Terredora Dipaolo Falanghina

Terredora Dipaolo Viticoltori
Falaghina
Irpinia DOC
Montefesco, Campagnia, Italy
2008
13%
$10.49 -- Whole Foods, Austin, TX

Color: Medium gold
Nose: A fire in the apple-flavored graham cracker factory
Body: Medium to full
Front: Meyer lemon
Middle: Apple-flavored tobacco
Back: Cedar, thyme
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Fake cork

A couple of days ago I lamented the passing of a 2007 Falanghina. Remembering that there was some more of this, one of my absolute favorite Italian whites, around, I reckoned I'd better move it up on the ol' Asmodeus food chain.

I'm glad I did: not only is it damn tasty, but it's palpably right on the edge of oblivion. The maderization is coming through (how could it be, since this isn't aged in oak?), flattening out the acid and the focused apple (I've had an 09 of this wine, and it's applerific); but it's still delightful, full, complex, and balanced. To folks who like fruity American whites, the nose on this will be almost alienating, reminiscent of a red wine.

Indeed, I'd expect Americans to divide seriously on whether or not they like this wine, because it doesn't play ball the way they're used to. But with food--even spicy food; I'm having it with cherry peppers, a spicy cheese (Oregonzola!), and paprika-laden chorizo--it's fantastic.

Just don't wait too long before you drink it!

Chalone Sauvignon Blanc

Chalone Vineyard
Sauvignon Blanc
Monterey County
Soledad, California, USA
2008
13.5%
$8.99 -- Whole Foods, Austin, TX

Color: Pale straw with a tinge of green
Nose: Bread pudding
Body: Medium
Front: Butter
Middle: Orange peel, bread
Back: Apricot, cardboard
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

After a long hiatus, the Emptyer is back! I was out making money, faithful reader, and it has to last.

This is an interesting wine. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it's awesome, but it's very good with food, and it has a few distinct layers that will be interesting to many people. It's certainly American, with a butteriness (despite a kind of chalky mouthfeel, actually) and a bigness that overbalance the acidity, a bit. But I'm drinking it with Spanish chorizo and it's a good combination, refracting the flavors of the wine in ways different from when you drink it alone.

I think the price is right, and for many people it will be a bargain.

Perrin Cotes du Rhone-Villages

Perrin & Fils
Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages
Grenache, Syrah 
Orange, France
2007
13%
$9.99 -- Spec's, Austin, TX

Color: Medium luminescent purpley red
Nose: Cherry IceeTM
Body: Medium to light
Front: Cherry
Middle: Big RedTM, white pepper
Back: Very soft tannins, a little stewed plum
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

The Perrin was the favorite of one of the two folks I tasted southern Rhone wines with this evening. He liked its utter absence of tannins and its exuberant fruitiness. I liked it too, especially for a hot day with company and good appetizers. It won't stand up to much more sturdy food, and it's not a supremely complex tasting thing, but whatever it lacks in elegance it makes up in charm. The hint of something more complex on the very end of the palate is intriguing and keeps you going back to the glass. For some people this would be a dangerous wine, I think.

Louis Bernard Cotes du Rhone-Villages

Louis Bernard
Côtes du Rhône-Villages
Grenache, Syrah 
Vaucluse, France
2007
14%
$9.07 -- H.E.B., Austin, TX

Color: Medium garnet
Nose: Strawberries, cherries
Body: Medium
Front: Cherry, pepper
Middle: Watery blueberry
Back: Soft tannins
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Screwcap

The Bernard was not a favorite tonight: it's a bit awkward, though it has some charming flavors lurking in it. The mid-palate is pretty hollow, though, and disappointing, given the somewhat wild nose. It was better with a little manchego, and tragic with garlic toast: a bit of an awkward guest!

Finca el Origen Torrontes

Bodegas y Viñedas La Esperanza
Finca el Origen
Torrontes
Reserva
Valle del Cafayate
Salta, Argentina
2008
14.0%
$9.45 -- H.E.B., Austin, TX

Color: Light  straw
Nose: Peach, lemon, pepper
Body: Medium
Front: Pineapple
Middle: Mild poblano, butterscotch
Back: Lemon, apricot rocks
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Screwcap

This is a great, cheap summer wine. Not much is going on in it--it's exuberant but short-lived, like a mosquito or a bluebonnet. It tastes better than either of those things, I bet. It's good cold, and tasty with grilled pork and a simple salad. There's something else in the nose, something a bit more acidic than peaches, that I can't quite place: help me, loyal triumvirate of readers, if you get a chance to taste this inexpensive wine.

Seldom have I stuck with a wine experimentation plan this long. But it has gotten interesting: I've found a number of curious varietals (this being one of them) and nothing with too much acetone flavor yet. My only fear now is that I need to try these varietals from different houses -- perhaps different continents -- to see if I can identify commonalities. I'm not sure I have what it takes to do that!

Columbia Crest H3 Merlot

Columbia Crest Winery
H3
Merlot (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah)
Horse Heaven Hills
Washington, USA
2007
14.5%
$8.99 -- Costco, Austin, TX

Color: Dark garnet
Nose: Espresso oak chocolate
Body: Medium to full
Front: Raspberry
Middle: Shaved dark chocolate
Back: Creosote, charred mesquite, bay, milk
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is one of the most charming $9 wines I've ever had, from anywhere. It's not elegant; it's rustic, at least at this point, with insistent tannins. But the tannins orbit the chocolate flavor, which I take to be an illusion of dark fruit and oak, so they make sense. Whoever blended this wine (they call it a Merlot, but it's only 79 percent Merlot) knows what he or she is doing. The website says it's Ray Einberger: thank you, Mr. Einberger.

Not only is this wine good with food -- from spicy chorizo to blue cheese and romaine salad and baked chicken (with a good dose of Tony Cachere's) -- but it tastes quite different with each dish. In my business, "interesting" is a bad word: it substitutes for a more precise delineation of the intellectual merits of something, and your laziness about doing that delineation is meant to imply that there's not much actual substance in the thing you're talking about. This wine is interesting in an older sense; it's absorbing and provocative, without being overbearing.

It snowed all of today here in Austin, Texas, which is sublimely ridiculous.

Red Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon

Red Diamond Winery
Cabernet Sauvignon
Paterson, Washington, USA
2006
13.5%
$9.99 -- Wine Pro, Paducah, KY

Color: Dark garnet
Nose: Oak, oak, raspberr, a smidgen of vanilla
Body: Full
Front: Roasted raspberry
Middle: Chocolate
Back: Oak jam
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Good with food, the Red Diamond will make you happy if you're a Zin drinker. There's a lot of fruit and a hint of smoke, with oak predominating. I think it's not a cellaring candidate; the tannins are barely there--it's a youthful wine meant to be drunk young, I reckon. But it is a good deal at this price if you're looking for a stout, fruit-driven wine. I found it particularly tasty in combination with my slightly spicy spaghetti and meatballs in marinara; the oak was tamed a bit and the spicy, earthy notes came out more.

Segura Viudas Cava Brut Reserva

Segura Viudas
Cava
Brut Reserva
Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel-lo 
Torrelavit, Spain
NV
11.5%
$9.99 -- Wine Pro, Paducah, KY

Color: Pale gold
Nose: Pineapple, apple
Body: Light to medium
Front: Lemon
Middle: Bread, caramel
Back: Lime, straw
Burns clean?: A little headache; go easy on it
Cap: Cork

A delightful acidity and just enough baked bread to make me happy. This is a great bargain and a good one for mixing with orange juice, cranberry juice, cassis, and so forth. It's a cold day, and a celebratory one, and this is a perfect match for it. For those planning New Years' celebrations, and wary of spending too much on Champagne, this is an excellent choice, I can say from experience.

The Great Maderized Wine Tasting

Hello, ancient beauties.

DOWN IN MY PARENTS' BASEMENT IN WESTERN KENTUCKY are a few wine racks.  The temperature is perfect for wine storage.  For some time, there have been all sorts of interesting things down there, including a lot of white wine bottles so covered with dust that it's hard to see what they are--or were.  The oldest of them date from the Reagan Era (that's President Ronald Reagan, kids), the youngest from the middle 1990s; they span the globe in origins.

A couple of years ago my father suggested that we haul a sample of them up and taste them someday; this week, a cold winter day in Kentucky called out for a couple of good friends, a light seafood lunch, and a case of aged wine.  Today's blog entry may not have much practical use for my readers, but both of them may find it amusing.

Like white people, some white wines age well, and others don't.  But to complicate this, many white wines that are made to age are also deliberately made to taste quite unusual after a decade or so.  An open mind makes wine taste better, no matter the tendencies of the palate.  Going into the tasting, we knew that there were several possibilities: all the wines might taste the same (and awful); a few of them might have survived and be quite good; and we might be surprised by which ones were which.

Still, we did take some precautions. Many of these wines were not built to age, by any means, and none of them originally retailed for more than about $15. So we decided to order them by "guessed likelihood of not sucking" rather than from lightness to heaviness of body as is customary.  What follows are my notes on what happened, accompanied by a couple of photos to show both some of the colors of the wine and the unusual cork phenotypes that we found, ranging from white mold-covered to dirt-covered.  I was exhausted just trying to get the bottles clean enough to put on a table.

All spruced up...mostly. White mold, left; brown "dirt," right.

Monteagle Wine Cellars, Tennessee Seyval Blanc, 1990, 12.5%, Monteagle, Tennessee, USA: A mellow, deep, golden brown color, this one had a nose of burned hazelnut, apricot, and varnish.  The palate delivered old lemon peel, leather polish, and toasted acorns.  It was praised by one of the five members of the crowd, and detested by most of the others.  But in retrospect, most drinkers considered it to be in the top three of the tasting.  In this respect, a complete shock.  Also the first Tennessee wine I've ever had, and only the second Seyval.

Slaughter Leftwich Vineyards, Sauvignon Blanc, 1990, 12.5%, Austin, Texas, USA: First Texas wine I've ever tasted, too.  What a day!  A deep, clear straw color, and a nose that brought poetry from one of the assembled company: "Smells like the hill country...in a dust storm."  Do they make mango varnish?  That's what it smelled like to me; the front palate was a blast of apricot gasoline, then an eerie emptiness in the middle, and a finish of butter and oak.  If you came in on the last 5 seconds of the taste, and then left again immediately, you'd swear it was a California Chardonnay.

Sebastiani Vineyards, Eye of the Swan, Pinot Noir Blanc, 1984, 13.2%, Sonoma, California, USA: This was a piece of my parents' past, and brought smiles of recollection all around.  Yet no stories were forthcoming.  A cloudy golden brown color, this Pinor Noir blanc (meaning it spent just a little time on the skins before being bottled) was the crowd favorite for the day.  With more tannins, and also in a magnum format, it had a better chance in the basement.  Still, 25 years is a long time for what was a bottom-shelf wine at the time!  My pronouncement that it had a nose of wet dog ass mixed with Pine SolTM was mocked, but I stand by it.  Flavors of peach and oak were rapidly followed by something like kirsch-flavored paint thinner.

Cantina di Montefiascone, Est! Est!! Est!!!, Trebbiano, Malvasia, 1984, 11.5%, Montefiascone, Italy: The color of bourbon, mixed with cloudy river water.  The nose?  Sherry, all the way.  If you were a pirate, you could say from experience that this wine tastes like a bad oyster served in a moldy rag.

Federico Paternina, Blanco Seco, Viura (probably), 1988, 11%, Ollauri, Spain: Though white wines have to have a splendid balance of acidity and other things to age well, this one testifies that color doesn't work by the same principles; it had a beautiful, rich golden hue.  The nose, however, smelled like nothing more than spoiled milk (really, it's extraordinary to think such an odor could have been produced by fruit, but some kinds of education are not edifying).  The palate was of pears preserved in acetone. "Here's to temperance," my father pronounced, upon tasting it.

Rutherford Hill Winery, Napa Valley Chardonnay, 1989, 13%, Rutherford, California, USA: I love Rutherford Hill wines, as I've testified elsewhere on this blog.  This one was the best of the bunch, to my taste, but universally hated by my companions.  Its color was a dark greenish-gold, and it had oak and butter, with an aftertaste of snow tire chains--a little radial, a little metal, a little soggy ash.  I drank half a glass.

Viña San Pedro, Gato Blanco, Sauvignon Blanc, 1991, 12%, Lontue, Chile: A hideous brownish-yellow, the nose of the Gato Blanco sported oak, nail polish remover, and roses.  Yes, roses, which didn't bode well.  The palate delivered tart, tart strawberry mineral spirits, with a bit of a novacaine effect.  Admittedly, the latter might have been a cumulative effect, by this point.

Hugh Ryman Wines, Richemont, Chardonnay Reserve, 1996, 12%, Pays D'Oc, France: A sickly bourbony color, the Richemont featured lemon peel, oyster shell, and oak on the palate, in rapid succession, until collapsing into a varnishy haze.  This one was universally despised, though we did have some hopes for it at first because of its youth (and because there are 5 more bottles of it in the basement).  The fascinatingly hideous Richemont cork is pictured here.

Louis Gisselbrecht, Gewurztraminer, Cuvee Reserve, 1988, 12.5%, Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace, France: Another lesson: whatever complex chemical stuff has to happen to keep a white wine going in the cellar in the absence of nice balancing tannins does not apply to the nose, necessarily, either.  This one had a light gold color, perhaps a little dark for a Gewurz but well within reason, and a delightful grapefruity nose.  But sadly, to quote one drinker, "It smells like Gewurz but it tastes like shit!"  Ok, it didn't actually taste like poo, but a strong front of grapefruit rapidly yielded to Testor's model glue and pine needles. One drinker pointed out that glue is not universally despised, but I think glue huffers will be disappointed that the nose on this isn't more in line with its flavor.

Bodegas Olarra, Cerro Añon, Viura, 1984, 11.5%, Logroño, Rioja, Spain: We had high hopes for this one, too, but despite an interesting medium orange gold color and a roasted pear nose, the nail polish, oak, burned hazelnut, radish, and cedar that it delivered ("Agent Orange blossoms," was my phrase at the time) got it dumped out quickly by our assembly.

What have we learned, one dump bucket-full of wine and ten empty bottles and broken corks later?  First, that the variety of bad-tasting things is nearly boundless.  Second, that wine's individuality is hard even for long-term, unbalanced chemical processes to suppress.  Third, that when you do a maderized wine tasting, you should have on hand at least two bottles of really good stuff, and something pickled, to clear palates!

Finca Resalso

Bodegas Emilio Moro
Finca Resalso
TempranilloRibera del Duero
Valladolid, Spain2007
14.5%
$9.99 -- COSTCO, Austin, TX

Color: Dark red
Nose: Ripe cherry flambee, graham cracker
Body: Medium to full
Front: Cherries
Middle: Cream, cilantro
Back: Animal crackers, soft tannins
Burns clean?:
Cap: Cork

This is another good deal from Spain. Interesting, multilayered, and bright. This will pair well with a range of foods, I think; it's got a solid body. No music tonight, and no food: it's labor day, which for me seems to have meant laboring all day. But as a midnight snack, with only the sound of the wind as accompaniment, it's delightful.

Luzon Jumilla

Bodegas Luzon
Jumilla
Monastrell, SyrahJumilla, Spain2007
14%
$6.89 -- COSTCO, Austin, TX

Color: Dark red with a slight purple tinge
Nose: Raspberry and tobacco
Body: Medium
Front: Pepper
Middle: Dark cherry
Back: Some sort of spice...thyme? Oregano?
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is a great bottle of wine for this price. Not sure how it'll age, as the tannins are very soft, but it's fruity yet earthy, powerful yet structured. It's good with the olives and the cold leftover steak on my plate this evening, but I think any sort of light food it'd be great for, and would be a super hot-weather red wine. It's not a powerhouse wine, but it's a delightful surprise!

Vincent Saincrit Bordeaux

Germain-Saincrit Vignerons
Grand vin de Bordeaux
Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
BordeauxBerson, Gironde, France2005
13%
$8.69 -- COSTCO, Austin, TX

Color: Medium strawberry
Nose: Blackberries, saddle leather
Body: Medium
Front: Sour berries
Middle: Soft tannins, wood
Back: Cigar wrapper
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This will be the first of several Bordeaux experiments in the coming months. I've had a couple of them that I liked, but they were all kind of old. Rumor has it the 2005 vintage is so awesome that even the cheapest bottles aren't bad. That would seem to be true in the case of this wine.

Still, it's not for the white zinfandel lover, and it's not for dinner -- it won't stand up to much intensity in food, but it's good with light antipasti. It's brighter fruit at the start than some Bordeaux I've had, even the Merlot-heavy ones of the Right Bank. But it's not super complex overall, or rich. I tried it decanted for an hour, and then the next day as well, and it seemed to peak early. It has that lovely sour berry flavor that I like in so many French wines, and like so many such wines, it goes well with almost any musical accompaniment.

Root: 1 Cabernet

Viña Ventisquero
Root: 1
Cabernet Sauvignon
Colchagua Valley
Rancagua, Chile2007
14%
$8.99 -- Grape Vine Market, Austin, TX

Color: Deep ruby
Nose: Cassis, tar, cardboard
Body: Medium
Front: Cherry
Middle: Bittersweet chocolate
Back: Herbs, raisin
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

There are two selling points for this wine, which has gotten some oenophile press. First, it's cheap and strong! Second, it's from ungrafted original cabernet vines, which are rare in the world thanks to the phylloxera epidemic back in the day. Presumably the appeal here would be that you are drinking the wine the ancients drank: that there is something about ungrafted vines that is unique.

That may be. Certainly the overly decorated bottle, with its long historical narrative on the front, would lead one to believe it, referring to the vines it's made from as "pure." I love history as much as...no, probably slightly more than the next girl. But a caveat: really, Nietzsche would warn us about the invariably impure genealogy of vines. That is to say, hybridity is hard to avoid. And what's more, whether pre- or post-phylloxera, vines channel terroir. So it's still a lot about care, feeding, and character. And not over-manipulating the grapes before they get to the emptyer.

Having said that, I think Root: 1 is reasonably tasty, and probably the best 8-9 dollar Cabernet that I've had this year. It seems to have about a two-stage delivery, fruit and a little chocolatey thing, but it's interesting and good with the aged Irish cheese I broke out before dinner tonight. It is not very tannic, compared to its acidity, so I fear it won't age--but I bet in about six months to a year from now, it'll be way better. That notwithstanding, if I were having a reception tomorrow, I'd order a case of this and a case of the Veramonte Chardonnay to serve.

Veramonte Chardonnay Reserva

Veramonte
Chardonnay
Reserva
Casablanca Valley
Chile2006
13.5%
$10.79 -- Grape Vine Market, Austin, TX

Color: Pale gold
Nose: Apricot, banana
Body: Full
Front: Peach, banana
Middle: Sour apple, a little tangerine?
Back: Beach ball, cream
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Screwcap

This evening I'm getting over a cold and trying to focus on writing an important article that has nothing to do with wine. In the spirit of productive procrastination (and because with a cheap white wine I can have one glass, recap the bottle, and reinfuse caffeine to keep writing), I turn to Veramonte. It's the first Chilean wine I've reviewed, I note, but it will not be the last.

One of the reasons I picked this one up was that it's imported by Huneeus Vineyards, which makes one of my favorite wines, Faust. Indeed, Augustin Huneeus is listed on the bottle as the vintner, so my hope was that the connection is deep.

I like this wine; it's full and creamy but not super-oaked, well-balanced and structured. It pairs well also with Lays Potato Chips, which bring out the wood in the wine nicely. Once again, The Ditty Bops are playing, singing, "And we like it / Because we do..."

Cellar No. 8 Cabernet

Asti Winery
Cellar No. 8
Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa, California
2006
13.9%
$8.09 -- Grape Vine Market, Austin, TX

Color: Dark purpledy red
Nose: Blueberry cafe au lait
Body: Medium
Front: Cassis, a little spinach perhaps
Middle: Mexican chocolate, tannins
Back: Coffee, bark, a little heat
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

For those dropping in here for a quick read on this wine, I offer my specialty--a caveat: This wine seems to divide opinions in the wine-blogging world. Budget Vino is all about it (and the Merlot, too); but others addicted to both wine and writing will tell you it's average and possibly only barely worth nine bucks.

My advice is, wait six months, then drink it within six months of that. Sure, it's a little green, but it's interesting enough for dinner, and has some nice points. (If you drink it now, let it breathe a little, but not too much!) It's not particularly complex. But it's not uncomplex in a juicy-fruit, Jolly RancherTM, or strawberry smoothie way, either.

This opens onto a whole other issue, which is the question of the importance of "getting a good deal" to the taste of something (wine, dinner, whatever). Sommelier training, of course, involves at one level the elimination of such variables: the evaluation of a particular wine's ability to give pleasure to this or that human (with a particular set of tastes), in comparison to other available wines. At another, practically, it involves recognizing circumstantial variables in the assignation of a wine to a customer (food, temperature, mood, weather, economic climate, etc.).

Now, the prevalence of "Great Wine Value" blogs, to say nothing of my personal experience, suggests to me that there's a good-sized population of folks out there for whom value matters, particularly at the lower end of the price range. [Another caveat: there are more than three price ranges. I look at it socially--there's street wine (Thunderbird!); reception wine (Cellar No. 8); everyday wine (Marquis Phillips); superb wine (Faust); special occasion wine (Gaja, Nuit St. Georges); and collectors' wine (never had any, but generally things with "Chateau" on the label and decimal points in what seem like the wrong places on the pricetag).]

But even at the higher levels the idea of getting economic leverage, I think, shapes the taste experiences of many oenophiles. One of my friends almost cried when I told him I'd gotten the Andrew Will Ciel du Cheval for $34 a bottle; believe me, when he tastes it on his next visit he'll be in heaven.

So here we confront a complex issue in assessing wine. I'm going to go out on a limb and say: if you like a good deal, you're really going to like this wine.

Water Wheel Memsie

Water Wheel Vineyards
Memsie
Shiraz, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon
Bendigo, Australia
2005
14.8%
$9.88 -- Whole Foods, Austin, TX

Color: Deep garnet
Nose: Cassis, mint
Body: Medium
Front: Eucalyptus
Middle: Raspberry, chocolate
Back: Cedar
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Screwcap

I'm a bit astounded that I got this bottle for this price. Perhaps no one knows what is inside it? It's not the most body-full Shiraz, nor the longest on the palate. But it's a great tasting wine, with super-interesting flavors. The nose is strongly fruity and minty, but the palate opens up rapidly into a range of dark flavors, not all of which I've managed to capture above.

For those of you less interested in subtle flavors and more in effects, please note that this wine is powerfully strong, but does not taste that way. I'll write you letters in jail.

Pazo Serantellos Albariño

Pazo Serantellos
Albariño
Rias Baixas
Galicia, Spain
2007
12.5%
$8.99 at Whole Foods, Austin, TX

Color: Light gold
Nose: Honey, banana
Body: Medium
Front: Peach
Middle: Dill, honeysuckle butter
Back: Lime, a tiny bit of steel-belted radial
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Damn fine for a nine-dollar wine. It's a chewy one, though; a substantial body for such light and fruity flavors. This contributed also to a delightful leek-and-chicken concoction from the old standard 1080 Spanish cookbook.

I've lately fallen in love with the new record from a little-known trio called Swamp Rat. It might be because I can pair a different wine with almost every song. That, I suppose, would deductively make Swamp Rat's genre "eclectic." In the case of this wine, its perfect sonic accompaniment is the tune "Stella I."

Vinos Sin Ley Grenache

Vinos Sin Ley
G-5 Garnacha
GrenacheVinos de Madrid, Puerta Bonita, Spain
2004
14.5%
$9.99 -- Durham, NC

Color: Deep red
Nose: Raspberry and pepper
Body: Medium
Front: Raspberry KA-POW!
Middle: Raspberry AGAIN!
Back: Graphite
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Plastic cork

It's a fruit bomb. Like, the Dr. Strangelove of raspberry-based palate devastation. It's an easy-drinking wine, if you are a raspberry drinker. No, really, it's an interesting wine, but not if you like subtlety, lots of layers, or anything much more than fruit and a little tannic spice. Still, why trust me: check out the high ratings at this site.

Vale do Bomfim Reserva

Vale do Bomfim
Reserva (Touriga N.; T. Roriz; Barroca)
Douro, Portugal
2004
14%
$9.99 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Deep cherry red
Nose: Caramel and berries (put it in a relatively narrow-mouthed glass)
Body: Medium to heavy
Front: Tart berries
Middle: Tannins, spice, moss
Back: Leather, wood
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is not the sort of wine, in terms of tastes or structure, that I expect from this region of Portugal. I don't know what's going on, but it's good. This is one of the most complex wines I've tasted at this price; it's got distinct stages of development in the mouth that get more distinct the longer it's open. The aroma is lush, almost Australian, but the tastes are subtle old-world Iberian leather, spice, and wood, with occasional patches of violets bursting through. It's stellar with anything salty and I wish to Allah I had some chorizo to go with it. It should be good in the cellar for awhile, I'd think.

Barahonda Monastrell

Barahonda
Monastrell
YeclaMurcia, Spain
2004
14.5%
$9.99 -- Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Deep red with brown
Nose: Violety peat
Body: Medium
Front: Dates
Middle: Tannins, vanilla (how)?
Back: Leathery pepper
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

Historians will notice that it's been awhile since I posted. First, I got sick. Then, I got infected. Then, I went on two rounds of antibiotics and at some point lost the ability to taste almost anything. I went a month without drinking any wine. While it's nice to know I'm not an alcoholic, I'm distressed that my taste buds basically need to be rebooted--and, of course, it's now allergy season!

But enough whining... crappy taste buds and all, I seem to be able to tell whether a wine more or less sucks or not. Tonight while paying my bills I noticed that the glue on the payment envelopes for American Express tastes like cheap Pinot Noir. So I'm back in the saddle.

This wine certainly does not suck. Apparently it was super a couple of years ago, too, which doesn't surprise me. The tinge of brown might mean it's maturing, which is good to know. It costs next to nothing, and newer vintages, though praised by certain famous tastemakers, might not break the bank either. It's chewy, spicy, and just plain old tasty.