a grossly overpriced boutique bottling costing $50 or more. GOLD

Enjoy in Good Health,

Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner