Author: Gus Clemens

Kris Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2013: Clean, crisp, light, dry; lemon-green color, spring flowers nose; restrained fruit, green apple, peach, nectarine, citrus; cleansing acidity with bit of almond on the finish. Delle Venezie is part of the Tre Venezie wine region on Italy’s northeastern border north of Venice, and ranks with Tuscany and Piedmont as a world class Italian wine region. Della Venezie, Alto Livenza, and Venezia Giulia (the three Venezie) are Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designations, a mark of quality in Italian wine. The region is famous for white wines, especially pinot grigio; offerings reflect Germanic and Slavic roots. (Tre Venezie was at times part of the Venetian Republic and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.) Pinot grigio is not just Italian name for pinot gris, it also designates a style of wine, and Kris is a delicious and affordable example. $13

Laudun & Chusclan Vignerons Cachette Côtes-du-Rhône Red Blend 2012: Rich, ripe full body; blackcurrant and redcurrant tang, juicy cherry, red and black fruits, strawberry, bit of blackberry and chocolate on the finish; smooth, tasty, with interesting touches of barnyard earthiness and rusticity; grenache 70%, Syrah 10%, Carignan 10%, Cinsault 10%, no mourvèdre. Avoids New World jammy over-fruitiness and high alcohol. This effort demonstrates the magic of buyer-friendly Côtes-du-Rhône—grapes for this wine are grown across the Rhône from vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, while the bottle price for Cachette is the price of a short-pour glass of an entry-level Châteauneuf. Clear value winner. $14

Sean Minor Carneros Pinot Noir 2012: Cherry, plum, strawberry, sweet oak; big fruity fruit attack on the front end, but stays somewhat one-dimensional after that with short finish; a lot of fruitiness without the etherial finesse pinot noir can achieve; mild tannin, restrained acidity. This comes from Carneros/American Canyon, the southernmost part of Napa Valley, close by San Pablo Bay, and reflects the fleshy, fruity-focused Napa style (a style which reminds me of big-hair Texas women; beautiful, sure, but maybe could be toned down a notch). A lot of people will love this, no doubt, and Sean Minor is a major player in the artful Napa wine world—the grapes are picked at night until first light, then de-stemmed and cold-soaked three days, open-top fermentation, thrice-daily punchdowns of must and pommace, malolactic fermentation, 10 months in French barrels. Medium body, big fruit, tasty treat. $18

Alamos Selección Malbec 2012: Elegant, creamy black fruit, baked plum, cherry, spice on the finish, tinge of redcurrant tang; medium-full body, dry, fresh, smooth, supple tannin, taste of oak, vanilla, pepper; terrifically palate-friendly and delicious with depth and complexity. Alamos calls this the “pinnacle of our portfolio,” and it achieves its mission. The wine sells in nearly 60 countries and is made with attention to quality and priced below what it could command because Alamos wants this to represent Argentinian wines, especially Mendoza malbec, to the world. That means huge value-for-price for us and splendid example of what malbec can achieve with the high-altitude vineyards, snowmelt irrigation, and cool nights of Argentina’s premier wine country in the foothills of the Andes. $20 (often available for $15-17)

Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2014: Kim Crawford defines affordable, available Marlborough, New Zealand, sauvignon blanc. This checks off every important box in the sauv blanc profile for color, aroma, taste, length. Beautiful pale yellow color; melon, pineapple, citrus, whiff of honeysuckle and blades of grass on the nose; fruit sweetness on the attack; light, crisp, broad, delicious mid-palate; grapefruit, white peach, apricot, green apple, lilt of lemongrass and lime; food-friendly, cutting acidity; long, mouth-watering finish. Kim Crawford sauv blanc is khaki pants of wine—it goes with almost everything. It is virtually impossible to screw up a food pairing, plus, it is almost always available. KC makes more than a half million cases of this each year (well more than six million bottles), and their maintenance of quality amid such quantity is astonishing display of skill. Superb value-price effort. $15-18

Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Mendoza Alta 2006: Inky dark purple; wild flowers, dark cherry nose; lush, elegant, chewy, vibrant, coats the mouth in flavor waves of dark plum, blackberry, black cherry; gentle, fine-grain tannin, elegant acidity; French oak adds refined pepper, vanilla, mocha. This has depth, length, complexity, and is delicious. Spectator and Enthusiast rated it 92, Parker 93—this clearly is a top-shelf malbec. It also raises one of the great wine questions: compared to the recently reviewed Alamos Selección Malbec, is it worth three times the price? Subjective call made easier if you are able to write checks without glancing at your bank balance. The bottom line is Mendoza wineries produce world-class wines. My wish: you enjoy this level of wine soon, and the Alamos Selección Malbec every week. $55

Justin Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2014: Peach-pear-lemon nose; crisp, light with nice cutting acidity bite on the back of the tongue; lemon, green apple, grapefruit, peach, pinch of pineapple on the palate; citrus finish. Almost all sauv blancs play well with food, but this wine’s light body and clean, bright tanginess and even a hint of bubbles may serve better as aperitif or starter wine with hors d’oeuvres or garden salad. When you think Paso Robles you usually do not think sauv blanc, but Justin pulls it off nicely. With wide distribution and good price-quality ratio, this is go-find cool sipper for summer. $14

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2012. Dry, black berries, black cherry, dark plum; light for a cab, smooth, restrained tannin, some oak; balanced. This is classic case of early Napa star surfing ratings, pushing production, riding on reputation to produce a good wine, but not what made it marvelous in the beginning. You can get just as much for a lot less. There is a bit of red currant tang, some intriguing cranberry and vanilla; medium body, satin tannins. Delicious, certainly. Nice enough, but not for the price. $55

Alexander Valley Vineyards Chardonnay 2012. AVV is very dependable producer of Sonoma wines at affordable prices. This effort is a delicate beauty with demure citrus, peach, pear, apple; there is suggestion of creamy French oak, balanced by fresh, smooth texture and welcomed acidity achieved by aging 70% in stainless steel (with no malolactic fermentation in the steel tank). Thankfully, this is not over-oaked, super-buttery, big-malo mess that some chard makers careen into. It is not complex, multi-dimensional treasure, but is a very solid, vividly clean expression of chardonnay grape. Robert Parker wrote: “This well-made chardonnay is a steal at $18 per bottle.” I agree and recommend. $18

Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Riserva Nipozzano Vecchie Viti 2011. Multi-dimensional raspberry, cherry, rose nose; sour cherry, blueberry, raspberry, bit of chocolate on the palate; extra-dry, medium-heavy body, some oak and vanilla, soft and rich, savory tannin, complex. Frescobaldi, a leader in the rise of quality of Chianti Rufina in Tuscany, made this in international style, and it is very far from the uninspired stuff of yesteryear you bought because it was cheap and you wanted the wicker-covered bottle (fiasco) to hold a candle. This delivers delicious purity of 90% sangiovese grapes from ancient vines, plus malvasia nera, colorino, canaiolo. Decant to allow complexity and deliciousness to fully express. $29