Premier: Wine Made Easy

Finding a great value Pinot Noir can be challenging. You’ve probably heard how difficult Pinot Noir is to cultivate, requiring some hands in the vineyard to do it well, which often translates to big bucks on the consumer’s end. Inexpensive Pinot Noir, even when drinkable, often lacks varietal identity (“this has notes of… red wine”). The Brancott 2009 Pinot Noir, however, is both delicious and distinctly Pinot. The aromas of pomegranate, tart cherry, baking spice, and a subtle umami nuance have depth and persistence. Light and refreshing, not thin and washed-out, this delivers incredible flavor for the money.

I remember Baby del Rey — I lost some serious coin on his welterweight bout against Hobo Sam McMahon. The wine packs a punch as well, with aromas of raspberry, baking spices, herbs and garrigue. The tannins are pretty fierce, but there’s enough concentration of flavor to balance it out. It might grip your mouth but it won’t bite your ear. It’s drinking well now, though there’s enough stuffing to hold on for another few years in the cellar. And I’d say that drinking this is far more satisfying than being punched in the face for twelve rounds.

This robust red from Southern France has been a consistent value for several vintages. A blend of Syrah and Mourvedre with a dash of Grenache, this is cheaper than a Crozes-Hermitage and it might just fool your palate into believing it is from our friends in the Northern Rhône. You’ll find lovely flavors of dark berries, complemented by hints of bacon, olives, and mushroom. Mmm… sounds like a good topping to a burger. So naturally, this wine will pair well with a burger from your grill, no matter what the topping.

By now, you’re certainly heard the hype over the spectacular 2009 vintage in Bordeaux. If you’re looking for a wine with more depth and substance than basic Bordeaux AOC but you don’t want to wait another year for the big names to be released (and several more years waiting for them to be approachable!) Château Fort-Lignac represents the perfect middle-ground. This shows a classic Bordeaux nose of sour cherry, tart blueberry, graphite, decaying leaves, smoldering embers and a finish of mineral and espresso. It’s great now but has the balance and weight to age and even improve. Incidentally, this property was bought a few years back by the family that owns Ducru Beaucaillou, Grand Puy Lacoste, and Haut Batailley, so it’s in some good hands! I look forward to following this wine over the next eight years or more.

Graceful and mature, this Bordeaux Supérieur shows smoke, charcoal, cedar, and balsamic, wrapped around tart cherry fruit and wet leaf earthiness. Nice complexity and sense-of-place at this price point.

Château Haut-Selve is a stylish, modern winery that never loses sight of the balance and poise that are the seminal characteristics of the wines from their region. Their Graves Blanc is a sleek, delicious example of this sensibility. Mouthwatering, but with serious weight for a white of its price, this has aromas of peach and tangerine, complicated by subtle oak notes of toast, sandalwood, and nutmeg. This spent only 6 months in wood, and strikes a perfect middle ground between a fresh and clean Entre-Deux-Mers and a powerful, oak-driven traditional Graves.

Powerful but not without elegance, this stunner from the Médoc offers more complexity than can ordinarily be found in a Bordeaux under $15. It offers a core of dark cherry and blackberry, but also layers of tobacco leaf, spice and a hint of earth. Supple tannins lead to a nicely lingering finish. Chateau L’Argenteyre keeps the formula simple, blending almost equal parts of Merlot and Cabernet with just a hint of Petit Verdot, and the end result is wonderful. Drink up this great example of what Bordeaux can offer at a reasonable price.

Finding a great entry-level Burgundy can be a difficult and frustrating endeavor, with many such wines coming across as excessively hard, thin or simple. That’s why I was so delighted by this offering from Domaine Moreau. The initial aromas of cherry pie and strawberry show wonderful purity and depth, and are soon spiced up by notes of anise, caraway and lemon zest. As this opens up further, a wonderful crushed-rock minerality and beef broth-like savory quality come to the fore. Ripe Bing cherries repeat through the elegant but lengthy finish. With its relatively low alcohol and low tannin, this could make an excellent summertime sipper, but it’s equally worthy of being decanted and enjoyed with a serious meal such as coq au vin.

While the wines of Southern Rhône , and Châteauneuf-du-Pape in particular, have exploded in popularity in recent years, many wine drinkers have seen the trend toward over-ripe, jammy, high-alcohol wines as threatening to the region’s identity and terroir. One might begin to think that traditional gamy, earthy, elegant Grenache will soon be an endangered species in the face of more “modern” high-scoring wines. Domaine de l’Echevin, however, perfectly marries modernism with tradition in this value-priced Cotes du Rhone from the village of Saint-Maurice. The wine starts out terroir-driven, with mineral, iron, sage, violet, and game, but these savory notes are soon balanced by a polished veneer of dark cherry, chocolate, Asian spice, and toast. Wild but sophisticated, long on the finish, and eminently food-friendly, I can’t recommend this wine highly enough. People often toss around the term “baby Châteauneuf” for such wines, but there is nothing “baby” about it: this wine flat-out embarrasses many Châteauneufs selling for three times the price.

This light, refreshing, dry wine makes a perfect sipper for warm weather. From the Loire Valley, the strikingly-affordable Jardin is a blend comprised primarily of Chardonnay and Melon de Bourgogne, the grape used in Muscadet. Fruit-forward yet still retaining subtlety, this wine proudly displays notes of pear, melon, and starfruit, all wrapped up in a pleasing, crisp acidity. My wife insisted on serving this wine at our wedding reception and she assures me it was not just because the bottle matched her color scheme.

The first wine I reviewed for Premier was the 2003 Ercavio. Sometimes I’m afraid to revisit wines I was passionate about early in my wine education, for fear that they would seem undrinkable to me now. But if the 2003 was anything like our current 2006, I have nothing to be ashamed of, as I still believe it to be one of the best $10 Spanish wines available. Most Spanish wines at this price deliver a rather simple mouthful of jammy fruit, but the Ercavio complicates its plum and blueberry flavors with savory notes of grilled meat, damp earth, dark chocolate and wood smoke. In terms of complexity and balance, this stands out among its peers.

A big, strapping wine featuring a solid core of sappy dark cherry, date and fig, all wrapped in baker’s chocolate and espresso. Very full and extracted, this Malbec-based blend would be a great alternative to Zin.

Refreshing and unique, featuring a nose of almond, sea salt, white chocolate and vanilla. A wonderfully briny minerality echoes through the finish.

Brooding and structured, showing currant, kirsch, smoke and violet, with a wet-leaf type of underbrush adding complexity through the muscular finish. The tannins are polished and regal, making this an ideal steak wine.

2001 was a phenomenal year for traditional Barolos and Barbarescos. While 2000 may have received more press, many Piedmont aficionados prefer 2001’s more aromatic, perfumed expressions of Nebbiolo. Tasted in 2010, the Poggio Le Coste 2001 Barbaresco is aging beautifully. Earthy aromas of smoke, strawberry, plum and menthol are lifted by a honeysuckle nuance. This still has all the structure of a young Nebbiolo, the muscular tannins beautifully framing the delicate flavors. A perfect wine for your next hearty, rustic meal.

Spicy, with black pepper, rhubarb, strawberry and vanilla, ending with just a hint of cayenne. Perfect for barbecues and braised meats. A delicious value in California Zin, grab this while it’s caliente!

Dark and velvety, this is classic Napa Cabernet. Aromas of currant, blackberry, sage, espresso and dark chocolate follow through to a round finish with softly enveloping tannins. Bring on the steak!

Attention Cabernet drinkers: the wines of Ribera del Duero are crying out for your attention. “We’re just as hedonistic, with loads of dark fruit and new oak, we have big, beefy structure, but we’re more versatile with food, and nine times out of ten we offer more bang for your buck!” Case in point: the 2004 Tinto Roa Reserva. Classic Ribera de Duero aromas of roasted coffee, raspberry compote, dark chocolate and hot stone. The grainy tannins will settle down against some nicely grilled meat. Decant for an hour, if possible, to allow the aromatics to fully blossom. This will age beautifully for years to come, but why wait?