No Wine Over $20-Reviews and the LA Wine Scene

My pal with the hollow wooden leg Ronnie the Worker Bee says "Stevie...can you get me a case of mixed red all under $15?" Hmm. Let me think...

I love a challenge and I have such confidence in my local vendor Woodland Hills Wine Co (new website with super search engine!) - even though my favorite sales guy has gone and left us (good news - he is opening his own "shop and dine" joint) - that I gladly agree to put it together. [ed. Credit winedoctor for posting simple instructive maps of Burgundy including this one]

You know what happens, of course. I end up buying my own mixed case because Paul & Kyle Smith's deals are so damn good! I am working my way through the selection, presented for your own consideration.

2006 Trenel Beaujolais-Villages $11: This wine is so good it is ridiculous. I served it to the missus and she said so. Robert Chadderton Selection. We have tasted and reported on other Trenel wines, especially the Cru vineyards from 2005 . Good news...the 2006 vintage is equally spectacular. But, igottatellya, this is hard to beat this for the $$. Soft not quite ripe cherry fruit (I like that), velvety smooth (no tannins to speak of), and just down the hatch she goes. I did read a recent review complaining the finish was short. Hey...have another glass mister. At 12.5% you can have a few!!! Hell yeh!! Here is to low alcohol, balanced, tasty fruit-driven wine!!

2005 Cotes du Rhone Domaine de Cristia $11: This may seem unusual to say BUT thank goodness I have come across a wine that is just OK. It is the domaine's entry level so it should be at least OK. This Rhone blend is just OK. I have tasted so many fruit-driven, mostly balanced U20 wines of late it seems there is little else out there except the even BIGGER and definitely not balanced fruit-driven trophies. But this wine has that once familiar high acid presence, light tannins, slightly overwhelming the fruit, not over-ripe but still ripe enough to recognize the grenache flavors. Mild smoke, dustiness. Was a time before Parker [ed. BP, like BC or AD] most wines tasted like this one. 13%

2004 Fratelli Revello Dolcetto d'Alba $12: This label from Barolo (Piemonte) tends to turn out younger styled wines. My 1996 and 1997 Baroli aged early. I like the wines but decided awhile ago that buying Barolo wines at lofty prices was just not worth it. The go-to importer for Barolo wines, ala' Becky Wasserman for Burgundies, is Marc De Grazia. However, I think he just does not have enough variety in styles to present as broad a range as does Ms. W. This is a Marc De Grazia wine. Right out of the bottle it is quite tasty. Cookie dough and cinnamon spice flavors. However, Dolcetto's are not meant for the long term. After about 45 minutes the fruit faded and we were left with a somewhat narrower and woody drink. 13.5%

2003 Clautiere Mon Rouge ~$18 thru wine club: Syrah/cabernet blend split almost down the middle. The blend is pretty nice. The dense cab flavors set off the syrah ripeness. I automatically wrinkle my nose at "non-traditional" blends. However, in this case, the blend worked. This food-friendly wine (i.e., not overly "extracted") would complement many meals. It is remarkably fresh for a wine with 4 years plus.

...the Grenache Blanc mini taste-off...domestically speaking...

2006 Curran Grenache Blanc $24 at Curran website: A wine I have learned to love. I wish I could compare to French styles but....this is all peaches and spring flowers...nose is somewhat muted but flavors are all there. Medium weight for white wine. I have found this wine will age nicely for at least several years. Can be served at room temp. 14.1%.

2004 Tablas Creek Grenache Blanc $25: Estate grown (of course). This is more serous wine with strong overlay of oak and alcohol (15.3%!!!). For a 4 year old wine this is still brawny and muscular. If the Curran wine is delicate and femmy likeHolly Golightly then the TC is all Hulk Hogan (maybe less drama). The fruit is there but, right now, the wood dominates. Almost intimidates.

I cannot help but think of the Williams Selyem and Rochioli pinot noir taste-offs we have had in the past. Again and again W/S would prove to be the fruitier and lighter wine, endlessly charming and supremely quaff-able. The Rochioli was almost always for long term aging. Totally serious with tons of complexity and to be enjoyed on its own, when Rochioli is ready (Rochioli as alpha wine?).

Now you might wonder how one can fairly compare wines from two different vintages. No explanation is offered. I do not think the Tablas Creek GB wine has lost any fruit. I just think it is a tougher wine. Both will age just fine...at least a few years.

Two excellent examples of how GB can be made in California.

The Best of Wines has a simple objective: finding, tasting and praising the best wines that are under $20. Sounds easy enough. But, as an old pal used to love to say...it ain't easy!!

tBoW is not lost in his own world of wine. We have perspective. We know there is a national election, state budget crisis and US economic meltdow with enough special considerations and odd balls to keep a fleet of experts, commentators, strategists, economists, lobbyists, legislators and the general voting public in an uproar for months. Nevertheless, consider the following hurdles that must be surmounted every week so that tBoW can report on U20 wines [ed. special thanx to BeKaLin ARTfor the Palin-toon. Now back to MY OWN LITTLE WORLD].

Finding the wines is greatly eased if you have a dependable retailer. tBoW has Woodland Hills Wine Co for a neighborhood drive, North Berkeley Wines for the online source, and the Palate conglomerate (Steve Goldun's retail sales, restaurant and wine bar) for the consummate wine experience. Each source has plenty of great quality wines in the target zone. However, in the process of finding U20 wines there is always temptation to break the U20 limit and indulge in higher-end product.

Tasting wines becomes less onerous when the right friends and freeloaders who are happy to throw in their own palates and bottles get involved. Of course, the danger is that sometimes a crew member (almost always peripheral) has unusual tastes that actually conflict with tBoW and Co. A matter to be handled with delicacy including resisting the urge to "educate". A condescending sense of humor helps.

Praising wines would seem to be the easiest part. Wines that hit the spot and meet the U20 criterion are easy (and a pleasure) to describe. The dark side is when a nasty wine is discovered. We pray the wine is corked as that takes the winemaker off the hook. Sometimes it is unavoidably clear the wine itself sucks. Like spousal management, sometimes we report it, sometimes we simply pass on the option.

With this in mind, tBoW went through blog posts from July 2007 through the end of June 2008 and found 47 U20 wines that were tasted and praised in the first 12 blogging months that are worth buying again.

Call it the Top 47 List.

These wines were really good. In the end the surest measure of admiration is a repeat purchase. While tBoW would re-purchase any of the wines, sometimes they are not available, or the season changes and the Moscato d'Asti mood so strong in June goes into hybernation just like bears and squirrels. However, some of these very wines presently rest in tBoW's cellar for re-emergence over the next 12 months.

Whatever. Here is the list of 47 wines the tBoW tasting team tasted, praised and in many cases bought again. If you find them, we suggest you buy them. Especially if they are on sale.

The list shows the wine name and vintage, price when purchased (nearly all in 2007/08) then the importer and/or retailer.

What does it all mean? We like wines from France. More than half (27) of the picks are French. We are not talking Bordeaux and Burgundy. We be slumming. Does France make better wine than other regions?

When talking U20 it would appear to be the truth. Others will tout current Spanish and Italian wines. The tBoW team would disagree, usually on the basis of price alone. U20 selections from Spain and Italy exist. But not in the quantities we see from unfashionable regions of France.

There is the obscurity argument. Who knows. There may be great inexpensive Hungarian and Romanian wines (someday maybe but not yet). The French wine pipeline goes around the world so we get to see their trophy and off-off-Broadway products. After France the Top 47 pie gets cut up by Paso Robles, Argentina (the real challenger to France) and a few Italians and Austrians.

You might also notice tBoW likes young wines. As well as reds, pinks and whites. We have reviewed plenty of older vintage trophies - classics and new style - but we just are not that impressed.

Finally, any list is a function of personal taste, whether it is tBoW, Parker, any Wine Speculator columnist, or any other wine blogger.

We stand by our list. We make no claims to its significance beyond our U20 criteria (price, quality, pleasure, lower alcohol). We hope that contributes to your wine drinking pleasure. Vote for me.

Attention data freaks...Click HERE for the excel file, searchable and with bonus information. Click HERE for the pdf.

Now check out Rey Maualuga making like a short seller while ending another Big 10 fantasy.

[ed. credit LA Times photo]

If doctors ran baseball [ed. here he goes] every pitcher would go undefeated and every batter would hit a thousand. Same with winemaking. Every boutique has a star winemaker. And like Helen Turley or Michel Rolland s/he is all over the scene. For the record, consider three under-the-radar winemakers Jim Moore (l'Uvaggio di Giacomo), Bob McKenzie (McKenzie-Mueller) or David Croix (Camille Giroud). Virtually zero hype, comparatively small operations. Consistently fine products at multiple price points.

There is really only one way to find the "best" doctor. Ask his peers. Or try her out. Fortunately, you can try winemakers out at much lower stakes than doctors (see above three examples of low risk and potentially high payout). How would we know when we have found the best winemaking specialist? How do doctors know who is best among their peers? The best ones keep showing up at the most important meetings where they are the speakers. In wine the best winemakers show up on everybody else's label without being named because the other label owners know who is making the best wines. Until they finally start their own.

Kenneth Gummere and Mark Crawford Horvath made wine for other labels in the Santa Rita HIlls for at least a couple seasons [ed. probably still do]. They formed their own wine label Kenneth-Crawford in 2001 when they released their fist few bottlings. Their style is in your face overwhelming without being too bombastic. In a word their wines are seductive. They immediately impress. They are voluptuous. They make you want more. They also tend to be high in alcohol but the fruit is so pure that the 15%+ alcohol levels are seldom an intruding presence. We report on two wines made by the duo; one under another SRH label and one under their own.

2003 Babcock Cargasacchi Pinot Noir $30: This wine was tasted and purchased at the 2004 Wine Cask Futures Tasting, now an event of the past. The 2004 tasting was the first of three the tBoW team attended. This wine was the star, the find, the wine that tBoW and Dotoré had to have. The wine went through a dumb phase lasting almost two years when it was just awful. [ed. AWFUL] Patience has been rewarded. The wine is showing reddish-brown brick coloring. The nose is caramello. The alcohol is detectable but, characteristically for these guys' wines, not weighty enough to make the wine go tilt. The dumb phase is thankfully past! This is brown sugar, sour cherry, spicy and beautifully balanced. This wine is at its peak. The remaining bottles will be gone by Labor Day. 13.8%

2004 Kenneth-Crawford Evans Ranch Syrah Santa Rita Hills $50 (good luck finding it): Bought this one the following year at the same tasting. This was also the last tasting at which we purchased wine. The last year we attended, 2006, the selection was more limited and the winemakers started holding back their best wines. We can say now (although we understood it then) it was the beginning of the end. Another sexy, luscious wine. Full and warm. Floral nose with a capital F. Alcohol present but in check. Like a cool mountain spring in the mouth which for a full bodied red is remarkably refreshing. Wonderfully balanced. Rich flavors, dark fruit, middleweight. The wine reminds us that Syrah is truly the best varietal coming out of Santa Rita HIlls. Just enough acid to keep you sharp. 15.3%

Then there are the family docs of wine. Here is the Nanni group from Argentina's Cafayate Valley. One year ago tBoW was touring Mendoza and loving it. The posts that followed positively gushed with praise and wonder. We did not get to the Cafayate Valley which is near Salta in the northwest corner adjacent to Bolivia. This region looks like a must-visit; high mountain desert (6,000 feet plus), endless arid valleys filled with vineyards, 37 bodegas including Bodega Nanni. Happily, there is plenty of info to be found on the Internet so you are encouraged to go forth and seek. Special thanks to Nikki Knaddison at Denver Spanish House for help learning about Bodega Nanni and all things Latino.

Here are a couple of excellent links: A two year old travel blog that stopped at Bodega Nanni and explored the Cafayate Valley. Nice photos. An excellent cultural site that describes the Bolivian Indian influence is found here. I really like the link at Denver Spanish House. She describes other wineries in the region.

Highlights for Bodega Nanni are organically farmed, 400,000 bottle boutique all local production, family-held for nearly 100 years. tBoW bought the three workhorse wines at the local Whole Foods. Here is what we found.

2007 Bodega Nanni Torrontes $8: You read it right. These wines are absurdly inexpensive and represent the best quality/price ratio since this blog began. Torrontes is a Spanish varietal long disappeared from Spain, decimated by phyloxera. It does exceptionally well in Argentina and especially in this arid high mountain region. This wine is fresh and fruity similar to a Quince wine. A bit tart. Oily texture. Middle weight. 13.3%

2006 Bodega Nanni Malbec $9: Get used to it. This is what these wines cost...over here. Very rich and ripe, almost syrupy. Dark berries abound. Dark chocolate. A chocolate covered cherry in a bottle. Dotore' offers "this year's Malbec is last year's Cabernet Franc." OK with that insight. 14.2%

2006 Bodega Nanni Tannat $8: Another surprise. This is very good Tannat. Must do well in the climate and location because tBoW was not impressed with Tannat tasted in country. This has dark fruit, blackberry. More substantial and better balanced than the Malbec. tBoW remembers the Malbecs from Maipu near Mendoza as particularly charming. This wine is preferred to the Malbec. 14.3%

Who knew Argentina has a Promotion Centre in Los Angeles. Consul Adjunto Jose Cafiero sent out invitations to the right people who showed up on a lovely early fall late afternoon to check. Sr. Cafiero promoted six Mendoza wineries that would love to be represented in Los Angeles. All they need is an importer and/or distributor.

tBoW documented a March 2008 Argentina trip that left a powerful impression of the wonderful and abundant wines, the perfect growing conditions, and the excellent values. We may not have mentioned how gorgeous is the country and the people. Argentina has a preponderance of spectacular scenery and easy-to-look-at citizens. Today's post is peppered with handsome Argentines pouring their wines. Even their feet are attractive.

The tasting was set in the back yard of the Consul residence. Nothing fancy. Six wineries looking for partners. If there is a downside to Argentine wines it is the difficulty finding them. Distribution in the USA is at best sporadic which was the point of this exercise. A tasting like this is a great way to make a match.

Karma Wine Group showed five wines. The "story" is how a Tibetan guardian priest fled with the Dahli Lama and eventually settled in Mendoza where he started making wine. His wines were being poured by Gary Parker, the owner of San Diego's excellent WineSellar and Brasserie, a ground-breaking restaurant and wine store celebrating 21 years in business. Gary's once unique concept is now widely copied. These wines were all under $20 making Karma the best price to quality ratio table at the tasting. There were other wines we preferred but no other table with this consistency at the U20 price level.

2009 Karma Sauvignon Blanc $10: Fruity, slight grassiness. Fruity with a bubble gum aroma and flavor. Slightly tannic. Good wine at a great price. 13%

2009 Karma Chardonnay $12: 100% Steel fermented. No aging in oak. Good fruit. Perfect restaurant $5-pour-by-the-glass-wine.13.2%

2008 Karma Torrontes $13: Bright fruit. Clean flavors. Best in the flight. From Salta region where great Torrontes comes from. 13%

2006 Karma Cabernet Sauvignon Premium Reserve $18: Cherries on the nose. Gets 6 months French oak. Medium weight. Slightly vegetal that gives character. A U20 winner. 14%

2007 Karma Malbec Gran Reserva Old VInes: Did not get the price. Very nice middle weight wine. Good stuffing. Citric flavors characteristic of Maipu vines. Went back for it. 14%

Bodega Viniterra showed the typical lineup of entry, middle and top level reds. But they also showed a couple of unique bottles; 15 bottles in all! Grapes from Mendoza's premium Lujan de Cuyo region located at 3,400 foot elevations. The commitment to premium winemaking is evident.

2008 Viniterra Pinot Grigio $11: Delightful wine with a minty powder puff nose. Sweet but not too much so. Soft body, fragrant nose. U20 value wine. 14%

2008 Viniterra Viognier $15: No foxy flavors we dislike in the varietal. Like Malbec, another example of how the region or country changes the profile of a particular varietal. Nice enough. 14%

2008 Viniterra Chardonnay $15: Pour it by the glass in your restaurant. Cannot go wrong. 13.5%

NV Viniterra Sparkling Extra Brut Champenoise Method $22: 980% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. Very pale salmon. Yeasty nose. Mucho mousse. doughy flavors, dry. Very nice and low alcohol. 12.5%

2008 Terra Sparkling Malbec: Think of sparkling Buguey or Lambrusco. Only this is much nicer. Red color and a solid spritz. This wine could make it here. Not your fruity summer pink sparkler. A butch sparkling red. Very nice effort. 12.5%

2007 Viniterra Pinot Noir $16: Your basic New World fruity forward, middle weight Pinot Noir. If you like California Pinot then you will be very happy with this wine especially since you are going to pay half to a third of the normal California Pinot Noir price. Forward fruit with lots of cherry flavors. Mrs. tBoW liked it just fine thank you. 14%

2006 Viniterra Select Carmenere $18: tBoW missed the memo on the history of the Carmenere grape...you know - wiped out by phyloxera in Europe mid-19th century memo to be discovered in Chile in the 20th where it is used as the basic blending grape in red wines. That one. Highly perfumed nose. Tastes Italian with plenty acid and lean fruit, especially for Argentina. Violets in a glass. Kind of sweet like a ripe Sangiovese. 14%

2006 Viniterra Select Malbec $18: Fruity with plenty of stuffing. Middle weight and muscular. 12 months in French and American oak. Balanced and rich. Very tasty and excellent U20 value. Can they really sell it at this price? 14%

These are two of the best wineries presenting. Karma with its narrow range and Viniterra with everything under the sun represent the variety and range of wines available in Argentina. We present the other two that impressed in the next post.

As summer dissolves into the hottest week of the season, the wine menu starts to get just a little sketchy. As if the sky was whispering "dude - you've lost your focus" any and everything seems to show up on the table. At the back end of a strong streak that began with clear focus (Moscati, Rosé and Beaujolais) and inspired adventure (the Riesling tasting) we are closing up shop on a wailing summer with a potpourri of ennitingoze; a grab bag of inspired picks, accidental finds, and other strenj items.

One very inspired pick is Venice's new wine store - El Vino Wines - on Abbot Kinney. The glaring omission of this quintessential artsy neighborhood has been the absence of an equally inspired wine retailer. Until now.

Bart and Caroline Miali are two wine geeks who opened their concept of a timely (e.g., tons of U20 wines), and well considered wine store (just about every wine tBoW likes including Rieslings imported by Bill Mayer). tBoW loves wine geeks. How can you tell a wine geek? One surefire way is if he tries to sell you a red wine from Austria, like a Zweigelt. Wine geeks are legendary in the collective tBoW memory.

Dotoré and tBoW were blindsided long ago by Terry the paunchy postman and Burgundy geek/fiend at a holiday tasting. He poured tastes from two bottles of Cros Parantoux; one made by the uncle Henri Jayer and the other by his nephew Emmanuel Rouget. Like we could tell. As he carefully explained the differences in winemaking styles for these heavy hitters of French Pinot Noir production from these extremely rare bottles we came under his spell. When we asked what was the cost to purchase he looked at us like somebody farted. With sweat beading on his upper lip he answered "oh it's not a question of price....but availability."

Like a vampire bit us. In case we never thanked Terry let me now say God Bless You Terry and can we have some more. [ed. in defense of the early stage burg fiend nimrods D & t, suffice it to say this experience would be like getting introduced to baseball by watching the 1927 Yankees.]

If you find yourself riding along Abbot Kinney and want to check out a really nice store then stop at El Vino and let Bart sell you a splendid Austrian red...reviewed below.

2008 Milagro Farm Chardonnay $15: A small winery in Temecula's Romona Valley run by Jim Hart, son of the Hart Family Winery pioneer Joe. Aged in Hungarian oak with 30% going through malolactic fermentation. The wine is fruity and crisp. Fresh flavors showing ripe fruit and minerals. Being snobby, we seldom expect much from the region - Hart wines being the exception to that bias - so this is a nice surprise and an excellent U20 value. 14.1%

2007 Chemin des Papes Cotes du Rhone $13: Creamy nose, deep red color. Mild and easy to slurp U20. Soft tannins. Nothing fancy but at this U20 price... 13.3%

2005 Poggio Belevedere Arneho-Caprai Umbria $18: Acidic, slightly high strung 80% Sangiovese and 20% Ciliegiolo. Fruity with cola and spice. No oak. Nice wine and if you are Tuscan fan a great U20 value. xx%

1997 Sori Paitin Barbaresco $70: From the tBoW cellar from a heralded vintage. Dirty nose but not corked. Dark fruit flavors. MIddle weight. All in all kind of mediocre. Did not open any further. Now that we have tasted several Sori Paitin wines I gotta tell ya..ennhhh. 13%

2007 Spaetrot Gebeshuber $17: Straight off the El VIno shelf with the highest recommendation. Not just anyone can talk me into buying another Austrian red. But here we are tasting a Gebeshuber from the Thermen region. This is like a softer peppery Syrah. It is delicious and fits nicely with the hot summer evening chowing down on duck and chicken. Do check out the website as it is quite informative. They bottle a Pinot Noir and I think they blend it! COOL. Now I have to return to El Vino to get some more. Next time maybe Bart may has the Reserve? I am already thinking turkey dinner. 13%