Dry Creek Vineyards Fume Blanc 2006

Wine:  Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc 2006

Price: $12.99

Region: Sonoma County, California

Grape Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Purchased: MGM Liquor, Burnsville, MN

This wine was mentioned specifically by Karen MacNeil in our dinner recipe from Cooking Light magazine.  Interestingly enough, we’ve enjoyed this particular wine a number of times before.  We had a very good idea of what to expect, and this bottle didn’t disappoint.

Our overall impression was that of a light, summery wine.  The color was the golden straw you’d expect from Sauvignon Blanc.  We enjoyed this for an early summer dinner, and it truly sparkled in the late day light.  The nose was very light, but the taste was crisp and refreshing, with a light coating of the usual grassiness.   The finish was fairly brief, but it was a great match for grilled chicken thighs with a marinade of lemons and olive oil.

We’ve enjoyed this wine before, and I’m sure we’ll have a few more bottles before the summer is done.  It’s a terrific complement to grilled poultry, and that’s a summer staple for us.

Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris 2006

Wine:  Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris 2006

Price: $11.49

Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon

Grape Variety: Pinot Gris

Purchased: Surdyk’s, Minneapolis, MN

This wine was a little more difficult to judge than others we’ve had, and I think it had more to do with our taste than the wine itself.  We’ve enjoyed many types of wine over the years, but the vast majority has been red wine.  I can say it with certainty, we’re red wine people.  Thus, the very different body and structure of a white was a little foreign to us, and there was definitely an adjustment period.  The appearance of this wine was a very pale, softly golden color.  We swirled the glass (“to aromacize the esthers” as our friend Tom Lorenz likes to say), and upon a long, slow inhale we found a large amount of green melon and pear.  It was almost grassy, something I’d expect from a sauvignon blanc.  The taste carried that theme, and we found pears and apples, and a little bit of lemon and the same mineral taste.  The finish was rather short and uneventful, and I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as a simple sipping wine.  To be fair, I purchased it with a warm summer evening in mind, and today was a brisk Minnesota March day with an 18 degree temperature, so that may have been a factor.  I will say that it was the recommended wine for our dinner, a Sun-Dried Tomato, Sausage and Fontina Pizza, and when we tried it with the food the character of the wine really changed.  I’m still not a huge fan of white wine, but this one did settle into a nice spot when paired with the right food.

Casillero del Diablo Carmenere Reserve 2005

Wine:  Casillero del Diablo Carmenere Reserve 2005

Price: $6.99

Region: Chile

Grape Variety: Carmenere

Purchased: Surdyk’s, Minneapolis, MN

Another wine I purchased due to its mention in Food & Wine magazine.  I’m beginning to be embarassed at the suspiciously low prices I’m paying, but this was yet another fantastic value.  I don’t think we’ve ever had a Chilean wine before, and the Carmenere grape was a mystery to me, so I consulted Karen MacNeil’s “The Wine Bible”.  She only briefly mentions it as one brought to Chile from Bordeaux in the late 1800’s.

Regarding this wine, our overall impression was that of a deep, dark sort of wine.  The color was intense as we made our first pour into the glass.  I’m not certain how to describe the nose, except to say that we found fruit, mostly raspberry.  This didn’t prepare us at all for the actual taste of this wine.  We expected more fruit in the mouth, but instead were treated to layers of chocolate and coffee and a little bit of leather and black cherry.  This wine was firm, with medium tannins, and a reasonable amount of alcohol.  The finish was smooth, and there seemed to be a bit of syrup and cocoa along the way.  Overall, this wine surprised us, but in a good way.  It was bold, but not overpowering, and we enjoyed it greatly with a simple meal of grilled chicken and asparagus. 

We purchased this wine through the Surdyk’s Fall 2007 wine sale.  Like all the wines we’ve found in Food & Wine, this is a great value.

Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Wine:  Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Price: $12.49

Region: Napa Valley, CA

Grape Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Purchased: Surdyk’s, Minneapolis, MN

This was our second go-round with this particular wine, and in reviewing my notes our experience was very consistent.  The color was a deep ruby red, beautiful as we swirled it in the glass for our first taste.  The nose had a definite dark cherry feel, although it seemed there was something more.  I very much need to increase my wine vocabulary so that I can better describe the sensation, but I can honestly say it held my interest because it wasn’t completely straightforward.  The taste was much the same.  An initial sip yielded cherries and perhaps a little raspberry.  As we rolled it about on the tongue we found leather and a medium level of tannin.  The finish was fairly lengthy, and slowly warmed over time.  My overall impression was of a well-crafted wine with a substantial amount of body.  The feel varied a bit from first sip to the finish, and I greatly enjoyed the complexity.  The price was right, as we received approximately 30% discount when purchasing this wine through the Surdyk’s Fall 2007 wine sale.  It’s a great value, and I’ll definitely seek more bottles for my modest collection.

How Much Do You Pay for Wine?

It’s an interesting question, and one that I think says a lot about you.  Are you a wine snob who wouldn’t look at a bottle under $35 a bottle?  Or maybe you can’t see the value in paying more than $10.  I’ll let you create your own nickname there.

I like the thought of buying the big dollar wine, but I really can’t afford to do it very often.  We’ve made up some creative savings plans to put together funds for big-splurge bottles, and it was fun but it was also a little hit or miss.  On one occasion we spent $90 for a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino, and that was a glass of heaven!  We didn’t quite know what to expect, but the flavors were so vivid, the finish so smooth and long.  That was incredible.  On another day we spent $95 for a bottle of Barolo (apparently we like Italian wine), and I can’t say that I was all that impressed.  It was okay, but for $95 I shouldn’t have to say it was okay.

On the lower end of the price scale, we often enjoy a $7 bottle of Rosemount Estates or Jacobs Creek Shiraz.  They’re delicious and well-made, and we consider them go-to wines which we’ll always have on hand.  Of course, we’ve tried a number of other wines in that price range which have been flat or rough or otherwise unimpressive.  Apparently, the price of the wine isn’t always a good predictor of the quality of the wine inside.

My favorite game is to comb through the wine ratings you find in Wine Spectator magazine.  Have you ever scrolled down their lists of ratings and noticed that in the lists you’ll find, for example, 10 wines with a ranking of 90, nine of them costing $50 a bottle and one with a cost of $22?  That’s the wine I write on my list and go searching for at the local wine shop.  Oftentimes they don’t have it on hand, but sometimes they do.  That’s the sweet spot between quality and cost that I’m searching for, and it’s a game I can definitely enjoy!

Jacob’s Creek Shiraz 2005

Wine:  Jacob’s Creek Shiraz 2005

Price: $4.99

Region: South Eastern Australia

Grape Variety: Shiraz

Purchased: Surdyk’s, Minneapolis, MN 

What a wonderful wine to enjoy with a homemade pizza!  Honestly, this may have been the steal of the annual Surdyk’s wine sale.  We originally found this reviewed in Food & Wine Magazine, and the deal seemed too good to be true.  In fact, it’s even better.  This wine has a rich nose, with cherry and plum in abundance.  The deep ruby color is visually pleasing as you raise the glass, and as the wine rolls across the tongue you feel the warm sensation of ripe fruit with a peppery edge.  The finish is the tiniest bit rough, but pleasant, and it lingers for a long moment.  The non-sale price is closer to $7.00 per bottle, and I’ll gladly pay that as well.  This is a go-to wine, and now that we know it we’ll be stocking more in the future.

Enjoy!