Winemakers often will add oak chips, oak powder or oak staves to wine aging in stainless steel casks. As a rule, I’m not a fan of these methods — it seems like cheating.
Category: Winter
Winery Perfects Chardonnay in Pinot Noir Country
The 2016 A to Z Oregon Chardonnay is a well-balanced unoaked, versatile white wine that’s good to drink by the fire in winter and on the porch on summer evenings.
A Spanish White Wine from Old Vines
Started in 2002, Bodegas Naia had a straightforward purpose: making high quality white wines using grapes from old, indigenous Verdejo vines. The experiment worked. The winery has succeeded in making some of the best Verdejo in the world, and its affordable Naia is no exception.
A Budget Red That’s Good for the Land
The reasonably-priced Farmhouse red first came to my attention because it was made by a family-owned California producer known for quality wines.
Give Bubbly a Regular Seat at the Table
Sparkling wines are terrific year round, not just for special occasions. Still, there is a persistent belief that the only time to drink sparkling wines is when you’re celebrating on New Year’s Eve or some other momentous event.
Behind a Family Label, a Classic Red
Famille Perrin’s Cotes du Rhone Reserve, Rouge, produced by one of the top winemakers in France’s Southern Rhone Valley, is an excellent wine to accompany a varied holiday feast.
A Spanish Red With a Long Pedigree
Single varietal wines from Rioja used to be hard to find and expensive. Recently, such wines have become more common, although they still tend to be priced well beyond the $10 range.
A Versatile, Affordable Chardonnay
If I were forced to drink only one inexpensive white wine all year, I’d choose Louis Jadot Macon-Villages Chardonnay. This wine from Burgundy is so clean and crisp that it almost seems like it was produced from an entirely different grape variety than the one used to make the weighty, oaked California Chardonnays, those wines with such rich vanilla and butter flavors that they are best drunk in cold weather.
A French Malbec From a Reliable Source
I’ve been a fan of Malbec from Argentina for many years, but after I recently tried Clos La Coutale, a dark, red version from Cahors in Southwest France, I have switched my allegiance.
Racy Label Can’t Obscure a Great Wine
When it comes to wine labels, I’m pretty conservative. I’m attracted to the clean, straightforward look, labels with clear type sporting a crest or a drawing of the chateau. I tend to avoid wines selling themselves with cute names, overweight circus animals and sadly portrayed dogs and cats, labels that, in my experience, often mask an inferior product.
