We're big Sauvignon Blanc fans around here, especially when we can find them for under $20. One brand we've definitely got a jones to try is Hanna's 2006 bottling, which got a staggering 93/100 from Wine & Spirits magazine and was their #1 pick out of over 150 Sauvignon Blancs. Sounds like you can't go wrong, especially for the price, but if you need more convincing, here's what they had to say:
"This wine has the Pacific cool of the Russian River Valley and a lovely pearlike flavor set in a generous texture..."
-Wines & Spirits
Wine Teasers is fun. There are questions about wine, cards shaped like bottles and each team has its own “virtual cellar.” The CFW crew enjoyed it, but there was a lukewarm reception overall. That was until Crazy Karl, one of the interns here, had a brilliant suggestion. CK has a lot of brilliant suggestions, but he’s usually speaking too fast for anyone to understand him. He also can’t speak with his eyes open. Really, we tried to keep his eyelids pried open and make him talk, but he just sputtered and then cried a little. Anyway, Karl’s suggestion was to play Wine Teasers with real bottles.
The objective of the game is to get a full cellar. You gain “bottles” by answering questions right. Crazy Karl thought each person could bring two bottles of real wine, so each team would have eight or ten bottles. You can win the other teams bottles by answering the questions correctly. It was genius. We played a few time a week and end the night by drinking, and sharing some of our spoils. The game is fun in its original form, but the Crazy Karl version is a blast.
The game includes:
100 Questions, hints, & discussions, 30 wine bottle cards that describe wines and food pairings.
Fast-start rules, full rules, pronunciations card, hint credits.
The Q & A wine game for your next gathering of 2 to 20+ players, beginners or experts.
Lighthearted, unpretentious, and accurate.
The FUN way to learn wine!
. . . so hop onto Amazon.com, where we found this great game for $13.00! You can’t beat that. Enjoy!
We're constantly on the lookout for wine under $20, but some days (right before pay day, for example) you just need to swing a few cheaper bottles. Read on for some whites and reds from all over the world that will most likely be under $10.
We haven't tried a lot of Spanish wines, but we're certainly interested in the prospect. Most people think of very specific grapes when they think of Spain (Tempranillo springs to mind) but the folks over at Good Wine Under $20 have discovered a Merlot-Cab blend they like a lot - though you may have some trouble finding it.
This was a rich, smoky wine, with a deep inky crimson color and inviting aromas of spices, flowers, and rich red and black berries. Bodega Inurrieta makes their wine in the Navarra region, which has both warm Mediterranean and cooler Atlantic influences. These different influences help the grapes to develop their full potential without over-ripeness. The flavors of cassis, clove, and cedar were equally rich and inviting and lingered in your mouth, making it a pleasure to drink glass after beautiful glass. And you could do just that because the wine had 13.5% alc/vol despite its rich and flavorful profile. What most impressed me, however, was the wine's superb balance, since the acidity that gave the wine structure was perfectly paired with the fruit and the oak.
...buy truck, drink truck. It sounds like a Dr. Seuss rhyme, but this is serious stuff - two quality wines (a red and a rose) that both cost around $10 and both have something to do with trucks. We haven't tried the pink, but we bought some of the Red Truck for a friend who happens to have a red pick-up, and were pleasantly surprised, especially for the price and the locale where we bought it (a gas station).
Medium-bodied and complex, flavors of chocolate, berries, cherries and licorice abound. The black pepper finish settles with smooth tannins. You can drink red truck anywhere, anytime (it pairs well with pizza and tomato based dishes). And for you die-hard Cline fans, take it for a spin and floor it baby, metaphorically speaking of course!
Pink Truck is a classic wine with a very sophisticated twist. This exceptional new blend exhibits berry and citrus aromas and strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate flavors that tantalize the palate. Juicy orange notes make for a delicious, bright finish — a refreshingly complex wine crafted in a balanced off-dry style. A WELL-CRAFTED BLEND OF: Zinfandel, Grenache, Mourvedre
Here's a wine we actually haven't tried ourselves, but the review we read recently really got our tastebuds going. Matt Kramer at The Oregonian had the following to say about the 2006 varietal of this wine:
That said, this 2006 Cotes du Ventoux rose from the shipper La Vieille Ferme is one of the best roses I've had in quite a while. It's got everything that a really good rose should deliver: genuinely flavorful yet delicate fruitiness allied to refreshing acidity. And it has a nice watermelon-hue tint.
A blend of cinsault (50 percent), grenache (40 percent) and syrah (10 percent), this fruity yet fully dry rose combines the cherry taste of grenache with just a touch of "black fruit" flavor from syrah. It's a terrific rose, attractively packaged (with a desirable screw cap).
Not too shabby, and it's available online at Wine.com for under $10.
This just in - we're Malbec men, through and through. Typically all sweetness and leather, it reminds us of ourselves and it's our favorite import from South America, at least in the wine family. Alamos has been on our table more often than not lately, and we find ourselves liking it more each time we have it - plus it's in the $10 range.
The 2006 Alamos Malbec presents a deep, opaque violet color with purple hues. The nose is intense and complex, with ripe black fruits, sweet spice and a touch of violets. The mouthfeel is sweet and supple, with black cherry and cassis flavors mingled with spicy black pepper and a touch of leather. The finish is long and persistent with soft, sweet tannins.
Hey, did you know they make wine in Italy? We keep hearing so much about wines from South America, South Africa, California, we sometimes forget about the places we first associated with wine. Check out some hot Chianti action below.
This Chianti Classico exemplifies a modern approach to making this very traditional wine. It’s a satisfying middleweight with good flavor intensity and well-balanced structure, wrapping classic flavors in a sleek package. It has enticing aromas of tart red cherries, saddle leather and a hint of pungent dried herbs. In the mouth, it delivers bright flavors of dried red cherries against the classic Tuscan background of leather and oriental spice. The finish is long and aromatic, with crisp acidity supporting the lingering flavor of red Michigan pie cherries.
We've been digging on the Southern Hemisphere lately, and the latest addition to our tasting repertoire is Mak 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. We tend to like the SBs because they're a bit more tart, a bit more citrusy - it's not every wine you can often compare to grapefruit. We didn't get the grapefruit from Mak, but we dug it, and we think you will too.
...shows all that we love about sauvignon blanc---zesty, vivacious aromas of passionfruit and gooseberry lead to a palate brimming with juicy fruit characters and a citrus twist to finish. Mouth watering stuff!
We're always looking for great new wines we haven't tried yet, and we often like to research wines online before we actually buy. We're relatively new to the idea of purchasing wine online, especially since it's such a pain in the arse in our home base state of Massachusetts, but we really believe in the concept.
One thing we consider to be a godsend for knowing what to buy is the Wine Spectator Top 100 List - 100 well-rated wines, and while not all of them are under $20 there is a good chunk that are.
It sounds like Beau over at Basic Juice is having some trouble with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the poor bastard, Luckily, that doesn't mean he's given up on finding excellent wines, and he's even gone so far as to round up three bottles of cheap Spanish wine. If he recommends them, we have a feeling they're going to be good, so pick 'em up if you can find 'em, no questions asked.
1. Lo Brujo Macabeo 2005, $7 (imported by Bon Vivant) - Not as memorable as the Macarena, but still a nice little white wine to pair with fish tacos.
2. Bodegas Zabrin Garnacha de Fego 2005, $10 (imported by MS Walker) - Great, classy Garnacha flava at a wee little price. One of the best ten-buck vinos I've had in months.
3. Vilosell 2004 $14 (by European Cellars) - Nifty unfiltered Tempranillo blended with Cab S., Merlot and Garnacha. A lot of smoky depth and chewy texture. Perfect with something meaty
We've never really spent much time thinking about the role of gender in the wine world, but we just found an article discussing the lack of representation of women in the culture of the vine. Pretty interesting, actually, and we thought we'd share it. There's a move afoot right now to get more women involved in judging and tasting wine, especially considering how so many of them are involved in drinking and even creating it. We say bully for them - see the details below.
Women buy much of the wine purchased in the United States, and they make quite a bit of it too. But it's mostly male critics who proclaim what's prime and what's plonk.
Enter the National Women's Wine Competition being held this month in Northern California. The event, judged entirely by women, boldly sports the slogan "Wine Women Want." There's even a separate category of entries from women winemakers to add an extra fillip of vintage suffrage.
The competition runs March 13-15 in Santa Rosa, and interest in being a single-gender contender has been keen. Wineries from across the country responded and about 1,800 entries have come in, more than double expectations.
We're always on the lookout for a good, satisfying, cheap wine, but sometimes it can be tough to figure out which bottle of plonk we should plunk down our money for. We got an email from a gentleman named Ken who is on the same quest, plus he seems to be much more organized than we are - he has a section of his site called the "Practical Party Case."
In it you'll find all sorts of great information about wines from the lower end of the price spectrum - he gives his own reviews and consolidates the ratings of others, all to find wines that are Very Good to Excellent for a reasonable price. Go Ken! Check it out at Ken'sWineGuide.com.
The time is almost here - the big V-Day '07. It's time to get all romantical with your chosen animal, vegetable, or mineral, and if we're talking romance, we should be talking wine. We've found some recommendations for romantic wines this year that will hopefully get you some romantic attention, or at least keep you out of the doghouse.
Seduction is a wine that was suggested by two people — Mike Smith, of Napa, and Bart O’Brien, of O’Brien Cellars, who produced the wine. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and comes in a red and black box that emphasizes the words, “Lovers, Friends and You.” The wine itself is enclosed in a red see-through bag, which was described by a colleague in the newsroom as “the only wine I’ve ever seen that comes in a negligee.”
Hanna Sauvignon Blanc 2006
We're big Sauvignon Blanc fans around here, especially when we can find them for under $20. One brand we've definitely got a jones to try is Hanna's 2006 bottling, which got a staggering 93/100 from Wine & Spirits magazine and was their #1 pick out of over 150 Sauvignon Blancs. Sounds like you can't go wrong, especially for the price, but if you need more convincing, here's what they had to say: 
Continue reading: 
This just in - we're Malbec men, through and through. Typically all sweetness and leather, it reminds us of ourselves and it's our favorite import from South America, at least in the wine family. Alamos has been on our table more often than not lately, and we find ourselves liking it more each time we have it - plus it's in the $10 range.
It sounds like Beau over at Basic Juice is having some trouble with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the poor bastard, Luckily, that doesn't mean he's given up on finding excellent wines, and he's even gone so far as to round up three bottles of cheap Spanish wine. If he recommends them, we have a feeling they're going to be good, so pick 'em up if you can find 'em, no questions asked.
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