Greetings and welcome to another week of wine tasting. After last week's column, I have a few questions that I would like to answer. First, no, I am not being either paid or reimbursed for the wine I drink. Second, there's no exact method to picking the wines. Generally, whenever I'm around a place with a wine display I take a good look at the selection and pick a bottle or two that appeal to me. Sometimes a wine appeals to me because it's a type I like but it's a vineyard I haven't tried yet. Other times, I buy a wine because it sounds good, or because I think the label's cool. There's probably a better way to do it, but so far this has worked pretty well. The proof in the pudding is in the eating so let's get to the eating, as it were.
1. Crianza Conde de Valdemar 2000 Rioja
The Rioja wine comes from Spain, and Crianza means that this wine is in its third year and was aged at least one year in oak. We found the wine to be rather unassuming. It didn't leave much of a taste in my mouth, but you could call it vaguely spicy. The Conde de Valdemar is a comfortable wine, easy to drink by itself. However, it's nothing special, rather like a one-night stand. You're happy you have it at the time, but you're not sorry when it's gone. I would pick it over something I thought was going to be gross, but I'd never go out especially to buy it. I think I paid $11 at Hannaford.
2. Santa Rita 2003 Chardonnay Reserve
Coming from the Casablanca Valley, this is my first-ever Chilean white wine. One of my tasters brought it for the group to try. We had a bit of trouble describing this wine, which may be because many of the tasters, including myself, had colds the night we drank it. Tasters' opinions ranged from "'tis complex bitterness" to "light and spicy." All told, we think it's well-blended with no particular flavor characterizing the wine. It is a dry wine but not crisp. We liked drinking it by itself, and if I were driving through New Hampshire, I'd buy it again. $10 at the NH State Liquor Store.
3. Baron Herzog 2001 Merlot
In honor of those celebrating the High Holy Days, I decided to do my good deed for the week and find a good alternative to the nasty cough syrup Maneschewitz has the nerve to call wine. We found the wine to have a raisiny, bitter beginning but it improved upon drinking. This wine definitely requires food; we had Wheat Thins and cheese. All in all, it was much better than a glass of Maneschewitz and the folks at Hillel should take notice in time for Yom Kippur. $13.99 at Provisions.
A final note: if you have a wine you'd like to see reviewed, email me, or, better still, drop by my house with it.