 |
| Tangy whites that are worthy of your attention |
So the Voyager is back, after an absence
of several weeks. Here’s the ultimate
irony: now that I’m back working in the wine trade full-time, I have much less
time to drink and write about fine wine.
Like most wine salespersons, I spend as much time schlepping cases
around as I do tasting the great stuff or advising customers on the best wine
and food matches. Not that I’m
complaining, as it’s great to be working everyday with my colleagues -- who
care about fine wine, can talk about it intelligently, and teach me a thing or
two in the process – and with our customers, an overwhelming majority of whom
are warm, lovely people.
Being back on the floor of a great wine
store, I am reminded every day of the three most important letters in the world
of wine: QPR – i.e., Quality-Price Ratio. It’s the Holy Grail in the world of wine;
what are the best wines you can drink for the lowest price? I deal with some customers for whom price is
no object, and not a few for whom a high price is a positive status symbol. For most of the people who walk through our
doors, however, getting the most wine for their dollar is crucial. So, in the weeks to come we’ll take an
occasional detour from the road less traveled in order to look at how to get
the best bang for your buck when you enter your local liquor store.
What is a value wine?
Value, of course, means many different
things, depending on who you ask. For
some customers, the sweet spot is in the range of $15 - $20. It’s relatively easy to help these folks,
because there are so many good wines at this price point. It’s where I do a lot of my personal shopping,
so many wines from previous posts on The Vinous Voyager will serve as guides.
For many, however, value is one or two
levels down in terms of price. Some are
happy with wines in the $10 - $15 sphere; some ask for good wines below $10. This is where things get slightly more
challenging.
It’s also where brands become more
important. Large wine companies, with
access to many vineyards, and with wine-making facilities that can turn out
large-scale production while still maintaining a decent level of quality, are
the place where most people interested in the lower price ranges can find what
they’re looking for.
In my view, most of the good,
inexpensive wines available in your local merchant cost from $8 - $12. Below $8.00 and it’s very tough to find real
quality; above $12.00, and one begins to encounter resistance from
value-hunting customers. So, for an
ongoing series of posts that will highlight value wines, this is the realm in
which we’ll focus our investigation.
Why am I starting with Sauvignon
Blanc?
That’s easy – there are lots of
good, inexpensive Sauvignons, and, despite the fact that the temperature in
Colorado when I drank these wines was in the single digits – a time of year
where we’re supposed to be drinking big red wines -- I happened to be in the
mood for the zingy fruit that is the hallmark of this varietal. Perhaps I was just refusing to let winter get the upper hand.
The hard news for patriotic Americans is
that, when searching for the best values, you’re simply going to do better if
you turn to bottles from wineries in the rest of the world. In many other countries, land is less
expensive, labor is cheaper, and when you buy wine from a country whose economy
is in the dumper, currency exchange rates mean that you’re going to pay less
for a bottle that in the USA would be much more expensive.
Consequently, when looking for good
Sauvignon Blanc that wouldn’t break the bank, I chose to go to two reliable
sources: New Zealand and Chile.
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is one of
the world’s great wine success stories; back in the late 1980’s and early 90’s,
consumers in the UK and USA discovered the vivid, lively flavors of Sauvignons
from this part of the world. There’s
something about New Zealand’s climate and soils that brings out a distinctive
quality in this varietal. People fell in
love, and it’s hard to blame them.
Meanwhile, at the same time, wine lovers
all over the world were discovering the terrific red wines coming out of
Chile. Cabernet and Merlot were the
forerunners (even though we later found out that
most of what was labeled Merlot in Chile was really another grape altogether, a
lovely varietal called Carmenere – subject of a future post). At the same time, smart vintners in Chile were
finding cooler growing conditions for enticing whites; for the most part,
Sauvignon Blanc has been the leader, although there are certainly some worthy
Chardonnays as well.
The two Sauvignon Blancs I chose for
this particular Wine Face-Off were both from the 2013 vintage, but at opposite
ends of the value-wine spectrum: the first from Concha y Toro’s Casillero del Diablo range (a Chilean wine I bought
for $7.99 at a local merchant), and, from New Zealand, the Marlborough offering from Villa
Maria, a winery I’ve often admired in the past (this one comes in at $11.99,
the top end of our value spectrum). Both
were practically identical in color – a pale-medium brassy gold.
The test dish in this case: chicken
curry. Although there are other whites I
prefer with spicy food (especially Riesling and Gruner Veltliner – see previous
posts), lots of our customers like Sauvignons with Asian cuisines. And, truth be told, they’re not off the mark;
Sauvignon can be a lovely match with spicy dishes.
Trying these two wines at the same
time—each by itself at first, and then with the same dish – was an instructive
exercise. In any tasting where there
were tons of different Sauvignons being compared, the Villa Maria would
probably win.
 |
| More flash and dash... |
It’s bigger, in just about
every way. It has flashier aromas,
including the famed gooseberry commonly associated with whites from NZ. Some critics refer to this scent as “cat
pee;” I cannot personally attest to the accuracy of this term, as I have never
spent any time at all investigating the olfactory qualities of feline
urine. It’s also bigger on the palate,
with grassy flavors that hit the palate with surprising strength. A solid *** performer. (A side note: some wine experts, when tasting
Sauvignon Blancs at the same time as red wines, will pour the Sauvignons last –
a move that turns conventional wine-tasting wisdom on its head, but that has a
definite logic behind it, as the SBs have a flavor profile that can be distinctive
and very powerful.)
 |
| But does the flashier performer always win? Perhaps not... |
The Casillero del Diablo is by no means
a shy wine; it certainly has a degree of power all its own. It is, however, a more subtle wine. It has more gentle herbal aromas, and a more
elegant palate. With the Villa Maria,
the different elements of the wine stand out from each other – in fact, they
rather hit you over the head. In the
case of the Casillero del Diablo, everything melds together in a much more
harmonious fashion; ***1/2 here.
Both wines were a decent match for the
curry, although the Villa Maria seemed a bit like a fellow, who, upon meeting
another man, is determined to prove that he has the stronger handshake. The Casillero was a very different animal; at
first, it might seem like the weaker partner in a relationship, but over time,
it would exert its influence in an understated manner, so that it would
eventually be recognized as more authoritative.
Here’s a case where price doesn’t
necessarily dictate quality. I certainly
did not feel cheated by paying more for the Villa Maria, but the next time I’m
looking for a less-expensive Sauvignon Blanc, I’ll pull a bottle of the
Casillero del Diablo off the shelf.
