We haven’t been doing too many Canadian wines. Maybe we should. More than three decades ago the Pennachetti family helped to pioneer noble grape varietal wines in the Niagara Peninsula with Riesling and Chardonnay. The hillside of the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Lake Ontario is known as Beamsville Bench. In this fine location a single bloc of 25-year old vines grew the Gewurztraminer grapes that were fermented in stainless steel.

This is a popular tourist area and the winery also offers an inn, a restaurant, and a spa with vinotherapy treatments. What more could you want? Today’s companion wine is a $10 Georgian wine grown from the most popular local grape, the white Rkatsiteli.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed

Cave Spring Estate Bottled Gewuerztraminer VQA 2008 14.0% alcohol about $15

Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Medium gold. Intense aromas of lychee, white flowers, candied citrus, and exotic spices. Just off-dry, medium bodied with an emerging lime cordial note on the palate. Very well-made Ontario Gewuerz. Pair it with grilled prawns in a moderately spicy sauce, or lemon grass chicken. (VINTAGES panel, Jan. 2010) And now for my review.

At the first sips the wine was slightly sweet and floral with fine acidity. The initial meal began with some spinach stuffed sesame seed puff pastry. The wine was appley and its acidity was mouth cleansing. The next step was an omelet brimming with chilies. The wine was elegant and tasted of lemons and honey. When it met the accompanying artichoke and garlic tomato salsa the Gewurtz stepped down a bit but it was quite long. In the presence of Greek Kalamata olives I got the image of a fluttering butterfly and there was some nectar. Sliced cantaloupe rendered the wine long and lemony. Honeydew made it very long and the wine’s acidity complemented the not quite ripe fruit.

The next meal was chicken baked with soy sauce, agave nectar, and plums. The wine had bright acidity and lime. It was somewhat oily. Something wasn’t quite ripe. The plums made the acidity somewhat harsh. The fresh pineapple dessert made the wine taste of honey; it was medicinal.

My final meal was commercially prepared eggplant parmiagana. The wine was elegant and mouthfilling. The Gewuerztraminer tasted of spicy lemons and was quite long. For dessert I enjoyed a vanilla ice cream bar coated in high quality chocolate. The wine presented light acidity.

Before going to my usual two cheeses I paired this white wine with Matjes herring. The wine was long and its pleasant acidity cut the herring’s salt. The first cheese was a brick. I expected bland but given its age the cheese was surprisingly strong. The wine was weak, and yet long. The second cheese was a Muenster, the Gewurzt stepped up to the place; it was round and fruity.

Final verdict. This call is fairly borderline. Instead of buying this pretty good but somewhat overpriced wine I may go for another one of the producer’s many, many offerings. There’s a Beamsville Bench Chardonnay that looks promising.

This is our first review of a kosher wine. A kosher wine meets strict growing and production requirements in accordance with Jewish religious law. We are going to open a new column in our website to review kosher, organic, biodynamic and other wines that meet special growing and production requirements. But since this particular wine just made it under the magic $10 limit we decided to review it here. Given its rather special qualities, many people buy this wine without concern for its kosher status. By the way, if you do keep kosher you will be interested to know that this wine is Kosher for Passover and Mevushal, the latter meaning it was flash pasteurized and maybe be served at receptions even if the waiters are not Sabbath-respecting Orthodox Jews.

Rashi Vineyards has properties in Italy and in New York State. They produce some strictly kosher fine Italian wines such as Barolo, the wine of kings and the king of wines. Their vineyards are named for the Eleventh Century Jewish scholar Rashi who was allegedly an extraordinary winemaker. While Jewish and other scholars are still studying his religious commentaries we can’t be sure of his winemaking skills.

I recently hosted a wine tasting and chose this particular wine mainly for its low-alcohol content. It proved to be quite popular. The Joyvin is a fizzy red wine whose label reads Parzialmente Fermentato. I am sure you can decipher this phrase even if, like me, you don’t know Italian. Just like most fine champagnes, this wine doesn’t have any vintage year on the label. But that’s where the resemblance ends.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Joyvin Red K/P M 6.0 % alcohol about $10

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Dark pink; sweet cherry aromas; very sweet cherry flavor. Serving Suggestion: Kosher appetizers and toasting. And now for my review.

I started by sipping this wine alone. It was sweet and fizzy. The first meal included boxed spinach, broccoli, and potato blintzes (crepes) with sour cream. The wine presented some cherry flavor and good acidity. But frankly speaking, it was a cooler, not a wine.

The second meal involved a middle-eastern dish called Kube (or Kibbe), ground chicken in crushed wheat jackets slow-cooked in a broth. The Joyvin was syrupy and yet refreshing. It was short. I think that you could duplicate this product by buying an upscale black cherry soda and adding alcohol. Don’t get me wrong; this concoction was not entirely negative.

The final meal was an omelet with sides of grilled eggplant and a grilled artichoke dip. With the omelet my reaction was same old, same old. The grilled eggplant did bring out the fruit somewhat. I have no notes for the artichoke dip and the wine; I don’t think they interacted.

Now for the cheeses. With a Brick cheese I noticed some nice acidity. With the Havarti the Joyvin was fruity but really too sweet.

Final verdict. I don’t know what coolers are going for but my suspicion is that Joyvin is way overpriced. But if you like coolers you may find that this is one of the better ones. That’s not my department. And don’t get the wrong idea. Many of the kosher wines that I’ll be reviewing will be fine wines.

Over the years we have reviewed many Pinot Grigio wines, although most of them were not in the $10 range. We have recently reviewed many Australian wines, although most of them were not in the $10 range. And now they come together. Filippo and Maria Casella immigrated to Australia from Sicily in 1957. These third generation Italian winemakers purchased a farm in the Riverina region of New South Wales in 1965. By 1969 they opened a winery that is now the largest family-owned winery in Australia. Fully 15% of Australia’s wine exports are their products. Casella Wines boasts the world’s fastest bottling line, and is really making use of it.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio 2009 11.9% alcohol about $10

Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Pale straw color; aromas of stone fruit, citrus and pear; dry, medium bodied, with crisp acidity, and delicate flavors of fresh apple, herb and nut. Serving Suggestion: Try with cream based pastas, salads or appetizers. And now for my review.

The bottle cap was an accident waiting to happen. After cutting it open, I had to flatten the sharp edges. At the first sips this Pinot Grigio had pleasant acidity. The pear taste hit me but it was fairly short. My first meal started with broccoli pancakes that included potatoes, onion, and oat bran. The wine provided a combination of pears and green apples. With a commercial chicken finger type preparation the apples became greener. The Louisiana pepper sauce increased the wine’s acidity.

The next meal centered on a barbecued chicken breast in duck sauce. The Pinot Grigio was slightly sweet and the now the pears were in the background. In the face of a chickpea, pimento, sliced olive, and canned corn salad the wine seemed stronger. My final meal started with Matjes herring. This wine was not at all weakened by the herring which is often the case.

The main meal was an omelet loaded with crushed chilies. The wine did well; I tasted pears and good, refreshing acidity. There was a lemony taste.

My first cheese was a cheddar. The wine’s predominated but the fruit was gone. Then I went to a better Swiss cheese. The Pinot Grigio’s fruit was still gone but its acidity weakened and then come back. In a sense I felt the opposite of many unsuccessful wine and cheese pairings: it was a shame wasting a fine cheese on this wine.

Final verdict. I would not buy this wine again. I have seen it on the Internet for $7 a bottle by the case. I still wouldn’t buy it.

It may be kind of hard to believe but even after some six months this is only our second Spanish wine and our first Spanish white. Spain is of course a major wine producer. Marques de Riscal, the makers of the wine reviewed here, has been in business for some 150 years. In fact, last October they had a birthday bash hosted in part by Christie’s auction house. I’m told there were great vintage wines and Vinotherapie treatments at about 2500 Euros per person. Too bad I found out afterwards. Maybe I’ll catch the 200th anniversary party.

The wine reviewed comes from Rueda in northwestern Spain not far from Portugal. The famous Duero River flows by. I’m going to guess that in our price range the vineyards won’t be fronting on this river. By the way, even though it’s Spain the winters are cold.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Marques de Riscal White 2007 12% alcohol about $10

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Light straw green color; aromas and flavors of peach with floral and earth tones; dry, light to medium bodied, with good length. And now for my review.

I started by sipping this wine alone. I was impressed by its fine balance of sweetness and acidity. The first meal was a baked salmon filet with honey sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Sides were boiled asparagus covered in black pepper and onion powder and potato knishes, fried dough stuffed with a potato and onion mixture. The fish brought out the wine’s citrus tastes; it was quite refreshing. With the asparagus the wine became slightly unctuous.

The second meal consisted of broccoli and spinach crepes (store bought) with sour cream. The wine was floral with fleeting acidity. It was light tasting as was the food. The Rueda was not powerful but it was subtle. I finished the meal with a French-style high-quality lemon pie with a buttery crust. Even though the wine was weak it was enchanting.

The final meal centered around chicken meat balls accompanied by rice and green beans in a tomato sauce. The wine had puckering acidity but it was short at first. I did get citrus flavor. Once again the wine was unctuous (oily) but I mean that in a positive way.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a Marbled Cheddar. The wine was fruity and acidic; this was a good combo and I am no great fan of wine and cheese. Then I went to a white Havarti. The effect was similar but the wine was more powerful.

Final verdict. I would definitely buy this wine again. It does qualify as a bargain, especially if you can get it for a better price as I have seen on the Internet.

I don’t think I have to tell you about the beauty of the French Mediterranean, an area known affectionately as the “Midi”. Unlike Tuscany, this fantastic region is not particularly well known for fine wines. Many of its wines are rosés, best consumed on a terrace overlooking the sea. The grape Picpoul de Pinet is mostly grown in the Languedoc region of France, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. It is both blended and made into varietal wines.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed

Terre a Verre les Roches Picpoul de Pinet, 2005 13% alcohol about $10

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Picpoul de Pinet is a grape variety that is a perfect example of the Mediterranean climate in a bottle. Expect hints of citrus, curry, spice, garrigue, and floral in a racy/fresh frame. It is an excellent palate refresher or would match a grilled prawn dish. And now for my review.

I started by sipping this wine alone. It was acidic and refreshing with a note of honeysuckle. I tasted it with barbecued chicken thighs, French fries spiced with rosemary and garlic, and green beans cooked with crushed tomatoes. The wine was clearly acidic. It tasted of honeysuckle and citrus with sweet notes. Bizarre, it was sometimes short and sometimes long but always palate cleansing and sometimes metallic.

The second meal was baked chicken breast in a potato puree, accompanied by green beans in a tomato sauce. I apologize for the double chicken tasting. I did try this wine with shepherd’s pie but because of some dental work the tasting was painful and not at all informative. Anyway, with the chicken breast the wine was lightly sweet with even a taste of honey and refreshing acidity. The Picpoul was moderately long and mouth-filling, quite a pleasant match.

The next meal consisted of an omelet and a commercial artichoke dip with Japanese rice crackers. I felt lip-puckering acidity. The citrus shadow of the wine lasted a long time. The wine was definitely muted by the acidic dip. Interestingly enough, it came out the best with the rice crackers. Later on in the meal the wine softened. It became sweet once more in the presence of Wasabi peas.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a Provolone. The wine tasted fairly fruity and had good length and acidity. This was better than an average wine and cheese pairing. The marbled Cheddar succeeded in muting the wine, in particular its acidity. This pairing was not nearly as good as the preceding one.

Final verdict. Mixed feelings. There are lots of good $10 wines out there. I don’t see the point of returning to this one. But maybe I’m too harsh. For $10 what can you usually expect from an expensive wine producer such as France?

This is our second review of Australian wine in just a few weeks. You may realize that Australia is a major wine exporter especially to the United States and the United Kingdom. While this wine was bottled in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales in Australia’s southwest, the grapes come from the Geographical Indication of Beechworth in New South Wales neighbor, Victoria. Beechworth was once a great place to dig for gold and is now considered a fine wine region, in particular for Chardonnay and fortified wines. If money is no object look for Giaconda’s wines, including their Pinot Noir.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Pinot Noir New South Wales (Brokenwood Winery) 2005 14.0% alcohol about $20

There were no marketing materials so I’ll quote the back label. This Pinot Noir is sourced from Victoria’s exciting Beechworth region, in the lower region of the Alpine Valleys. A very hot, dry season giving concentrated flavors… This is a ripe style with background French Oak and sappy/cherry Pinot fruit. The palate has strawberry flavors and lingering soft tannins. Drink over the short term with duck and Asian dishes. Our wines are now sealed with screw cap to guarantee quality and consistency.

Re screw caps: I want to mention that when I used adjustable pliers the bottle opened nicely. And now for my review.

At the first sips the wine was quite powerful with good length and tobacco but no tannins. I first paired this wine with a dry barbecued chicken breast and a tastier chicken leg. This Pinot Noir was very present with some chocolate when it met the white meat. When it faced the chicken leg it was somewhat too acidic. On the upside, this wine was chewy and mouth filling. Once again there was tobacco and no tannins.

The next meal centered around a middle-eastern specialty called as kube, ground beef in crushed bulgar jackets in a slightly sour, delicious broth containing lots of Swiss Chard. This Pinot Noir was thick. I even got a taste of tar and black licorice. There was a lot of body but, at the risk of repeating myself, there were no tannins. They didn’t seem to be missing. I tasted dark fruit, especially black cherries. I finished the meal with some smoked almonds and tasted tobacco and some earth.

Then I went to fatty beef ribs that had been slowly cooked with soft wheat kernels. There was a side of moderately spicy guacamole. The Pinot Noir was round and thick with a lot of oak and a good length. Its acidity worked well with the meat’s grease. Not only the meat was chewy and it presented black, black cherries. The wine retained some of its power and all of its length when paired with the guacamole.

With some Matjes herring the wine was long, balanced, and mouth filling. The herring didn’t get in the way. A local Provolone actually weakened this Pinot Noir at first its acidity became slightly harsh. A tastier Swiss slightly weakened the wine but it was still powerful and long, oaky with the taste of tobacco.

Final verdict. This wine is definitely worth buying again and again. Next time I won’t waste it on the cheese. And maybe someday I’ll try Giaconda’s offerings. You’ll be the first to know.

We have already done a review of a red wine by the groundbreaking California winemaker, Robert Mondavi. This review is devoted to an inexpensive white Sauvignon Blanc from this great, but admittedly controversial winemaker. More than thirty years ago Mondavi got people to drink the then unfashionable Sauvingnon Blanc wines in part by giving them a new, charming name, Fume Blanc. He was really the one who put Napa Valley on the world wine map. One day I plan to try the very pricey and probably overpriced Opus One, a Cabernet Sauvignon that’s a joint effort between Mondavi and the French Baron Philippe de Rothschild, both now deceased. In the meantime, let’s take a look at this bargain offering and see if it’s really a bargain.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Woodbridge By Robert Mondavi 2008 12.0% alcohol about $10

Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Light lemon color, dry and medium bodied; fresh, melon, citrus, vanilla aromas and flavors. Serving Suggestion: Shellfish, light seafood, pasta with cream sauces. And now for my review.

At the first sips the wine was overly acidic, harsh, and thin. Its first pairing was with an omelet accompanied by wasabi rice crackers and babaganoush (eggplant with too much mayonnaise). The wine improved somewhat with the food. The rice crackers softened the wine’s acidity and brought out its fruit. With the omelet, lemon came to the fore. The babaganoush brought out some sweetness in the Sauvignon Blanc. With Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream the wine lost its harshness, but frankly lost just about everything.

The next meal consisted of chicken hamburgers with a Moroccan style tomato, pepper, and garlic sauce. The wine’s acidity softened and there was lots of citrus. The side of brocolli and oat bran pancakes brought out the wine’s acidic harshness once again.

My final meal started with sweet and sour barbecued chicken wings. The Sauvignon Blanc had mouth-cleansing acidity with light citrus flavors. The side was potatoes roasted in chicken fat to which the wine responded with some green apples. It was palate cleansing. The main dish was a honey-garlic barbecued chicken breast. The wine displayed no sweetness but its acidity was softened and there was some citrus. With fresh strawberries the wine slunk into the background.

I ended the bottle with two local cheeses. With a yellow cheddar at the first gulp the Sauvignon Blanc was harsh but rapidly softened. There was light fruit and acidity. With a stronger tasting asiago cheese the wine was basically muted.

Final verdict. I don’t plan to buy this wine again. It didn’t even come close, its best pairings were fair to middling.

This review marks a double first for us. It’s our first sweet wine, and our first Greek wine. Given this wine’s sweetness a full serving is fairly small. Don’t, we repeat, don’t drink full servings of a wine like this. You will really regret getting sick and drunk on dessert wines. When you think of Greece you may be thinking of Retsina wines, wines tasting of resin that still represent a major section of the Greek wine market. You won’t find any such wine reviewed here, and not because of the price.

Samos is a small, mountainous island in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey. Its inhabitants have been making wine for well over three thousand years. The Muscat grape is a relative newcomer, probably introduced in the Sixteenth Century. These grapes were grown on the slopes of Mount Ampelos at a height of up to half a mile (less than a kilometer) by a local cooperative founded in the 1930s. The wine reviewed below is their base product; their top of the line is the Samos Anthemis. I usually limit my quotes to the marketing materials but exceptionally I’ll quote one of my favorite wine reviewers, Tom Stevenson, “One of the great sweet wines of the world…are all superb, perfectly-balanced, rich, and mellifluous wines…” If you agree with Tom, you are in for one real bargain.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY

All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed:

Samos Vin Doux 2007 15% alcohol about $9 (per half bottle)

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: 100% Muscat, this fortified wine is grown in semi-mountainous conditions on the island of Samos. The nose shows lovely aromas of honey, Earl Grey tea and oranges. Medium sweet but balanced by a good seam of acidity, the wine is soft-textured with lovely honey, peach, pear, marzipan, straw, almond and floral notes. Lively and clean with excellent length, it would make a lovely after-dinner treat. (VINTAGES panel, July 2008) And now for my review.

I started by sipping this wine on its own. It was liquid honey and pleasantly acidic. So far, so good. As a dessert wine I rarely paired it with meals. The tastings were all done on separate occasions. First I tried almond meringue cookies. The wine had a tea taste and was somewhat medicinal. On the positive side I was tired and this was really a fine pick me up. I tasted citronella but the wine didn’t furnish any of the almond taste.

I tried this wine with a high-quality vanilla ice cream bar covered with dark chocolate. The tea taste was predominant; I ‘m not even a fan of tea in my cup, much less in my wine glass. With fresh honeydew the Samos was syrupy and a bit medicinal.

My supermarket sometimes sells a French-style very lemony pie with a buttery crust that is best eaten from the freezer. And what taste did this pie extract from the wine, honeysuckle.

Ben and Jerry’s came out with a new flavor, at least in our neighborhood. If I Had A 1,000,000 Flavors that was mostly Chocolate and Vanilla and frankly was disappointing. But I’m not reviewing ice cream; I’m reviewing dessert wine. I got some honey and some tea but the combination was far from being a success.

Then I tried little pastries called rogelach that contained dried fruit and coconut. The new flavor was citrus and was pleasing, the old flavors were tea and medicinal and were not.

To branch out I tried this dessert wine with a poppy seed bagel covered in soft, creamy 5% cheese and Atlantic smoked salmon. The wine tasted mostly of honey. I believe that the bagel was dipped in water containing some sugar; I know the salmon was cured in brown sugar. Now in contrast to many cream cheeses, this creamy cheese didn’t taste the least bit sweet. Anyway, whatever the influences the wine tasted of honey and later the tea taste came back.

The final meal was a grilled chicken breast that had been marinated in a slightly spicy Thai barbecue sauce and then lightly covered in more of the sauce. I was hoping that the sweetness of the sauce would complement the sweetness of the wine. It didn’t. The wine actually presented itself better with green beans in a crushed tomato sauce that also had notes of sweetness.

I tried the Samos with fresh strawberries. It was long, and had a good balance of acidity and sweetness. But after the strawberries were gone, the tea taste came back. I closed the pairings with a single cheese, Emmenthaler (Swiss). The combination was fairly interesting, the wine was sweet with fine acidity and some fruit.

Final verdict. My apologies to Tom Stevenson. I would not buy this wine again. Believe it or not I about a quarter of a bottle left and don’t know what I’ll do with the rest of it. Innovative cooks might use it to create interesting sauces but I don’t think that I’ll take the chance. I will say one thing though, it’s an awful lot better than the last Retsina wine I tasted. I’ll be coming back for more Greek wines, and for more dessert wines.

Many people are willing to try a new wine but when they try to recall it later all they can come up with is a vague memory of what the bottle’s label looked like. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people walk into my shop and say, “I had this great wine last week. It was white and the label had a blue dog, or a white dog on a bluish background…” No matter how individual a label may seem when it’s sitting on your kitchen counter, when you go to the shop all of the hundreds of labels look disturbingly similar. Marketing people still claim that many of us buy wine based upon how the label looks – that may be true and there is a lot of money spent on designing interesting labels – but label design is no way to remember a wine.

Here’s how to remember that wine you liked.

As a start, take a moment with your first sips of any wine to notice, really notice how it looks, smells and tastes. Bright or dark in the glass? Clean or intriguing and powerful in aroma? Clear and fresh? Fruity? Tart? Rich and full bodied? Long lasting? Experience the wine briefly with all your senses. Most of what we think is taste is actually our sense of smell. The average human can distinguish about 10.000 distinct aromas and our olfactory bulb feeds those sensations of smell directly into the part of our brain that governs memory and emotion. That’s why, on a basic level, we all really enjoy good experiences of aroma and taste.

Look at the label. The design may be interesting or fun but there are three details that are way more important.

1.) What grape type is used to make the wine? Most labels today do indicate the grape or blend of grapes that are used in the wine making. Outside of Europe this is universally true, except in the case of some very unusual blends, but many European wines today reveal the grape type on the front label if not the back label.

There are hundreds, no, there are thousands of different grapes used all over the world to make wine, but all you have to remember is one or two with any single wine. I think of different grapes as having different personalities of aroma and flavor. If you’re at a party meeting a lot of new people it may seem overwhelming but you meet and talk with one person at a time. If you run into the same grape again later you can recall that you’ve met before, especially if you can recall the name. In time, you’ll start to recognize each grape’s personality and you might start to seek out particular ones that you like.

Practically speaking there are about thirty grape types that are used to make the vast majority of the world’s wines. They have names like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Sangiovese. They are all members of the same vine family (genus) Vitis Vinifera. They’re like brothers and sisters. They make all the white, red, pink and sparkling wine in the world. Some are closer cousins than others. For instance, Cabernet Sauvignon is a genetic offspring of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Some have unusual names but it’s no big deal. You can get to know them over time. Just remember, each time you meet one, shake their hand and try to imprint their name on your memory.

2.) Where does the wine come from? All labels will tell you this. And, in the case of those European wines that don’t readily reveal the grape type on the label, the place they come from will tell you that. It’s not really important that you know that certain European wines are made from particular grapes, because the Europeans don’t even think about it themselves. When they drink red Burgundy, from a region called Burgundy in France, they don’t think, “Wow, this is great Pinot Noir”, even though all red Burgundy is 100% Pinot Noir. A European simply thinks, “Wow, this is good Bourgogne Rouge”. In time you can get to know the connections between grape types and European places, but to start, if you are enjoying an Italian Chianti or a Spanish Rioja you can just remember “Chianti” or “Rioja”.

The place a wine comes from is important because every wine label carries this information and, if you remember a place name it will help you find a wine you’ve liked, or another wine similar to one you’ve liked.

Grapes are an agricultural product and the conditions in which they grow has a lot to do with the finished character of the wine. Cooler places, coastal places and hilltop places often produce more lively, crisp and fresh wines whereas warmer valleys and inland places produce richer, fuller flavored wines. White wines often come from more northerly vineyards or vineyards near water while red wines come from warmer vineyards where the dark grapes can ripen more fully.

Once again, I like the people/grape type metaphor. The location of the grape’s growing is like a person’s accent, and in time you’ll begin to recognize the accent of a wine. Australian accents are very distinctive (mate!) and their wine has a fruit forward, ripe and modernly expressive family likeness. Likewise, Italian wines speak in aroma and flavor with a zesty, muscularity and seem to cry out for a plate of food without any care for what time of day it is.

Closely connected to where the wine comes from is

3.) Who made the wine? This connection is especially close in Europe where the thousand-plus year tradition of wine making has established regional styles that have become encoded into law. Because of this tradition, European wine makers working in specific regions must follow the rules, producing wine made from specific grapes using established techniques. Thus the wines of Burgundy have a definite family likeness, as do the wines of Bordeaux, Chianti, Rioja or Rheinhessen.

Outside of Europe wine making has been going on for hundreds of years at the most. Rules are not nearly as rigid. So, while the connection between place and wine maker is not as established the importance of knowing who made the wine is almost more important because of the relative freedom non-European wine makers have. A California wine maker can choose whatever grape type or types he/she wants to use. They can decide what techniques to use in vineyard and in the winery to make the wine. If you are tasting a wine from a particular California or Australian winery it makes good sense to try and remember the property’s name because it’s likely that different wines made by the same wine maker will have a family resemblance, just like the wines of specific European wine regions. With all this freedom of choice it should also be obvious that the grape type is more important on New World wine labels because there are no rules governing what grape type is used where.

Now, this does not reduce the number of details that exist in the world of wine. But, with a focus on the three most important details -

what grape type (types) are used

where does the wine come from

who made the wine

you can get to know grapes, regions and wine makers that you like and from there you can learn why you like them. These three details are always included in some form on every wine label in the world It’s the law. You can use these details to find a wine in a shop or on a restaurant wine list. The most important reason to know these details about every wine you drink is because they will help you to find that wine again later. In time you will be able to put together the family ties of different grapes and places, to know that white Burgundy is always Chardonnay or that Riesling from Alsace in France is generally always dry and powerfully aromatic. Stuff like that…

Now, you can walk into a wine shop and say, “I had a great white wine the other day. It was a Sauvignon Blanc and the producer was Ferrari Carano”. Now, it will be easy to find that wine, if the shop stocks it. And, if they don’t they should be able to suggest another Sauvignon Blanc that you may like as well.

You may know that I am a fan of fine Italian wine, and have managed to taste and review at least one wine from each of Italy’s twenty regions, with a single exception. This column has examined several bargain Italian wines. Today we are going to look at a red wine from Apulia, also known as Puglia. This mostly flat region is second in Italian wine production to Sicily. Both regions have made major efforts to upgrade their wine quality; in general, Sicily has been more successful.

This red wine is based on Apulia’s most widely grown grape, Negroamaro, which means black and bitter. It is one of the ten most widely grown grape in Italy. The wine reviewed below is distributed by a high-volume exporter. We’re talking about an annual volume of 25 million bottles and over 4 million 3-liter bag in a box wines. This may explain the price. What about the quality? Keep reading.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Mezzomondo Negroamaro Salento, 2007 13.5% alcohol about $7.50

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Deep ruby-red color; aromas of green leaf and cherry; smooth texture with ripe cherry, plum and woody flavors; long, cherry finish. Serving Suggestion: Pizza, pasta, or burgers. And now for my review.

At first tasting the wine had great length and a lot of extract. It wasn’t complex but was chewy. The initial meal involved slow-cooked beef stew with potatoes. The wine was powerful and well-balanced. Caramel flavor was dominant. The side dish was eggplant with its skin on roasted in lots of oil with onions and red peppers. The Negroamaro tasted of dark fruit and was fairly long. Adding green jalapeno pepper sauce to the meat intensified the caramel taste and the wine seemed sweet.

The second meal was a packaged vegetable lasagna doused with grated parmesan cheese. The wine actually thinned out. There was some dark fruit and virtually no tannins.

The final meal was based on fried chicken livers with lots of black pepper. The Negroamaro tasted of dark cherries; its tannins were round but not very present. The whole combo wasn’t bad. All those cherries made me think of Valpolicella. The fairly spicy lime and garlic tomato salsa muted the wine slightly. Then I tried something unusual. Fresh pineapple goes well with Maraschino cherries. But not with the cherries in this wine.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a provolone. The wine became a bit too acidic and continued to taste of dark cherries. With a Swiss cheese (Emmenthaler) the wine started slow but got better and fruitier over time. It really wasn’t up to the quality of the cheese.

Final verdict. In many ways this is a good wine for the price. If I liked cherries in my wine, I would buy it again.