$20-$30

Cameron Pinot Bianco 2008

November 3, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Another entry from the Oregonian cult producer Cameron – this time a much more affordable and good value wine. While this isn’t a wine for the cellar or something that will blow your mind, it is a very well made wine at a good price that is extremely likeable.

The nose had big orchard fruit, pear, and a nice floral component. This is almost like a southern Rhone white with a hint of licorice. The palate is all apple, pear and flowers. There is a ton of fruit here, but also good acidity, slight effervescence and a viognier-like honeysuckle edge. Full and round, but balanced. You may be waiting for the next summer to pick up a white, but personally I like to have a few now and then even in the drab months, particularly for pairing with asian foods.

Very Good+
$24 at Marquis

Filed Under: $20-$30, Oregon Wine, Pinot Blanc, Very Good

Grosset Watervale Riesling 2006

October 2, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Grosset is perhaps my favourite New World producer of riesling. Whereas German rieslings tend to be off-dry (even many of the trockens) and Austrian rieslings, while dry, are more mineral focused, Grosset makes massively explosive citrus based rieslings like no one else.

Accordingly, the nose here had fresh citrus, stone, petrol, white chocolate and a little toast. What tremendous depth on the nose – it’s more aromatic than most whites around, let alone rieslings. The palate on this wine was very intense: lemon, tart apple, pear, stone and mineral – this is both pure riesling and purely Australian. No other country makes riesling quite like this, and Grosset is perhaps the greatest example. Bright, clear, layered and smooth this is an extremely impressive white wine that every wine lover should sip at some point in their life.

Excellent
$40 ($28 on sale) at Marquis

Filed Under: $20-$30, Australian Wine, Excellent, Riesling

Brancaia Tre 2006

August 30, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Brancaia is a Tuscan producer with an interesting array of proprietary blends including the illustrious “blu”. The Tre – a blend of sangiovese, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon – is their entry level wine and I suppose could be equated to a Rosso or a basic Chianti with its nose of herbs, forward spicy underbrush, cherry fruit and a bit of earth. This wine is surely made for easy drinking with its very soft, almost plush, palate of cherry, blackberry, earth and spice. Overall, simple, pleasant, balanced, but boring – very boring. Unfortunately, in the end I think this is not worth the money and doesn’t taste like much more than a decent Chianti Classico.

Good+
$30 ($23 on sale) at BCLDB

Filed Under: $20-$30, Good, Italian Wine, Super Tuscan

Apollonio Copertino 2001

August 23, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Having recently tried and loved the Apollonio Valle Cupa, it was a simple decision to pick up this Negroamaro based wine from the Copertino DOC in Italy. With earth and highly extracted red fruit on the nose, this wine reminded me somewhat of 2003 southern Rhone wines, especially Gigondas, because of the heat combined with the rich red fruits and scorched earth notes.

While this wine has a rustic charm, it is also superbly concentrated and fruit driven with a nice soft texture. My biggest complaint here was the amount of heat on the back end of the wine, which made it somewhat fatiguing over time. Nonetheless it’s still tasty for the price, although not quite the same quality as the Valle Cupa.

Very Good
$24 at BCLDB (note that this sells for as low as $11 in the US)

Filed Under: $20-$30, Italian Wine, Negroamaro, Very Good

Arrocal Seleccion 2004

June 29, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

With its minimalist design, the Arrocal is another excellent value red from Spain’s Ribera del Duero. If you like big robust reds at affordable prices look no further. It strikes me that Spanish wine tends to fly a little under the radar here in BC, and perhaps in North America generally. I’m not quite sure why as most of Spain is offering not only better value than France and California but also many extremely ‘terroir’ driven wines.

This particular Tempranillo had a nose of baked raspberry, strawberry pie, graphite and dust. The palate was big on baked fruit, but had wonderful undertones of herbs and dried out underbrush. This is a large red with edge and fruit without sweetness that will kill most BBQ’s and braised meats.

Very Good+ and Highly Recommended
$24 at BCLDB

NB: I’ve started a new ‘category’ for this blog for ‘Highly Recommended Values’, which are all wines that both far exceed their price point and offer something particularly unique to the drinker.

Filed Under: $20-$30, Highly Recommended Values, Spanish Wine, Tempranillo, Very Good

Thelema Sauvignon Blanc 2007

June 18, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Sauvignon Blanc at reasonable price points tends to fit into a few well delineated pockets: the acid driven steely basic mineral concoction from France, the super rich, fruit and alcoholic versions from California and the Zesty citrus and grass firebrands from New Zealand. This particular Sauv Blanc, however, comes to us not from one of these three classic regions, but from the oft-neglected South Africa.

Thelema is a highly regarded producer down there, and luckily we get a few of their offerings on the other side of the world in BC. This Sauvignon Blanc really shone past its price point with quince, baking spices and pine on the nose. Defying typicity for an under $30 wine, the palate was massively flavourful and much more complex than expected: zesty lemon, quince, spice, and cloves. Full in the mouth, but fresh and zippy on the finish, this should be a destination summer white.

Very Good+ and Highly Recommended
$25 at BCLDB or Marquis

Filed Under: $20-$30, Highly Recommended Values, Sauvignon Blanc, South African Wine, Very Good

Franz Hill Vineyards Big and Little Vineyards Zinfandel 2005

April 25, 2009 By Shea Leave a Comment

Sometimes small production wines really can hit the spot for a great price. This Franz Hill Zinfandel was limited to 10 barrels, which translates at 300 bottles a barrel into 250 cases. So that’s a pretty tiny production. I was also fortunate enough to finally partake in one of Berkeley’s sacred traditions: a stuffed pizza from Zacharey’s, a place so legendary that it has lineups every single day of the week.

On the nose I got pepper, bramble, spice, plum and dark cherry. The palate was ‘restrained’ for a zin, which I appreciated. Very spicy and dry on the palate, the sweetness levels and jammyness are dialed back on this one. I even got some earth and dust with a good base of acidity. In the end though, this is all about the fresh mixed field berries that paired beautifully with the pizza in their simple way.

And, as for that pizza, it may be lacking somewhat in the crust, but the 2 inches of amazing tomato sauce topping the melty-cheese dough was pretty amazing. I have not really tasted a pizza quite like this before, and it was pretty much the perfect complement to the Zin. So, all in all, a win on both fronts.

Excellent

$30 at K&L

Filed Under: $20-$30, Californian Wine, Excellent, Zinfandel

Mini Vertical: Peter Lehmann The Mentor

April 14, 2009 By Shea 2 Comments

It seems as though great deals abound here in California since I was able to score two vintage bottles of Lehmann’s Barossa Bordeaux blend “The Mentor” for a pretty fantastic price. Furthermore, Australian wines are not known so much for their ageability, and I was curious how a wine like this, from a major producer, would fair with moderate age on its back. Here are the results:

The Mentor 1999

A big cassis blast on the nose and not showing fatigue. Wood, eucalyptus and cedar smoke. Quite aromatic and very Australian. However, the palate was definitely a lot softer than I remember recent versions of this wine being. Notes of caramel opened the palate, but it was the purity of the cassis that was most impressive – one of the more authentic expressions I’ve tasted. It reminded me of an ice cream shop I loved when I was a kid that home made black currant ice cream by folding numerous fresh berries into it – and man was that good. Quite a long finish, and actually semi-earthy. The 9 years of age has made this quite an elegant wine, even if it is not super complex. It has layered very nicely and is still an excellent wine.

Very Good+

$25 at K&L

The Mentor 2002

Showing cedar, chocolate, cassis, eucalyptus and blackberry on the densely layered nose, this promised a lot. The palate, however, was a bit disjointed and this is definitely not showing as well as it did last year. In fact, this has become alsmost too cashmere in texture, and it lacks the layering and elegance of the 99. Cassis and cedar predominate on the palate, which feels quite round in the mouth. So, while the wine has good flavour, it is lacking the punch I expected from its more youthful visage.

Very Good to Very Good+

$25 at K&L

Clearly these wines can age, although I would suspect there is reasonable bottle and vintage variation in the quality of the aged wines. Also, I don’t find them to be that much more expressive or complex than the most recent vintages; rather, the difference is in texture and elegance. I will enjoy continuing to sample some older Aussie wines to get a fuller sense of how they fare over time.

Filed Under: $20-$30, Australian Wine, Bordeaux Blends, Very Good

Orin Swift Veladora Sauvignon Blanc Tofanelli Vineyard 2005

March 28, 2009 By Shea 2 Comments

So I am just back from Spring Break with a huge pile of notes to write up from Napa, the Rhone Rangers tasting, and a trip to Santa Barbara County. But, before all that excitement begins, I thought I’d write up this under the radar David Phinny wine (winemaker for the Prisoner) produced to support the farmers that Phinny relies on to make his amazing wines.

This Suav Blanc was very dark yellow and had a thick nose of toast, oak, white chocolate and caramel. The palate was very rich, replete with orchard fruits such as papaya and apples (more like apple pie). Full, rich, and round, this is a massive sauv blanc that is made almost like a chard (maybe some malo-lactic here). Yet, there is a distinct flavour profile here and it is hard to deny how awesome this is for the money.

Very Good+
$25 at Liquid Wine and Spirits

Filed Under: $20-$30, Californian Wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Very Good

Matanzas Creek Bennet Valley Merlot 2004

March 18, 2009 By Shea 2 Comments

Matanzas is turning out to be a steller good value producer here in California. Based in Sonoma, Matanzas is producing some seriously well balanced and thoughtful budget wines that blow away most everything else at their price point.

This merlot had a very dark rich nose of mint, chocolate and briar. The palate was a little woody, but had a big punch, good acidity in the mid-palate and a killer flavour profile of spicy earth and dark fruit. This tates like a merlot you would have to pay $60 for in Canada. Simply put: mmmm.

Very Good+ to Excellent
$23 (now on sale for $18!) at K&L Wine Merchants (Marquis carries these guys in Vancouver)

Filed Under: $20-$30, Californian Wine, Merlot, Very Good