Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Value night...

Decided it was time to get back to my early wine roots with a value wine night. I picked a $9 white (South African chenin blanc) that had been recommended by a friend and a $12 Spanish garnacha. As a general rule, I've found it much more easy to find $10 whites I enjoy than $15 and under reds. The reds in this price range tend to be one dimensional and either too sweet and candied, or oaky and harsh, for my liking. The spanish red certainly lived up to that! I'll keep up the good fight trying to find value reds that rock...

2008 Kanu Chenin Blanc
This was recommended to me by a good friend as a very nice weekday white for $9. He may be wrong when it comes to politics and sports, but he was not wrong about this wine. Nice dose of citrus and stones on the nose. Tart and lively on the palate with saliva inducing acidity, which I dig. This wine just seemed to wake up your taste buds which was the antithesis of the other white I drank this past weekend. Fine South African effort and one that will find its way in my summer lineup. 88pts

2007 Bodegas San Alejandro Garnacha Las Rocas
The red wine component of my self imposed "Saturday Value Wine Night." To be honest, this wine was disappointing. Much too sweet and candied. Reminded me of several 07 cotes-du-rhones that I was geeked to drink but ended up possessing too much sweetness for me. Gorgeous magenta and fairly closed at the outset, but eventually released its candied pop rock flavor that just didn't jive with my taste buds. No real depth or layered personality. Have I mentioned that it was way grandma sweet? 84pts

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