The Wine Curmudgeon

Mini-reviews 40: Red Newt, Rene Barbier, Quincy, Steelhead

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month:

• Red Newt Cellars Semi-Dry Riesling 2011 ($15, sample): This New York white, which I tasted as part of a Finger Lakes Twitter event, didn’t have as much varietal character as I expected. More sweet than anything else, without enough fruit or minerality to balance the sweetness.

• René Barbier Mediterranean Rose NV ($5, purchased): The best of the three Rene Barbier wines (and the most difficult to find), made more like a New World rose with strawberry fruit. Highly recommended.

• Domaine du Adéle Rouzé Quincy 2010 ($20, purchased): French white from the Loire is imported by the always reliable Charles Neal. Lots and lots of lemon; the wine may require a little more time in bottle to even out. Needs food, and probably seafood (boiled or grilled shrimp, steamed mussels).

• Steelhead Red 2010 ($15, sample): California blend is heavy on the cabernet sauvignon, so it needs beefy food. But it has lots of character and oomph, as well as blackberry fruit and dusty tannins.

Wine of the week: Sangre de Toro Vina Sol 2010

Want a good example of what the experts mean by the internationalization of wine? Then taste the Vina Sol from Miguel Torres, one of Spain’s largest producers. It’s markedly different from the old days, and made in a softer, more accessible style.

If so, then what’s it doing as a wine of the week? Because the Vina Sol ($9, purchased) is better made than it used to be. The acidity is in balance, for one thing. Yes, it does seem to have a little too much fruit in the middle (almost tropical), but it does have that Spanish white wine lemony thing going on and doesn’t taste like it came from Paso Robles, which seems to be one of the goals of internationalization. It’s made with parellada, a grape used in cava, and that’s almost enough to make the wine interesting by itself.

It’s not a $10 Hall of Fame wine, but not every wine of the week is. In fact, if you’re stuck in a grocery store and need a bottle of wine, this is perfectly fine. Serve it chilled and drink it on its own or with almost any Tuesday night dinner.

And, because it’s from Torres, there's a bull on the bottle – white, of course, since it’s a white wine.

Mini-reviews 36: Ribera, La Vieille Ferme, Rodney Strong, Sledgehammer

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month:

• Bodegas Peñalba López Monte Castrillo 2009 ($13, sample): Spanish tempranillo from Ribera del Duero with lots of thickish red fruit that needs beefy dishes. Decent value, but you have to like wine made this way.

• La Vieille Ferme Blanc 2011 ($8, purchased): Hugely disappointing vintage from the French white that is a long-time blog favorite. Big-time banana fruit, which not only isn't pleasant, but shows a change in winemaking to softer and more sweetish approach.

• Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc 2010 ($13.50, sample): Always dependable and value-driven California white. Look for melon and California grassiness, thought not quite as citrusy as other west coast sauvignon blancs.

• Sledgehammer Zinfandel 2009 ($15, sample): Yes, it is. A massive, oaky, and alcoholic zinfandel with extracted jammy fruit if that's what you're in the mood for.

Memorial Day and rose, 2012

You'll drink red and white; why not rose?

The Wine Curmudgeon appreciates his readers and visitors more than they will ever know. Without you, I’d have to get a real job, where I would probably not be allowed to drink wine.

Having said that, I must bring up one of your few failings: You don’t much rose. No rose review has ever been a top 10 annual post, and they barely crack the top 50.

I especially pondered that question preparing for this post, the blog’s fifth annual rose extravaganza. And I can’t come up with a good reason. Rose is cheap. It’s better made than ever before. It’s food friendly. You can put an ice cube in it. What more do you need from a wine?

After the jump, the basics about roses and this year’s recommendations:

Mini-reviews 35: Anne Amie, Chianti, Raimat, Cline

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month:

• Anne Amie Estate Riesling 2009 ($19, purchased): Lots of petrol on the nose, acid and lime fruit to balance what sweetness there is, and a nice slate-y finish. It's not what I expected -- a little more sweet and not as honeyed, but that's more my problem than the wine.

• Fattoria Montellori Chianti 2009 ($13, sample): Thin but adequate, with black pepper and some red fruit. But there are better examples of Chianti that cost less.

• Raimat Castell de Raimat Albarino 2011 ($8, purchased): Simple, basic wine with lemon and some varietal character, but won't be confused with better examples of albarino. A decent value and something to keep on hand if you want a glass for dinner.

• Cline Pinot Noir Cool Climate 2010 ($18, sample): Lots of red fruit (cherry and strawberry?), but not overly sweet, with some pinot earthiness and character. Just not sure if it's $18 worth of wine.

Wine of the week: Vinos Jeromín El Posadero 2010

During our #winechat discussion last week, one of the questions I got was how regional wine producers could make it easier for Americans to drink wine that wasn't called chardonnay, cabernet, and merlot. Many regional wines are made with grapes most consumers aren't familiar with, like blanc du bois, viognier and tempranillo; hence, they're reluctant to try them.

My suggestion: Don't call the wines by their varietal name, which too many wineries feel compelled to do for reasons I've never been able to figure out. Call them something fun or interesting or inventive.

Case in point is the El Posadero ($10, purchased), a tempranillo blend that is more or less the Spanish equivalent of U.S. regional wine. It comes from a less respected region around Madrid, and not the better known tempranillo appellations of Rioja or Ribera del Duero. This means the wine starts out with an image problem, especially for U.S. consumers. Calling it El Posadero goes a long way towards fixing that. Even if you don't know what El Posadero means (innkeeper, actually, and there's a picture of an inn on the label), it sounds Spanish and intriguing.

And it's a pretty nifty wine, too. The El Posadero is blended with syrah, but doesn't have as much fruit as I thought it would (and is actually a little old-fashioned in spirit). Look for an almost spicy wine with some cherry fruit and lots of acidity -- practically sour cherry tart. It needs food, like smoked chicken or beef, but that's part of the appeal of the wine.

Wine of the week: Zestos Blanco 2010

There are a couple of importers whose wines are so trustworthy that the Wine Curmudgeon will buy them regardless of what's in the bottle. Kermit Lynch, of course, for French wine, and Ole Imports and Patrick Mata for Spanish wine.

Mata's passion for Spanish wine is famous, and his palate is exceptional. Which is why I trust Ole implicitly. Otherwise, a wine like the Zestos would raise all sorts of red flags. It's a white wine from a region in Spain best known for red wine, and the red wine doesn't have all that great a reputation. Its color is different, sort of off-yellow, and it's made with a grape, the malvar, that is obscure even for those of us who appreciate obscure. Malvar, grown only in that part of Spain, is not even listed in the incredibly comprehensive Winegrape Glossary.

My faith, not surprisingly, was rewarded. The Zestos ($10, purchased) is unique, though it had some similarity to the Gascon wines I like, including a little white grapiness. It is simple, but definitely Spanish in style -- less fruit than the Gascon wines (some lemon, maybe) with a stone fruit pit kind of finish. One tasting note described the finish as bitter almonds, and that works, too.

Drink this chilled on its own or with a any week night dinner that calls for white wine. It's a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame, and is highly recommended. Just don't expect it to taste like something you've tried before.