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Tasting Wine: Bargain whites for springtime
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Colombard grapes grow in Cotes de Gascogne, France.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Last week, I wrote about bargain reds in the aftermath of tax day, so to be fair, this week I’m going to comment on bargain whites. As we head into warmer weather, I am sure many of you are getting into the mood for white wines. It’s exciting. White wine equals spring. Yay!
Parts of the world are known for making good, inexpensive red wines. Even with the unfavorable exchange rate, it is still possible to pick up a decent Salice Salentino or Corbieres, though these are becoming scarcer.
Outside Germany, which is known for making sweeter wines, it is more difficult to find really tasty bargain white wines. Yet it’s not impossible, it’s just a matter of tasting a lot and keeping an open mind. Of course, tasting time is a luxury for many of you; so here are three of the best white wine bargains I’ve tried recently. Enjoy!
Domaine de Mirail Colombard, 2006 (Cotes de Gascogne, France) — The Mirails are another one of those old winemaking families who have been at it for more than 500 years. In addition to wine, they make Armagnac. This simple colombard is a real treat. Aged in stainless steel, it is crisp and clean, with subtle apple and mineral tones. Suggested retail: $14
Gulfi Valcanziria, 2006 (Sicily, Italy) — Vito Catania started Gulfi in 1996 and now it is one of Sicily’s hottest producers. They use mostly indigenous varietals and some foreign grapes. Valcanziria is such a blend, made from chardonnay and Sicily’s own caricante and albanello. Although it is aged in aged in stainless steel, it has a nutty richness that suggests oak. Medium-bodied with marzipan, sweet butter and butterscotch notes, this is a superb wine for the spring. Suggested retail: $14
Szoke Matyas Irsai Oliver, 2006 (Matrai, Hungary) — Located near Budapest, Szoke Matyas has been making wine since the 1970s. Family-owned, the winery is a pioneer and role model for other producers throughout Hungary. Irsai Oliver is a cross between Pozsony, from the Hungarian town of the same name, and Pearl of Csaba, which is from the Carpathian Basin in central Europe. Muscat-like, this wine has heightened floral, apricot and guava aromas. The nose will lead you to think it is sweet, yet it has a lovely, dry finish. Suggested retail: $14
Pamela Busch is the wine director and proprietor of CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen in San Francisco.
Comments from Examiner Readers
10:24 AM MST on Thu., Jul. 17, 2008 re: "Tasting Wine: Summer a fine time to crack open the bubbly"
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nancy orr said:
Prosecco is made in Italy not Burgundy. Thanks
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Ron Walter said:
I agree that the 4/21 response to my comment shows restaurant wine pricing isn't simple and is something I hadn't considered. While your example demonstrates a retail pricing problem, I don't see it as a good parallel to a restaurant's wine pricing - no restaurant carries 500 different types of wine with a 2000% difference in minimum and maximum price (if anyone has an $8 cheapo a 2000% difference would have a top price of $16,000 - not even a bottle of 45 Lafite). Also, I think the problem could be simpler when there is a cross the board price change for a significant amount of the merchandise - as there is when the $ devalues against the Euro - the problem described in the column. That said, I don't have an answer as to how to price wine. Still, it's grating to hear pricing explained the way Ms. Bush has explained it - there should be a fairer way. If I'm reacting this way, my guess is that it's turning off more diners than just me.
4 agree | 4 disagree
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Ron Walter said:
I agree that the 4/21 response to my comment shows restaurant wine pricing isn't simple and is something I hadn't considered. While your example demonstrates a retail pricing problem, I don't see it as a good parallel to a restaurant's wine pricing - no restaurant carries 500 different types of wine with a 2000% difference in minimum and maximum price (if anyone has an $8 cheapo a 2000% difference would have a top price of $16,000 - not even a bottle of 45 Lafite). Also, I think the problem could be simpler when there is a cross the board price change for a significant amount of the merchandise - as there is when the $ devalues against the Euro - the problem described in the column. That said, I don't have an answer as to how to price wine. Still, it's grating to hear pricing explained the way Ms. Bush has explained it - there should be a fairer way. If I'm reacting this way, my guess is that it's turning off more diners than just me.
4 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Regarding Ron Walters' comments on wine mark-ups: while this wholesale-times-2.5 seems illogical in your example, a broader look at retailing might help clarify. Say I sell 500 individual items in the course of a day in my shop, and they cost (wholesale, to me) between $.25 and $50 each. Now, say I know from creating my quarterly budgets that I need a 30% gross profit to cover all my costs -- purchases, labor, overhead, capital improvements. How long would I last if I marked each item up $5, regardless of cost? And I don't know what calculation would arrive at that $5 anyway. No, markup by percent is the only sensible way...and some restaurateurs do use a combination of (lower)percentage, and fixed add-on, to give increasing relative value to buyers of higher priced bottles.
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Examiner Reader said:
i have tried Monte dei Ragni Ripasso and their Amarone, after 1/2 an hour it was still on the palate....just outstanding. a real gem if you can find it...
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Examiner Reader said:
The best Ripasso i have tasted is "Fratelli Vogadori", it's very good wine. Very strong and better than other more know Ripasso
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Ron Walter said:
Dear Ms. Bush I'm stunned by the logic in 'Tasting Wine: The business of the wine business'. Why must the correspondent (wine buyer) always multiply the wholesale cost * 2.5 to arrive at the client's cost? A simple example: the wholesale cost rises by $3 for a wine currently priced in the restaurant at $50; the new price could be $53. I'd like to understand how that has affected the restaurant's bottom line? This seems logic seems similar to a real estate agent demanding a 6% commission when selling two houses - one for $300,000 and the other $3,000,000 - you should demand much more in the latter case or ask for a lower commission. Is your restaurant doing something special for the client with their additional $7.50 markup in the previous example?
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Examiner Reader said:
One would think the author, in an effort to retain her credibility, would check the spelling of the late Joe Swan's son-in-law. All through this article, his name is spelled incorrectly. It should be "Berglund." The author has, at least, included three wines in keeping with the theme of the article: wines of the Joseph Swan winery. ((Last week's article featured wines from France's Rhone Valley and, curiously, one was from the Joseph Swan winery in Sonoma!)) Why the author would review the same wine in back-to-back articles is a mystery. A professor of journalism would cite misspellings as diminishing the credibility of an article. Ms. Busch does so by, as she did last week, spelling "Vacqueyras" incorrectly. Interesting, the price of the "mystery red" is different in this week's article in comparison with last week's!
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Examiner Reader said:
The article regarding Tawny Ports mentions a lovely wine from the house of Ferreira, but "Duque" is spelled incorrectly. At least she got Dow spelled correctly (although the brand name on the label is "Dow's."
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Examiner Reader said:
Pamela Busch is marvelously enthusiastic as a wine-taster, but she's a poor writer and terribly sloppy in checking her work. This week's column regarding Rhone reds asserts that Syrah is the only grape grown in the northern Rhone Valley. Two sentences later readers are told that Northern Rhone Syrahs sometimes have white grapes in them! She claims to be "sticking" to Southern Rhones for the article and one wine comes from California's Sonoma County. Readers are advised to buy a wine from the Gramenon estate called "La Segasse," but the actual wine is "La Sagesse." Ms. Busch refers to an appellation in the Southern Rhone, misspelling the name "Vacqueyras." These little errors should not be made by a professional journalist. A course in writing would certainly be helpful in polishing her skills. Paying more attention to the details would also be a good idea.
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Examiner Reader said:
Dear Readers, I left a message hear yesterday. It was not deragatory and was written in proper English regarding the topic of the above article. One can only assume since my opinion was not the same as the author's that my comment has been deleted. While I truly do hope it is a computer glich, I find myself lowering my expectations after this happened. Best of luck to all of you on this website.
192 agree | 158 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Why go to Austria, Germany, and Spain for Pinot Noir? We have kick butt Pinot in our own backyard! There are so many beautifully produced wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands, Santa Rita Hills or Russian River. If anything tell this writer to find me more hidden secrets like Testarossa, Seasmoke (ok not so secret), and P&H.
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sue yu said:
vin rose is nothing, it's more of dinner wine that's light. i'm not sure if it was ever really popular. when you drink wine, you want to taste the bouquet, and certainly get a big punch out of it. drinking without the punchies is not worth it.
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