I recently had the opportunity to try the full lineup of wines from a relatively new producer in South Eastern Australia named Friday Monkey. These wines are fairly typical of what you would expect from Australian value wines. They are very much “new world” wines in style in that they are simple and fruit-forward.
Occasionally I like to comment on the marketing approach that wine producers take, and this is one of those cases. I like the name Friday Monkey, just for the unique factor. I was also amused by the inclusion of a “critter” on the label. Of course it is a monkey in this case, but I’ve noticed a trend with Australian wines of using critters on the labels. Yellow Tail, Little Penguin, Alice White, Black Swan and others all use critters and bright colors on their labels. Is the same design company coming up with all these logos? I guess they have a good reason… critters sell wine! In fact, one of my colleagues just said to me a couple weeks ago, “I’m a sucker for wine with critters on the label.”
Tasting-wise these aren’t extraordinary wines, but they are reasonably priced at $7.99-8.99. They are quite comparable in quality to other Australian critter-labeled wines. The one I enjoyed the most was the Cabernet Merlot blend, which was quite a quaffable wine. Here are the notes on the full lineup.
Friday Monkey Chardonnay
The nose is a rather tight, which seems to be the case with most of the Friday Monkey wines. Although subtle, the aromas on the nose are pear, honey, apple and a bit of mineral/wet rock. The palate is very sweet and fruity. The fruit is mostly pear flavors, but there’s a bit of yellow delicious apple too. The mineral that was on the nose is also found mid-palate. There isn’t any oak, so although it’s not labeled as such this appears to be an unoaked chardonnay. It is lacking acidity a bit, which makes it rather flabby—particularly on the finish.
Varietal: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 77
Retail Price: $7.99-8.99
Friday Monkey Merlot
Wow. This Merlot has an intense, perfumey nose with loads of dried fruit and herbs. Sage and dried cherry are the dominant aromas, complimented by some blackberry. This is the one wine from Friday Monkey that doesn’t lack intensity on the nose. At first I found the nose to be overbearing, but give it a few minutes and it’s not so aggressive. The palate is enjoyable with strong dried cherry flavor accented with blackberry, spice and a touch of strawberry. I would have liked a bit more tannin to give it a richer mouth feel, but the acidity is good.
Varietal: Merlot
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 81
Retail Price: $7.99-8.99
Friday Monkey Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine has brick red color and bright clarity. This isn’t as big and bold as a lot of other cabs, but it’s a decent medium-body Cabernet. It has black pepper, plum and subtle strawberry aromas with a little bit of oak underneath it. The palate is very blackberry. The fruit is abundant on the palate. As I said before, these are fruit-forward wines. So you might say it’s a blackberry jam palate. There aren’t really any other discernible flavors on the palate. The tannins are smooth and enjoyable. There is a bit of a pucker factor on the finish, which is quite long (the finish, not the pucker).
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 82
Retail Price: $7.99-8.99
Friday Monkey Cabernet Merlot
This is my favorite of the Friday Monkey wines. It has good color and clarity. There is a strong leather aroma on the nose. It’s like cracking open a new wallet and taking a whiff. There is also a bit of straw, cherry and a subtle bubblegum aroma. And I do mean subtle, normally the bubblegum aroma would turn me off, but it’s not too bad here. The palate is very much a new world, fruit-forward experience, but it’s not quite at the “fruit bomb” level. In other words, it’s not too sweet. There are clear blackberry and cherry flavors and soft tannins. There’s not a ton of complexity , but it’s a very quaffable wine.
Varietal: Cabernet Merlot
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 84
Retail Price: $7.99-8.99
Friday Monkey Shiraz
Leather, tar and raspberry jam make up the nose on this one. Although those are all rather subtle as again the nose lacks intensity. The palate is very jammy with nondescript berry flavors. There’s also some black pepper and a bit of salami flavor. Overall, there is a lack of complexity. The tannins are dry. There’s a bit of a metallic aftertaste on the finish, which turned me off a bit. It’s subtle, but noticeable for at least the first couple sips.
Varietal: Shiraz
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 81
Retail Price: $7.99-8.99
Say it with me: mon-tuh-pul-CHEE-an-no dah BROOT-zo.
It’s one of my favorite Italian wines and not just because it’s fun to say. It’s a very approachable Italian country wine that is often overlooked. Yet it is very enjoyable and can have as much complexity as more popular varietals. It’s much less acidic than many other Italian wines, such as Sangiovese or Nebbiolo, and it has soft tannins.
Montepulciano is the grape and Abruzzo is the region, which you’ll find 70 miles east of Rome and continuing to the Adriatic Sea. To be clear, there is also a community in Italy named Montepulciano, but that is not the source of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Old World Meets New World
One of the things that I really enjoyed about many of these wines is that they have a nice blend of old world and new world wine characteristics. They have some of the earthiness and complexity you would expect from an old world wine with a fruit-forward palate that you would expect in new world wines. At times I am a fan of both (old and new), so when I can’t decide which I want, this is the perfect choice.
Over the past few weeks I’ve reviewed several bottles of this delightful Italian wine and it’s time to summarize the results.
Top Picks
My top pick from this series is La Valentina from Fattoria La Valentina. This wine showed outstanding complexity and was enjoyable all around. At $13 it is reasonably priced.
My second choice is Masciarelli, which shouldn’t be a new name to fans of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. This is a popular choice for many, and for good reason. It has great concentration, good complexity and is a bargain at $9.
Another pick that I’ll have to call the best deal is Farnese Vini – Farneto Valley. This wine has smoke and cherry aromas on the nose and a berry-filled palate. This is a great way to try Montepulciano d’Abruzzo for only $7.
Most of the wines I tasted ended up somewhere in the mid 80’s. So there are several decent choices available. Here’s the full list.
|
Brand
|
Year
|
Rating
|
Price
|
|
La Valentina
|
2005
|
88
|
$12.99
|
|
Masciarelli
|
2003
|
87
|
$8.99
|
|
Farnese Vini – Farneto Valley
|
2005
|
86
|
$6.99
|
|
Quattro Mani
|
2006
|
85
|
$8.99
|
|
Rubiro
|
2004
|
85
|
$13.99
|
|
Filomusi Guelfi
|
2003
|
85
|
$15.99
|
|
Majolica
|
2006
|
82
|
$9.99
|
|
Villa Cerrina
|
2003
|
79
|
$5.99
|
|
Stella Italia
|
2004
|
69
|
$7.99
|
Rubiro Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is (from what I can tell) a second label from Villa Cervia where oenologist Rino Moretti has been producing wine since 1989.
This would be a good choice if you want a red wine that’s not too aggressive. It’s approachable and soft in every way, making it easy to pair with a variety of foods.
The nose is rather subtle but has aromas of plum, cherry and a wee bit of barnyard (not in a bad way). The palate is very soft and a bit short of concentration. It’s mostly just plum and a bit of earth. The tannins are also soft, but prevalent enough to give a full mouth feel. There is a hint of spice in this one too, but again it is very subtle. When I first opened the bottle it had a touch of effervescence, but it quickly went away with decanting.
Overall this is a pretty good wine that is a bit softer than some of the others I’ve tried in this varietal. It would pair nicely with a bowl of pasta, pizza, cheese or a number of other foods. As I mentioned, this one is quite food-friendly. I found it for $13.99 and it earned a score of 85.
Wine: Rubiro
Varietal: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 85
Price Paid: $13.99
I’ll keep this one relatively short as there’s not much to get excited about. This review adds fodder to my “there’s better places to shop for wine than Trader Joe’s” rant. Yep, it’s another wine from Trader Joe’s that rates less than 80.
The fruit is soft in this one. It has a little leather and currant on the nose, but it lacks intensity. If you’re looking for consistency with that lack of intensity you’re in luck as the palate also lacks concentration. What flavor is there is a bit of blackberry and currant. The tannins are soft and are probably the best aspect to this wine. In general this is also a bit off balance on the acidic side. Did I mention that it’s a very light wine?
The good news is that it was only $6.00. I may be dramatizing my distaste a bit only because I grow frustrated with all the people I meet who rant about Trader Joe’s as the place to get good cheap wine. In my experience, it’s not. This wine rated at a 79, so it’s not disgusting but you can find others that are much better without spending much more. Like Masciarelli, for example.
Wine: Villa Cerrina
Varietal: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 79
Price Paid: $5.99
Azienda Agricola Masciarelli operates 13 estates across Abruzzo totaling about 300 hectares with lots of Montepulciano vines, plus other varietals such as Trebbiano, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cococciola and one hectare of Falaghina. They also have olive groves on many of their estates and are well known for their olive oil sold under the Cvetic name.
The estate was founded by Gianni Masciarelli in 1981 and they’ve established quite a presence in Abruzzo in less than 30 years. With many wine producers in the area having vineyards that were passed down from one generation to the next, this is a relatively young producer.
I found the 2003 vintage on shelves in my area and I was a bit surprised that I wasn’t finding a more recent vintage but I was glad to give this one a shot. This is another wine that is a nice marriage of old and new world styles. It has a few characteristics that make it a bit dirty and interesting in an old world way, but enough fruit to appeal to fans of new world wines. It has a slightly smokey and dusty nose with dark berries and leather. There is very good concentration in the palate. Cherries, blackberries and chocolate all have a strong presence. There is a lot of fruit, but the fruit is a touch young tasting—keeping this wine very dry. It has a medium length finish with smooth tannis and a hint of chocolate.
I found this for $8.99 and it is an excellent wine for that price. I gave it an 87.
Wine: Masciarelli
Varietal: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 87
Price Paid: $8.99
A new blog has surfaced within the past few weeks that is lampooning the wine blog community and I think it’s great. Wine-ing 2.0 is like The Onion for wine blogs. It pokes fun at wine bloggers with satirical articles which may or may not have a sliver of truth to them.
Some of my favorite posts are:
I’m not sure if this will have any appeal to readers who aren’t wine bloggers themselves, or at least avidly follow several wine blogs, but to me it’s awesome. I absolutely love snarky humor. I just wish I had thought of it first.
But hey… why let that stop me from stealing the idea, or at least joining in the fun? You’ll notice a new category in my navigation named, “Wine Satire.” If you see a post in this category, watch out! In fact, let’s start now:
Gary Vaynerchuk Hosts Wine Blogging Wednesday, But He Doesn’t Know What It Is
This past Wednesday, renowned wine vlogger Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV was the host for the 44th installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday, but in a faux pas moment he demonstrated that he has never really seen the event, nor does he know what it is.
In his own post for Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW), Vaynerchuk kicked things off with a spiel about WBW and his “good friend Lenn.” But in this spiel, Vaynerchuk instructed Mott, Vaynerchuk’s lackey, to “Link up the Wine Blogging Wednesday link. Where you’ll be able to see all the other wine bloggers on the Internets talk about their cabernet franc experiences.”
At this moment a dull roar was heard throughout the wine blogging community as other wine bloggers said to themselves, “he doesn’t know how Wine Blogging Wednesday works!” For those who don’t know, as the host of WBW, Vaynerchuk is actually responsible for providing the summary of “all the other wine bloggers on the Internet(s).” The summary doesn’t exist on the WBW website.
Vaynerchuk continued, “…talk about their cabernet franc experiences from France, because that is what I brought to the table.” Yes, it’s true. Vaynerchuk was under the impression that “hosting” WBW involves nothing more than picking a varietal and calling yourself the host.
We spoke with Lenn Thompson, originator of WBW later that day who said, “if Gary thinks I’m going to write up the summary for this month, he can kiss my ass! He’s the host and he needs to do his job! And what’s up with him thinking he’s my friend?”
Tim Elliot, a WBW coordinator and author of Winecast commented, “I can’t believe Gary doesn’t know what a blog carnival is. He is supposed to be ‘web saavy’ that’s why we invited him to host. I should have known something was wrong when I heard him say ‘Internets.’ This is bad… really bad.”
In an attempt to save face the following day, Vaynerchuk asked bloggers to re-post their links and then delegated the WBW hosting dirty work to Mott.
When asked about the turn of events, Thompson angrily said, “I straightened his ass out!”
La Valentina is a much younger producer than many of the others I’ve tasted for this series, but they produce a classic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. They were established in 1990 and currently manage over 40 hectares. They have two vineyards in Abruzzo and the grapes for this label are from the San Valentino vineyard, about 20km from Maiella mountain (one of the highest peaks in Italy). The vines in this location are 100% Montepulciano planted over 30 years ago.
The thing I like about this wine is that it’s the best of both worlds. A bit old world and a bit new world. The nose on this is new world leather and dark dried cherries, plus old world barnyard, mushrooms and black olives. There’s also a bit of licorice on the nose. The palate is nice and fruity with plum and dark cherry, but it’s not a fruit bomb—there is just enough frutta. The fruit is complemented by some black pepper and a hint of mid-palate chocolate. The finish is long and fantastic. It’s a fairly fruit-filled finish with a return of the licorice that was on the nose.
This isn’t going to be the best wine you’ve ever had, but it’s a solid Italian red and it’s a great example of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. And at $13 it’s an affordable way to try this varietal. Wine Spectator gave this an 87, but my numbers came in a notch higher at 88. I know there’s not much difference, but that’s how it worked out.
Wine: Fattoria La Valentina
Varietal: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 88
Price Paid: $12.99
It’s once again Wine Blogging Wednesday and I’m glad to be a part of it again. I skipped out last month as the theme was “comfort wine” and quite frankly I don’t have one—comfort isn’t a reason for me to drink wine. But this month it’s French Cabernet Franc for Wine Blogging Wednesday #44 and the host is the infamous vlogger Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV. I kind of wanted to do a vlog post in honor of our host this month, but I couldn’t justify the expense for a video camera. Instead, I’ll write as usual.
I’m not going to give you the mundane background on French Cabernet Franc. If you cruise around a few other wine blogs today you’ll find plenty of that and I don’t want to be redundant. I will give you my reviews of two different Cab Francs, both from the Loire Valley region of France. But first I want to share some thoughts on shopping for wine.
One of the things that makes Wine Blogging Wednesday fun for me is that it often poses a challenge. Quite frequently I have to go from one wine shop to another searching up and down to find a wine that meets the criteria for the monthly theme. At times it’s further complicated by my own criteria—it must be relatively cheap. This month was a little bit of a challenge, but not too bad.
My first stop on my search for French Cabernet Franc was Cork ‘N Bottle, in Covington, KY, where I found a selection of one—Charles Joguet, Clos de la Dioterie 2005 from Chinon for $39.95. Now this may be a good price to some folks, but for me it’s double what I want to pay as a top price. This website is about finding great value wines and $40 isn’t what most of my readers consider great value.
To be fair, this vintage is supposedly exceptional, which is going to raise the price a bit. Add to that the weakness of the US dollar and the high cost of gasoline and the price gets bumped up a little more.
So what’s a cheap wine guy supposed to do? Talk to your friends at the wine shop. I’ve commented before that I prefer shopping at local wine shops versus grocery stores or warehouse clubs. In local wine shops you’ll not only find a better, more thoughtful selection of wines, but you’ll aslo find staff that are knowledgeable and focused on customer service. So when I commented that the Charles Joguet was a bit more expensive than I wanted, the response I got was, “Let me look in our cellar to see if we have another vintage that might be less expensive.”
“The cellar?” I thought. “I wouldn’t get this kind of service in a grocery store. Grocery store wine sections don’t even have a cellar.” A couple minutes later he returned with a bottle of Charles Joguet, Clos de la Dioterie 2000 for a mere $10. Woo-hoo! The 2000 vintage may not be as good as the 2005, but for $30 less I’m willing to give it a shot.
So my point is: Shopping for wine is going to be a better experience if you go to a wine shop. Go somewhere that specializes in wine and employs people who know about wine. Go there and be friendly, talk with them, ask questions. Don’t be intimidated if you don’t know much about wine. They are typically going to be passionate about wine and they’ll enjoy helping you.
On to the tasting.
Charles Joguet, Clos de la Dioterie 2000 Chinon
The color on this is red with just a tinge of brown working its way into it and it’s lost a bit of its brilliance. Yes, it has a the slightest bit of oxidation. It’s not bad, but it is clear that this bottle needs to be consumed now. That’s probably a contributing factor to the $10 price.
The nose has violet, raspberry and pencil shavings. There’s almost a band-aid smell too, which is weird. The palate is quite tannic. More so than I would expect from a cab franc. It’s surprising at first and has a black tea quality to the mouth feel. Although the tannins are stronger than I expected, they are generally well integrated. There is also a spicy hotness from the acidity. It’s a nice balance. The flavors are raspberry and plum with mineral and dusty undertones. Chinon is typically a fairly light-bodied wine and that certainly is the case with this one. It’s light but had more body than I expected. It’s a decent old world cab franc but the bottle I had was a bit past its prime.
Wine: Charles Joguet, Clos de la Dioterie
Varietal: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2000
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 82
Price Paid: $9.97
My next stop on the Cabernet Franc shopping tour was as equally rewarding as the first stop. There’s a wine shop called Piazza Discepoli with a few locations around Cincinnati, but none of them are in neighborhoods that I frequent. I’ve been wanting to check them out and I finally went out of my way to do so with a visit to their College Hill location, and I am glad I did so. It’s a small shop, but they have a great selection with a number of labels that I haven’t found in other Cincinnati wine shops. Guy Discepoli showed me around the shop and highlighted a few hidden gems that I have not yet tried. He knew the wine throughout the shop quite well and directed me right to the French Cabernet Franc where again my choices were limited to one—Domaine de la Chanteleuserie 2005 from Bourgueil for $16.99. I picked up that bottle then I helped Guy convince me to buy a case full of other wines. Another nice thing about wine shops for the budget-conscious is that you’ll often get a 10% discount when you buy a case.
Not surprisingly, the color in this was much more red and brilliant than the Chinon.
It took a bit for this one to open up. In fact, I felt like I had to force it open. When I first poured it, the nose was very tight—almost non-existent. Once it did open up, I got tarragon and plum from the nose, although it still lacked intensity. The palate has much of the same plum plus a bit of dried cherries and chocolate. The chocolate is very subtle, it’s kind of a fleeting mid-palate thing. It’s very smooth with an slightly tannic nature, but not nearly as tannic as the Chinon. This wine also has a bit more body. I would call this a medium-bodied wine. It’s a reasonably enjoyable wine, but its characteristics are rather subtle. The subtleties of this wine would make it easy to pair with a number of foods and it would probably be better with food versus as a standalone wine.
Wine: Domaine de la Chanteleuserie, Bourgueil
Varietal: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 84
Price Paid: $16.99
Another Cincinnati International Wine Festival has come and gone. My wife and I had too much wine (just like every year), but it was fun. I attended the festival with a dilemma this year. On one hand, I wanted to take really good notes so that I could write all about it here. On the other hand, I just wanted to enjoy myself and not worry about all that. The solution: takes notes with a camera!
I took along my camera this year and snapped photos of the wines that I found particularly good. I didn’t tally scores as that’s a fairly tedious process. And I didn’t take detailed notes either. I just took pictures of what I enjoyed so that I can track them down later and do a more formal evaluation another day. You won’t get the full details just yet, but here’s a glimpse of some forthcoming reviews.
I even got a picture of my ugly mug to put on the site. That’s me, enjoying some Maryhill Zinfandel which has loads of rich dark berry flavors, a chocolaty mouth feel and an exciting complex spiciness. Maryhill also had a nice Cabernet Sauvignon on hand which I enjoyed as well. Both wines had outstanding concentration of flavors, good complexity and good balance. They sell for $17-20. I’ve been tasting more and more Washington State wines lately and these from Maryhill fueled my growing love affair with wines from that region.
Speaking of Zinfandels, the hands down best Zins I tasted at the festival where at the Four Vines booth. They had three different Zins available that where all outstanding. Unfortunately, only one of them falls into my $20 and under target price. They also had a very good Naked Chardonnay that sells for about $13, but Zinfandel is what’s really special about Four Vines. They also get accolades for having the most friendly reps working the booth and fun marketing. I’ve seen a number of brands with great marketing for their wine, but mediocre product. Four Vines had some “rock star” marketing and incredible wine. The reps and I discussed the value of wine ratings as they have not sought out reviews from any of the major wine publications because they don’t want to play the game of catering to the critics (although they’ve gotten great ratings from Wine Spectator). I encouraged them to engage the online wine community where independents like me provide an alternative voice.
Napa Cellars had another great Zinfandel that isn’t as spicy as some others I’ve had, but was still loaded with dark berry flavors and had enough pepper to make it interesting. The festival judges also liked this Zin enough to award it a bronze medal. This one sells for about $20, so it is at the high end of my target price range. By the way, a series on Zinfandel is in the near future for this site. I’ve started collecting bottles to taste for that already.
The best bargain wine I tried was the PKNT Carmenere, which retails for about $7. The nose on this one actually smells a bit like a hot pepper, just like the one pictured on the bottle. It’s a really full, flavorful and spicy wine. It’s well worth the price and scores another point for Chilean reds.
Speaking of bargains, I should mention that Toasted Head Winery won two golds, for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. That is outstanding for wines in the $10-15 range. I didn’t make it to their booth, but I’ll be sure to pick up some of their wines to taste.
In the “wines I’ve wanted to try but haven’t come across” category, I was excited to try the Six Foot Six Shiraz Viognier. I’ve been seeing a growing trend of winemakers adding a small amount of Viognier to Syrah in order to soften the palate and add a bit of complexity. In this case the end result is packed full of brambly berry, chocolate and black pepper. It’s a really well rounded wine and retails for about $18.
Another producer who I was impressed with was Zaca Mesa. They had an outstanding Syrah and their Z Cuvée (a Rhône-style blend) was also very enjoyable. Both of those wines will run you about $20. They have an interesting story too with all of their wines being 100% estate grown and bottled. That’s something you’ll find in only about 1% of the wine you find on the shelves.
There were numerous great wines and I have an even longer list of wines I need to follow up on than I’ve listed here. As they say, stay tuned.
The next wine in our series on Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is Majolica from producer Podere Castorani. The Castorani name comes from the family of surgeon Raffaele Castorani who invented the first surgical procedure to treat cataracts and owned the property in the late 18th century. The property has since gone through different owners and the winemaking traditions on the property were all but lost until a group of four partners banded a few years ago to renew the winemaking traditions on this property.
An interesting note is that one of the partners in Podere Castorani is Enzo Trulli, father of Formula One driver Jarno Trulli.
Podere Castorani actually produces four other Montepulciano d’Abruzzo labels and this is the entry-level (i.e. most inexpensive) label they produce in this varietal.
Overall, this wine has strong old world characteristics. It has decent fruit but if you’re partial to new world, fruit-forward wines I would say this isn’t a pick for you. The nose of Majolica Montepulciano d’Abruzzo features violet, vanilla and a touch of blackberry. The fruit is really a secondary aroma. The palate is also more earthy than fruity and has subtle blackberry, earth and smokey tannins. It’s a little bit more acidic than preferable, which hurt the score slightly. It’s a decent pizza wine for $10, but not really a top pick for me.
Wine: Podere Castorani Majolica
Varietal: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 82
Price Paid: $9.99
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