When a PR rep reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in tasting a “prickly rosso” I said, “Hell yes!” It wasn’t that I expected it to be a spectacular wine, but it was something different and that’s one of the things I love about wine – exploring different ones.
By “prickly” what they mean it’s a semi-sparkling wine and the “rosso” means it’s a red wine. I’ve had a few red sparklers over the years, but I don’t come across many. And while I can’t say I’ve had any that I love, it does make for a fun wine.
This wine is a blend of 51% merlot and 49% dolcetto. Despite the fact that it’s made with dolcetto (an Italian grape variety) and it has “rosso” in the name (making it sound Italian), this wine comes from Australia.
In addition to being semi-sparkling, this is a semi-sweet wine and is meant to be served chilled.
My first impression of it is that it reminds me of Cold Duck – or at least my distant memory of it. Cold Duck is a red sparkling wine that was popular in the 1970’s. My parents would drink it every now and then and I remember smelling & tasting it (just a small sip) way back then. This wine brought back the olfactory memories of Cold Duck. Of course there’s probably just some characteristic found in sparkling red wine that came to life in both of these. To be clear, I’ve not tasted Cold Duck in over 30 years and it is just a childhood memory. I’ve heard that Cold Duck quite disgusting, which is not how I would characterize Frisk Prickly Rosso.
Blueberry, black cherry and plum aromas that are pleasant and gentle give the wine a nice nose. The palate brings a slightly frizzante mouthfeel up front with a drier tannic feeling after that. The flavor is slightly sweet with loads of ripe blueberry flavors along with some plum and other berries. It’s not what I would call an “elegant” wine, but it’s fun and tasty.
If you want to mix things up over the holidays, this would be a definite conversation starter. Cheers!
Wine: Frisk Prickly Rosso
Variety: 51% merlot, 49% dolcetto
Vintage: 2012
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $10.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
Jacob’s Creek is a pretty big producer from Australia with good distribution in the United States, which means this should be a relatively easy wine to find. That said, this is a new release and it may take some time for it to show up widely in stores. But when it does, it will be quite a bargain.
Red blends are a good bet when it comes to bargain wines. While I like a good single-variety wine, blends allow producers to leverage the qualities of different grapes and put together a more complex and interesting wine while keeping the cost reasonable. I think this is one reason that red blends are all the rage in the budget wine market.
The blend in this bottle is made of 66% shiraz, 18% cabernet sauvignon, 12% grenache and 4% petit verdot.
This wine is a little tight on the nose — meaning that the intensity of the aromas is pretty soft. It does have good complexity, offering plum, black licorice, cherry and black raspberry aromas — they’re just not all that intense. The palate is a different story. There’s plenty of concentration and ripe fruit flavors, such as cherry, plum and black raspberry. While it’s still a “dry” wine, the residual sugar is noticeable. This is an easy wine to drink although it’s not what I would call an “elegant” wine. It would be a great wine to enjoy with a juicy burger or a slice of pizza.
Best of all, the price is a total steal!
Wine: Jacob’s Creek Red Blend
Varieties: 66% shiraz, 18% cabernet sauvignon, 12% grenache, 4% petit verdot
Vintage: 2012
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 86
Average price: $6.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
I often get the question, “what’s your favorite wine?” To which I never have a simple answer. I don’t really have one favorite. It depends on what mood I’m in, what I’m eating, what the weather is, etc. That’s like asking me what my favorite song is. I can’t narrow it down to just one.
But when I get asked about my favorite wine my answer will typically include a reference to Barolo and Barbaresco. These two wines are both made from nebbiolo grapes and come from Piedmont, Italy. They come from different districts in Piedmont, hence the two names, but also have some stylistic differences. Both of these wines are magical to me. The aromatics and flavors are exotic, rich, complex and delightful. Barolo tends to be heavily tannic, needing several years in the cellar to mellow before consumption, while Barbaresco tends to be more approachable and elegant.
While I love both Barolo and Barbaresco, there’s one thing I don’t like about them… the prices. Barolo and Barbaresco tend to be rather pricey wines, retailing for around $50 and up. So when I come across a good nebbiolo that sells for under twenty bucks I’m a happy guy.
This nebbiolo from Pertinace is one of those wines. It also comes from the Langhe region in Piedmont, which includes both the Barolo and Barbaresco appellations. And the grapes for this wine come from the around the village of Treiso, which is within the Barbaresco region. The wine is labeled simply as nebbiolo because it for whatever reason doesn’t meet the DOCG requirements to be a Barbaresco, but it still has some of those characteristics.
The aromas on this wine are what I would expect from a nebbiolo, although they’re not quite as intense as in some of the best I’ve had. It offers orange peel, raspberry, rose, cherry and baking spice aromatics. The palate brings intense cherry, cranberry and raspberry flavors with a really, really vibrant acidity. Some may find it too vibrant, but I love it. There is also some bitterness and a slight silkiness to the mouthfeel from the tannins — although the tannins are much softer than a big Barolo would be, making this wine more approachable at its young age. A couple years on the shelf might do well for this wine, but you can enjoy it now too.
Overall, I like this wine. It’s a great way to get some of those delicious nebbiolo qualities without breaking the bank.
Wine: Pertinace Nebbiolo
Variety: Nebbiolo
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 86
Price: $18.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and my email inbox is overflowing from the wine PR folks pitching their Thanksgiving wine stories to me. And everywhere I turn I find wine writers publishing their “best wines for Thanksgiving” stories.
That story is pretty cliché in my opinion. There are so many diverse flavors on the Thanksgiving table that you can pick pretty much any wine you want and it will be fine for Thanksgiving. That said, I do have my favorite wine for the holiday and that is riesling, particularly a good dry, German riesling.
Why? It’s just a good, clean and simple wine. It might not hold up against intense flavors, like cranberry sauce. But it will do fine with turkey, stuffing and potatoes. Although that’s not my reason for choosing it.
My reason for it is because it’s a holiday and that’s an excuse to break out a wine you love. I’m a big fan of a good riesling, so I’ll break out a bottle or two this year… including at least one with some age on it.
So, my advice to you isn’t necessarily to break out a bottle of riesling, but rather to break out a bottle of something you love. But if you love riesling, the Leitz Rüdesheimer Riesling may be one you want to add to your shopping list.
A chalky mineral is quite prominent on the nose of this wine. It also shows some lemon and floral aromatics. The palate is delicious with stellar acidity and tasty tart apple, lemon and mineral flavors. The finish is long and lovely, bringing more citrus flavors along with floral and mineral notes. Fans of dry riesling will swoon over this wine.
And, by the way, no PR folks suggested this wine for a Thanksgiving story. It was a media sample, but I picked it for the Thanksgiving plug.
Wine: Leitz Rüdesheimer Riesling
Variety: Riesling
Vintage: 2011
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 92
Price: $22.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
A few months ago, while on a bar crawl with some colleagues, I stopped into a bar in Cincinnati called Rhinehaus. I was actually a little excited when I saw the name of the bar because I thought they should have some good wines from the Rhine river region in Germany. After all, Rhine is part of the name and adding that Germanesque “haus” to the end of it clearly must mean this place has some connection to the Rhine river in Germany. Right?
So I walked up to the bar and asked, “do you have a nice riesling from rheingau or rheinhessen?” And the bartender looked at me like I was a total loon. At that moment I had a typhoon of different thoughts swirling around in my head. On one hand, I thought this was a great opportunity this bar is missing to offer some wines that other Cincinnati bars aren’t offering. They could capitalize on the German heritage of Cincinnati. On another hand I was really disappointed that a bar with a German reference to the Rhine would be totally clueless about wines from the region. And on my third hand I realized that I’m a total wine geek and shouldn’t expect other people in Cincinnati to know about these wines.
And I share that story with you because this wine is the type of wine I was thinking about in that moment. This is a delicious riesling from the Rheinhessen region in Germany.
This isn’t the first Wittmann wine I’ve reviewed. A couple months ago I reviewed the Wittman Riesling Trocken. And this is another Trocken riesling from then under the 100 Hügel name.
As a reminder, trocken is the German word to represent a “dry” wine. This one is nice and dry — and offers a touch of prickle.
This wine is cool and refreshing on the nose, with aromas such as pear, white peach, flint and flowers. It’s dry on the palate, offering tart apple, white peach and pear flavors up front with a chalky and salty mineral characteristic on the finish. The acidity is good. It has an ever-so-slight effervescence adding some texture to the mouthfeel. This is a very good dry riesling.
Wine: Wittmann 100 Hügel
Variety: Riesling
Vintage: 2011
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 88
Price: $21.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
This is a wine that falls in the not-exactly-cheap-but-pretty-darn-good category. It comes from Ponzi Vineyards in Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Ponzi is a family-owned producer that was founded back in 1970. They have 120 acres of LIVE Certified Sustainable vineyards in Northern Willamette Valley, a cool-climate wine region—perfect for pinot noir.
The winemaker at Ponzi is Luisa Ponzi, who took over as winemaker twenty years ago. But she didn’t just take over using the knowledge she learned from her father, Dick Ponzi. Before becoming winemaker she studied enology in Beaune, France and apprenticed with producers in Burgundy, France and Piedmont, Italy. Her approach to winemaking combines the knowledge she gained from her father with her further education and experience.
Wherever the knowledge came from, she’s creating some nice wines.
The nose on this pinot noir has nice depth and character, offering diverse aromatics such as grilled meat, cherry, raspberry, rhubarb and allspice. The palate is also quite nice, with good acidity and flavors such as wild cherry, rhubarb, plum and cinnamon. It finishes relatively long, with cherry and mineral flavors.
Wine: Ponzi Vineyards
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.6%
Rating: 89
Price: $35.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
I have a quick Vinho Verde review for you tonight.
The wine is called Las Lilas and comes from a fairly small vineyard (14 hectares) along the beautiful Douro river in northern Portugal.
As I’ve mentioned before, Vinho Verde has a range of styles and a range of possible grapes from which it can be made. This one is made with Loureiro and Treixadura grapes and has is made with a slight frizzante or prickle. Some Vinho Verde snobs think that only the crappy wines are made with a frizzante and the better wines are made totally still. While I agree that some of the still Vinho Verde wines are spectacular, I do also like these cheap ones with the prickle.
A wine like this is easy to drink and the lower alcohol level allows you to have a few more sips before you’ve had too much.
Bright floral, peach, orange marmalade and mango aromas make this a lively Vinho Verde. This lively mood of this one energizes you versus just relaxing you. On the palate, peach flavor is the featured player with melon and pear rounding it out. It has just enough sparkling prickle to liven up the mouth feel. Most importantly, this wine wins on deliciousness.
Wine: Las Lilas Vinho Verde
Variety: Loureiro and Treixadura
Vintage: 2011
Alcohol: 10%
Rating: 87
Price: $9.99
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
Over the past year, one wine region that I’ve fallen in love with is Greece. Unfortunately, I don’t find many Greek wines on the shelves in my neighborhood, but those that I’ve tasted have been delicious — and this wine from Tsantali is no exception.
It’s made from 60% Chardonnay and 40% Muscat of Alexandria. I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with Chardonnay, but you may not know Muscat of Alexandria. As you might guess from the name, it’s part of the Muscat family (there are several types of Muscat). It’s considered one of the oldest genetically-unmodified grape varieties in existence. There are many different names for this grape in different parts of the world, my favorite of which is “Zibibbo” as they call it in Sicily. But whatever name you call it, it’s a magical grape in my eyes.
Muscat of Alexandria is considered less aromatic than some other types of Muscat, such as Muscat Blanc. But it still has some of those perfumey Muscat aromatics. The blend of Chardonnay and Muscat of Alexandria complement each other nicely, resulting in a wine with pleasant aromatics and tasty stone fruit flavors.
Like the Kanenas red blend that I previously reviewed, the grapes for this wine come from the Maroneia region in Northern Greece, along the Aegean Sea.
The nose is very delicate, offering only subtle green apple, almond and floral aromas. The palate is elegant, well balanced and delightful, with flavors such as white peach, pear and green apple. The acidity is spot on. It finishes relatively long with lingering peach and pear flavors. This is a very nice wine.
Wine: Tsantali, Kanenas
Variety: 60% Chardonnay, 40% Muscat of Alexandria
Vintage: 2012
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $20.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
For bargain-hunting sparkling wine lovers, “cremant” is a good word to learn. It’s the name given to French sparkling wines that come from regions outside of Champagne. And being from outside of Champagne they typically have quite reasonable prices compared to their Champagne relatives.
This Cremant D’Alsace from René Muré is made from a blend of Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Auxerrois, Riesling and Pinot Noir. The wine spends at 12 months on the lees during production, which means in a tank with the yeast sediment and additional time with yeast in the bottle during secondary fermentation. This adds richness and flavors to the wine.
This wine comes from the Alsace region in France, hence the name “Cremant D’Alsace.” Alsace is another good thing to learn about as a bargain hunter. You won’t necessarily find bargain-bin wines from Alsace, but the quality-to-price ratio tends to be good for wines from this region.
Golden in color, this cremant doesn’t look very bubbly in the glass, but it feels plenty bubbly in the mouth. The nose is rather subtle, with floral and apple aromas, plus a soft yeast aroma. The palate is quite dry with crisp granny smith apple and mineral flavors. The acidity is great. It finishes rather short with mineral notes. This is a very clean and dry bottle of bubbly.
Wine: René Muré Cremant D’Alsace
Variety: Sparkling white blend
Vintage: Non-vintage
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $24.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
It was just earlier this year that I posted a review of the 2010 Casillero del Diablo merlot and now we’re on to the 2011. Although it seems that I could taste a different wine every day of my life and never run out of new wines, I do like to revisit wines I’ve tasted in the past. Particularly when they are wines I know the audience here can easily find.
One thing I look for in a wine is consistency from vintage to vintage — particularly if it’s consistently good. The 2010 Casillero del Diablo merlot was good, although not exceptional. And that’s the story with the 2011 too.
As I’ve mentioned before, Casillero del Diablo is a brand in the Concha y Toro portfolio — the largest wine producer in Chile. Some wine snobs would refer to this as a “bulk wine” and wouldn’t even consider drinking it due to that fact. But if it tastes good, I’ll give it a chance.
Loads of cedar and plum aromas dominate the nose on this merlot. It also shows some blackberry and herbal fragrances. The flavors are pretty dense but not overly jammy, like many merlots can be. It offers blackberry, plum, black olive and beet flavors. There’s a touch of spice in it too. It’s a little bit bitter, particularly toward the finish. It’s fairly earthy, not just a fruit bomb. Overall, it’s good.
Wine: Casillero del Diablo
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2011
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $12.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
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