Color

A delicious off-white that looks crisp and refreshing.

Nose

Floral, apple and pear. You can smell the crispness and it looks made for seafood.

Taste

Look at that, I was right! Matter of fact, I’m always right. Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Honeysuckle, pear and acidic apple juice. Good acid, but no real structure. The wine is all over the place but at least the fruit is narrowed. As usual for these under $5 wines, there is no finish other than the end of the bottle.

With Food

Would work with fish, but not shellfish. This wine can’t stand up. Tilapia, some grilled snapper with a Mexican-style rice would do quite well.

Where to Buy

About $4 at Trader Joe’s.

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We previously reviewed the Puerto Viejo Sauvignon Blanc, and their Chardonnay offering is just as awesome. Let’s rock:

Color

Beautiful, perfect gold. Just the right hue you are looking for to make your mouth water for that rich, juicy, somewhat-dry Chardonnay flavor.

Nose

Stiff lemon and green apple. You can actually smell the acid on this wine. For those of you who follow the site, you’ll remember that I love white wines with good acid, no matter what the varietal. I’ll have a review soon of a white varietal that had a strong acid nose, but ended up being absolutely acid-free, which is like smelling bacon as you wake up in the morning, but once you’re downstairs you find out it’s turkey bacon. Fail.

Taste

Great acid kick from the start. Now because I’m mentioning that first does not mean that the wine is too acidic. Far from it. The wine is structured. “Built like a brick shithouse” as my wife would say. You’ve got a textbook construction of flavors here, but each one is solid, rounded and pronounced just enough. Nothing wrong with following convention if you are confident that what you produce is good enough to make people think only in the moment, and not what came before. This wine is a classic. Great stone, apricot, some juicy green apple and even some white raspberry. There is something deliciously sour in the finish that you worry about for a moment, but then it’s gone, leaving you with an almond-satisfaction that puts a smile on your face.

With Food

As usual, shellfish, chicken, creamy pastas and CHEESE. Definitely a cheese wine. I should have said that first but I’m too lazy to go back and change it. Brie, camembert, even goat. Go crazy.

Where to Buy

$9.98 at FineWineHouse.com!

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Color

Nose

Taste

With Food

Where to Buy

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$14.99 at Cork & Bottle Fine Wines!

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So let’s get into the Puerto Viejo Sauvignon Blanc:

COLOR: Near water, very light. Looks crisp from the get-go.

NOSE: Good acid even on the nose. Crispness continues along with some stinky brie and some great lime blossom. Lime blossom may sound a bit foofy, but I’ve recently been drinking lime blossom tea and the scent of this wine is a spitting image, so to speak.

TASTE: Lime jello, folks. Pure lime jello all around. This is an absolute first, and we are thrilled. To be more specific, my mother used to make this lime jello mold that consisted of half regular lime jello, the other half was like a creamy version of the lime jello. It was weird but delicious. It appeared for nearly every Sunday dinner and holiday.

Anyway, back to the wine. So the fruit is very forward here for a Sauvignon Blanc. Most of the time, with California or even French Sauv. Blancs, the fruit appears and is quickly taken over by a good dose of alcohol. This wine doesn’t suffer from that, despite it’s 13% ABV. Good crisp lime peel and acid appear in the mid-palate and it finishes off with a glorius almond flavor. Brilliant.

WITH FOOD: Lime-marinated chicken, fish, anything related to light Mexican food. That’s right, I said Mexican food. This would also work as a great opener to an evening dinner with shrimp cocktail. Just keep it away from the enchiladas, burritos, etc. Fish tacos would work, but I’m telling you, use lime with this bottle.

WHERE TO BUY: $7.99 at Vendome Wine & Spirits

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That’s right, it’s Valentine’s Day, folks. The reasoning behind this week’s wine and food pairing suggestion should be obvious to everyone out there. If it’s not, well, just buy a box of chocolates and whatever wine we tell you to because it seems like you will need all the help you can get. We’re asking you to step it up this year when it comes to choosing your gifts for Valentine’s Day. Leave the cards on the shelf and flowers in the…ground? Stick with wine and chocolate and possibly a reservation at Denny’s someplace fancy. Try a decent  bottle this year. Lift your gaze to that second or third shelf and pull out an extra five bucks. Strange advice for a site that looks for the best wine deals under $20, but we don’t want to see you sleeping on the couch come Sunday night. Do you hear me you schlubs (i’m including women in that insult, btw)?

Here are some cheap suggestions (Note: You may want to prevent your significant other from reading this, because then they will know just how much of a cheap b****** you really are, despite all three of these being delicious and under $20):

Fonseca 2003 Late Bottled Vintage Port (Dark Chocolate)

Whether Tawny or Ruby, Port might have been made for chocolate and cigars. This one will be a sure winner because of it’s rich fig, dark cocoa and leathery flavors. The sweetness and high alcohol content don’t hurt either. We’ve done a couple of other Port reviews in the past, and the Fonseca is another good one for under twenty bones.

Found in most stores

or

$16.89 at LowestWinePrices.com

$17.98 at WineLibrary.com (they can get it to you with 1-day shipping)

Altosur 2008 Merlot (Milk Chocolate)

Merlot is a great match with chocolate and fruit. The well-made Merlots (not Bordeauxs, we’re trying to stick under $20 here) tend to have a great shot of chocolate in the mid-palate. Unfortunately, a lot of the under-$20 California Merlots are lacking in the chocolate and cocoa aspects. You would want to hit up some smaller California wineries instead. No, we’re looking abroad for the chocolate flavors in Merlot. Specifically the Mendoza region of Argentina. The Altosur has awesome fruit (blackberry and cherry) with a nice punch of cocoa that should beat your tongue into submission. Great long finish and good tannin structure. A very focused wine that will easily impress even the snootiest woman.

Found in most stores

or

$9.99 at SaluteWineMarket.com

Sebastiani Zinfandel

A popular producer, the Sebastiani is a dark beast in looks but very smooth in taste. Great chocolate-covered cherries, some vanilla and very silky overall. It’s rare to have something this elegant from a producer this large. Also, though popular, odds are your partner has never seen the label and so might think you splurged on a pricier vino. Fools!

Found in most stores

or

$10.99 at WineLibrary.com (they can get it to you with 1-day shipping)

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One of the fondest memories I have is of watching my grandfather eat chili. He loved a good chili the way most men love a good steak. It was one of his two favorite foods, the other being peanut butter. Needless to say, he never could find a way to combine his two favorites, but he certainly was able to ingest ridiculous quantities of each, separately. Many times when he would watch me during summer days or whenever my parents went out for a Saturday night dinner and a movie I would go to the pantry in his house (which was really a makeshift closet) and stare and shelf upon shelf of canned Hormel chili. There would literally be thirty to fifty cans at a time in there, next to which would most likely be a jar of Jiff Peanut Butter. Point is, whether it was a can of Hormel at home, or a homemade pot of bubbling goodness, when you have a favorite food, it should be indulged whenever—and however—you damn well please.

So it’s still winter time for much of the world (despite the 80-degree weather here in Los Angeles), and that means it’s one of the best times for that most American of dishes: Chili. There’s nothing like a hot bowl of tomato sauce, beef, pork, beans and spices all mixed together to warm you up on a freezing 60-degree night. There are three wine reviews today, and all of these go great with with this after-dinner-room-clearing classic. Sorry, but that had to be said.

Cardinal Zin Zinfandel – $11.69 at LowestWinePrices.com

Besides the kick-ass label created by the immortal Ralph Steadman (just think of Hunter S. Thompson), this wine brings serious fruit and kick with it. Chili, depending on who’s involved in the cooking, can be either wild or mild. This wine is equipped to handle both with big fat plums, fig, and syrupy black pepper, if that makes any sense.

San Simeon Syrah 2006 – $14.98 at FineWineHouse.com

With a sissy-ass label denoting the former regional home of overweight publishing maniac William Randolph Hearst the San Simeon Syrah packs enough of fruit punch to handle the spicier, Texas-style, four-alarm, melt your teeth, pants-dropping, blah blah blah my jaw is falling off-type of chilis with ease. Good acid that is surprisingly enjoyable after a mouthful of kidney beans and ground pork. Also, I have to point out how good this wine tastes with the flavor of onions.

Orfila Malbec 2006 – $4.99 at Hell If I Know

I’ve had this wine on multiple occasions at one of my favorite restaurants in Southern California, Inka Trails: a Peruvian restaurant located in the extremely dull town of La Verne. Just go eat there and leave quickly. Anyway, they always have this Malbec that I eat with my “Bisteak a la Pobre”, but I’ve never been able to find it anywhere else. I’ve seen other Orfila varietals, and I know that it is an extremely cheap wine (we’re talking like $4.99 here), but when I asked the owner of the restaurant about his distributor and how I could get my hands on some, he shrugged me off like I had just complemented the glass of water he handed me. Basically, the wine tastes like the perfect mixture of olives, spice, raisin, green pepper and gorgeous blackberry. This is a wine that was born for chili (insert lame “Chile the country” quip here). So we know it’s unorthodox to not give a link to where to find the wine, but it works so well with chili that we figured we’d mention it anyway. If you do find it, please let me know ASAP, as my life is not complete without it.

Check out our other Zinfandel wine reviews.

Check out our other Syrah wine reviews.

Check out our other Malbec wine reviews.

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Gascon Malbec 2008

One of the best wines and best wine deals we have ever seen. Short, sweet and to the point today…

Bad News First

Tough to find anywhere but online. Trader Joe’s had it for awhile, then it disappeared, reappeared, and now is gone again. At least at our location. It’s like the Elvis of wines.

Good News

For once, we have a wine that actually tastes like a grape. Or at least…grape related. The nose on the Gascon Malbec is pure grape Jolly Rancher. Ever had one of those? That hard candy sugar scent, mixed in with that grape flavor that all grape candies shared. That’s this nose. Hard, grape candy. Color is deep ink, staining the glass; amazing for such a ridiculously young wine. You’re going to get quite a fruit salad of flavor with this wine, so be prepared to try and differentiate: raspberries, plums, grapes (again!), all mixed together with a few chopped up cilantro leaves and finished with a little mint and thyme. That’s right, we’re back into the herbaceous reds here. Goooood stuff.

With Food

Nice rare steaks, by themselves or chopped up with some salsa and thrown into a tortilla. A wine that goes with Mexican food? Well, it’s from Argentina, which is…..similar (probably lost some readers with that one). We enjoyed this with roast pork and apple stuffing, which seemed unlikely, but this delicious juice pairs well with most. Just keep this away from fish.

Only $5 at Trader Joe’s (Though maybe not in your area. Click here for locations)

$10.99 at Wine.com if you can’t find it at Trader Joe’s

The winery’s website: Gascon Wines

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The deals roll on at the BevMo 5¢ Wine Sale! Today we’re looking at the Zolo Malbec Gaucho Select 2008, a wine on the verge of greatness from the Mendoza region of Argentina.

Good News: Deep dark red color is the first thing that you will notice. Nothing inky like a Petite Sirah, but certainly darker than many of the reds we have reviewed here; the Zolo Malbec looks like a Cabernet. Take a whiff and you will get TONS of dark red fruit: ripe bing cherries, raspberries and even some plums. The tannins are very pronounced and hit the back of your tongue immediately. Good fruit: those ripe cherries and the plums have been stewed to create a fascinating, silky and full-bodied juice. Fantastic finish that lingers without cranking up the heat. All of this delicious flavor is odd for such a young, young wine, but still, we can’t deny that it’s there. Store it if you like, but you can definitely drink it now. Absolutely stellar.

With Food: RED MEAT ONLY. Red sauce won’t bring enough to the table for this one. Steak, lamb or game. BBQ it if you can, but it’s not necessary. I also wouldn’t suggest cheese for this either. Only red meat. One more time….RED MEAT ONLY.

$16.04 for 2 bottles at the BevMo 5¢ Wine Sale!

$8.99 after the sale is over at Shop Rite Liquors.

Check out our other Malbec reviews:

Marraso Malbec

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Hope everyone had a great weekend out at the BevMo 5¢ Wine Sale! Keeping with our vow to not give any negative reviews to ridiculous deals like the Montgras Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah Reserva 2007 let’s jump right into this ridiculously delicious red.

Good News: From the Colchagua Valley in Chile, the 2007 Montgras Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah is muscular but delicate. This is a Muhammad Ali of a wine. A slightly charcoal nose with little bit of lilac, if you can believe that. Charcoal and flowers, go figure. Take a deep breath and enjoy. Once it’s in your mouth, you will get a forward but delicate push of ripe red fruits stewed in port, then cooled and turned into a fruit rollup. Remember those? Cherry, strawberry and plums all mashed into a fruit rollup. The finish is clear with no heat from the alcohol and your tongue is left tingling from firm, satisfying tannins (they are the things that come from the grape skins that will make your tongue feel slightly dry). Absolutely made for BBQ.

With Food: We had this with some barbecued chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes marinated in Char Siu BBQ sauce (ask for it at your nearest specialty store or even find it at Ross or Marshalls). I recommend any barbecued meat except for fish. Make sure the food isn’t too well-done, but charred enough on the outside. Trust me, you will be grateful for the extra char with this wine.

2 bottles for $17.04 at the BevMo 5¢ Wine Sale!

Once the sale is over, head to WineLibrary.com to get it for just $9.99!

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Have we got a treat for you…

Bad News First: We’re struggling to come up with something bad, but it’s just not happening. So let’s say that the……screw top, is bad. There. This seems to be happening more often here lately, but, once again, there is NOTHING wrong with a real Pinot Noir coming in at under $10. These will be rare on this site.

Now The Good: Besides the excellent flavor found in buying a bottle of Pinot Noir with a $10 bill and getting change back, we can start with the color. Ruby red with a slight cranberry-juice look. The immediate smell is of a cherry Blow Pop (remember those?) and roses mixed with a touch of leather. The taste is a well-balanced mix of floral scents (when you taste a wine, you are really still smelling it) and very ripe cherries. Smoke helps to balance it all out. The wine gives off the impression of being very alcoholic, but don’t worry, the heat is not overpowering in the least.

The Cantus Pinot Noir is made by Vina Indomita, a very technologically-advanced winery in the Casablanca Valley region of Chile. They source their grapes from two vineyards: one in Casablanca and the other in Maipo. Casablanca is in the very middle of the long, slender country, to the west of Santiago.

With Food: Hearty foods. Steaks, game, possibly the white meats depending on how they are prepared. A nice, hard, smelly cheese would also do very well.

$7.98 at WineLibrary.com

Visit the Vina Indomita site

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Bad News First: We’ve tasted a lot of Malbec wines, mostly from Argentina, but a few from California. All of them have been able to deliver the berry jam explosion in an enormous way. The Marraso Malbec does not deliver 100%, but it delivers, we think, enough for red wine lovers (remember, we love BIG flavor). So, if you are looking for that big explosion of dark, dark berry preserves, this might not be for you. Too much oak, not enough berries, which is not usually the case with fruit in oaked wines.

Now The Good: Balance. The Marasso Malbec has balance in spades. Not too much acid, not too much fruit, not hollow, just good Malbec grapes. The oak is very obvious, which some people love. There is some raspberry jam taste to it, but it is subtle. This is a wine that should be opened and left for a bit, which adds some smoke. It should also be enjoyed now, and not aged.

With Food: Steak would destroy the Marasso Malbec, so I would veer away if you can. Red sauce, ahi tuna, mild cheeses, maybe. That said, if you HAVE to have a steak with a cheaper red wine, then this might do, but we would veer more towards the Hahn Syrah or the Domaine De La Martinelle Cotes Du Ventoux Rouge.

$9.99 at Grand Vin

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