VINOGRAPHY: a wine blog
Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world
~ Recently in Wines under $20 Category ~
2005 Domaine de Chateau Gaillard Saumur, Loire Valley, France
The Loire Valley is perhaps one of the most underrated and unexplored (by most Americans) wine producing regions in France. So often eclipsed by the bombast of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Rhone, if it is known at all, the Loire tends to be known for its famous Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre. Yet the region, which is the largest white wine producing region in France, and the third largest winegrowing appellation (AOC) in the country, also produces many excellent red wines, chiefly from Cabernet Franc. The most dominating feature of the Loire Valley must be the river itself, France's longest and... continue reading 
- Posted by: Alder on April 2, 2008 9:20 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Kikusui Funaguchi Ichiban Shibori Honzojo, Niigata Prefecture
I'll admit it right off the bat: I'm a serious sake snob. I don't mean that in the sense that I believe my taste in aake is superior to anyone else's, only that I'm extremely picky when it comes to sake. In particular, I tend to discriminate on the basis of the class of sake. I tend to prefer ginjo and daiginjo sakes, and most often the junmai versions of these. Ginjo and daiginjo are the two top classes of sake, as measured by the degree to which the rice kernels used to make them have been milled or polished... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 23, 2008 11:33 PM
- Filed under: Sake , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Kurosawa Kimoto Junmai, Nagano Prefecture
By W. Blake Gray. "Keep refrigerated," the labels say in English. So why do I keep finding these bottles of sake on ordinary store shelves? Here's an open letter to everyone who works in a store that carries sake. Walk over to the unrefrigerated sakes. Check the labels. If you find a delicate daiginjo with a label that says "keep refrigerated," take a big black marker and write "cooking sake" on it and slash the price to $5. Or, alternately, sell that sake to some unwitting customer, just as you would a case of beer that had been left out... continue reading
- Posted by: Blake on October 8, 2007 6:35 PM
- Filed under: Sake , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2006 Vincenzo Cesani Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy
If someone ever held my feet to the fire and forced me to name just one group of wines that I'm most excited about exploring these days, I would certainly squirm, as my curiosity for learning more about all the wines of the world does not have limits. However I would probably break down eventually, and with some honesty say that no category of wines really excites me as much these days, from a pure learning standpoint, as the indigenous white varietals of Italy. Throughout that country, on small farms and in small villages, winegrowers and winemakers are working with... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 12, 2007 6:07 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 René Noël Legrand "La Chaintrée" Cabernet Franc, Saumur Champigny, Loire Valley, France
Lots of people I know have a "house wine" -- some bottle that they buy in much larger quantities than any other wine and also consume in much larger quantities. A house wine is the inexpensive, drink-with-anything, because-I'd-just-like-a-glass, it-doesn't-matter-if-I-don't-finish-the-bottle, what-goes-with-day-old-pizza wine. In my opinion, every wine loving household should have one. For a lot of people this is clearly the place that Two Buck Chuck holds in their kitchen. I personally prefer to spend between ten and fifteen dollars on my house wine, and I'm constantly picking up random bottles at that price point just to see when I'm going... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 7, 2007 5:04 PM
- Filed under: Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Rolf Binder Wines, Barossa, Australia: Current Releases
Some of my favorite people in the world are those who offer no affect of their knowledge, even when you're swimming through waters in which they are clearly expert. I aspire to that sort of demeanor myself, but I've got work to do. Something in me always wants to be helpful, teacherly, and before I know it, I find myself rambling on about this or that. Guess what kind of old man I'm going to be? The kind that tells the same stories over, and over, and over again. I managed to sit through nearly an entire lunch of tasting... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 1, 2007 5:35 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 Spencer Roloson Grenache Blanc, California
It's particularly pleasurable to watch a small wine label mature and make a name for itself in the world. I guess that could sound patronizing if I didn't make clear that I underline this sentiment with the utmost admiration for the hard work and talent that is required to have a wine label survive at all, let alone thrive. I have been watching, and drinking, Spencer Roloson wines since I first started writing about wine. At that time they were on their third or fourth vintage, and owner winemaker Sam Spencer was still settling into his groove, as it were.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 6, 2007 10:29 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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WBW#35 Roundup Has Been Posted: Spanish Values
Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere's original virtual wine tasting party is going strong in its 35th month. We had top turnout of 41 bloggers, each of which sought out a value priced Spanish wine to taste as part of this month's event, hosted by Michelle and Kevin over at My Wine Education. I'm happy to see that people went far and wide to find a huge assortment of wines for this event, and many found their way to decent importers, successfully avoiding the mass market stuff, which while often decent, only represents a sliver of what Spain has to offer.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 16, 2007 10:38 PM
- Filed under: Wine Activities , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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The World's Best Prosecco: Tasting Conegliano Valdobbiadene
We Americans aren't deprived of much in the world when it comes to wine, but if there's one segment of the wine universe that remains highly unexplored by the average American wine drinker it's the world of non-Champagne sparkling wine. And I'm obviously not not talking about California wine. I'm talking about the hundreds of different types of sparkling wine made in dozens of countries around the world. Thankfully, as more people begin to appreciate the pleasures of bubbly but can't always spring for the price tag of Champagne, there is an increasing demand for alternatives, such as Prosecco. Prosecco... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 14, 2007 11:58 PM
- Filed under: Sparkling Wine , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 Torres "Mas Rabell" Red Wine, Catalunya, Spain
Most of the time I buy my wines from proper wine stores. Not just because I like to support them, but also because I'm a firm believer in cultivating a relationship with good wine retailers, who will inevitably turn you on to wines you might not have known about or tried. Sometimes, however, I'm wandering through the grocery store and something catches my eye (yes, sometimes I buy by the label, just like the rest of you) and I throw it in the cart. I came into possession of this wine in roughly that manner, with the additional variable of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 11, 2007 11:05 PM
- Filed under: Wine Activities , Wine Not To Buy , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Tamas Wine Estates, Livermore, CA: Current Releases
These days, California wine country evokes names like Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara. But if you arrived in San Francisco on a steamship in 1890, stepped out on the dock and asked anyone directions to wine country, they would have told you to get back on another boat and head across the Bay to the country's largest wine region, The Livermore Valley. It comes as a surprise to many people that Livermore, now well known for its government research labs and astronomically high population of PhD's per capita, was once one of the most well known winegrowing areas in America. It's... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 28, 2007 10:26 PM
- Filed under: Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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WBW#31 Roundup Has Been Posted: Box Wines
Drink inside the box, it might be called. This month's Wine Blogging Wednesday was hosted by Roger over at the Box Wines blog, and for this month's virtual wine tasting event, he suggested that we all go out and review wines with alternative packaging. From cans to bags to boxes to tetra-paks to bulk wine, bloggers around the world experimented with all the alternatives to the classic glass bottle -- and they lived to tell the tale. Not all of the wines were good -- some were downright bad, but it makes for amusing reading and certainly a great learning... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 16, 2007 6:08 PM
- Filed under: Wine Activities , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 French Rabbit Chardonnay, Vin de Pays d'Oc, France
In case you hadn't noticed, the wine packaging revolution is upon us. Or should I say, upon us again. It was only about a thousand years ago that wine came in a wide variety of packaging, from the scraped bladders of Eurasian mammals, to clay jugs, to woven waxed baskets, to precious glass bottles. Times changed of course, and wine packaging converged on the convenient, durable, and increasingly inexpensive glass bottle, but these days we are seeing a renaissance of options for toting man's favorite beverage. These days, the choices are even more varied than deer bladder vs. sheep bladder.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 14, 2007 10:43 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Domaine de Nizas, Languedoc, France: Current Releases
I can't tell you how many times I've heard friends say "I can't really afford French wine." Even after I suggest that there are plenty of French wines under twenty bucks, they're still liable to complain that they can't really afford "good French wine." Whenever I have that conversation I find myself wishing I had a backpack full of wines from the Languedoc handy. I'd whip out a bottle and a corkscrew like a gunslinger from the wild west and set them straight once and for all. The Languedoc has been the historical home to most of France's low-end table... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 25, 2007 8:59 AM
- Filed under: Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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NV "The Big Red Monster" Red Table Wine, California
You wouldn't believe the sort of stuff I get in the mail. Consumers are blissfully ignorant of the incredible amount of marketing dollars spent to push wines, not at everyday people, but specifically at journalists. In the last couple of years I've gained a certain amount of visibility in the wine world, and as a result, I receive a pretty steady stream of heavy boxes with "Adult Signature Required. 21 Years or older" stickers on them. Many of these simply contain a few bottles of wine and a letter from a winemaker urging me to try them. But many of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 13, 2007 10:36 PM
- Filed under: Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2003 Bibich Debit, Skradin (North Dalmatia), Croatia
In my last post here on Vinography I mulled, tongue-in-cheek about the impact of wine on the hallowed halls of civilization, and in particular on the English language. Fun and games aside, wine and language are just as inextricably entwined through history as wine and culture. Lest there be any doubt, one need look no further than the northern coasts of Dalmatia, which has been making wine from a grape with a strangely (to English speakers) familiar name for two centuries. Actually the winemaking traditions in Croatia go back well before the Roman Empire, though it was the Romans who... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 6, 2007 6:06 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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EOS Estate Winery, Paso Robles: Current Releases
There exist an endless number of stories about how families get into the wine business. Some (mostly in Europe) have been in the business so long no one can remember hearing about a time when the family wasn't making wines. Some come to it almost by accident, working for a winery and then slowly building a life around wine to the point they can't imagine doing anything else. Some of the more interesting traditions of family winemaking begin with an immigrant story, and the growing of wine literally becomes one of the ways that individuals finally set down their roots... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 15, 2006 11:54 PM
- Filed under: Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 Hook and Ladder "The Tillerman" White Blend, Russian River Valley, Sonoma
Old winemakers don't die, they just start another label. I've never seen this bumper sticker on any old pickup truck in Napa valley, but in addition to being cute, it's certainly a truism if I've ever heard one. While making wine is tough work, the better you get, the more you've got other folks who can do the heavy lifting for you while you make the critical decisions that ultimately determine the nature of the wine that is produced. That's why it's possible for us to have the cliché of the crusty old winemaker, still tottering around through the vineyards... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 9, 2006 1:28 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Tsuki no Katsura Junmai Daiginjo Nigori Sake, Kyoto
Little kids go through a phase where they need to put everything in their mouth. I wonder what it says about me that I'm pretty much stuck there? I really enjoy trying out new wines and sakes, especially those that are well off the beaten path. So when Beau Timkin, the owner of True Sake in San Francisco handed me this bottle and said "check this out" I couldn't resist. After all, it was the sake equivalent of....well.....(if you'll excuse what may be a somewhat obscure (to you) Japanese animation reference) Howl's Moving Castle. This sake is: 1. Nigori -... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 26, 2006 9:46 PM
- Filed under: Sake , Wines under $20
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2005 Boutari Moschofilero, Mantinia (Peloponnese), Greece
OK. So I'm on a bit of a Greek wine kick these days. Trying to poke my nose into potentially up-and-coming wine regions. Although, as I've mentioned, Greece would be entering perhaps it's "third time around" as a major global wine region. Certainly there's a lot of wine made in Greece, but less than historical times, and only some of it is gradually winning acclaim on the world market for being high quality. Quality seems like it has two ways of building in the marketplace of any wine region, at the well-financed hands of the big guys, and in the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 19, 2006 10:56 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
- Comments (3) - TrackBacks (1) - Permalink
Pey-Marin Vineyards, Marin: Current Releases
I love watching the wine world evolve. In particular I enjoy seeing new wines spring up like the proverbial dragon's teeth, sown by the visionary and the lucky in sometimes surprising places. I harbor the private theory that great wines can be grown in a lot more places than they currently are. Which is why I'm thrilled to explore wines from the fringes of the known winegrowing world, such as Malbec from the far southern reaches of Patagonia, or perhaps closer to home, Alsatian varietals grown in Marin county. Marin County wine? Those unfamiliar with the San Francisco Bay Area... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 11, 2006 4:01 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2004 Argyros Estate "Barrel Select" White Wine, Santorini, Greece
I go out of my way to taste wines from up-and-coming, out of the way, and generally obscure wine regions. I never know what I'm going to find, and sometimes I'm really surprised. Greece can hardly be considered any of those things, perhaps with the exception of up-and-coming, but if one were to be wholly accurate you'd have to say "up-and-coming, again." The Greeks have been making wine for a long long time (since roughly 1600 BC), though unfortunately their reputation as winemakers suffered a setback in the 1960's with the dramatic rise in popularity of retsina, a white wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 2, 2006 9:59 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2004 Kiona Vineyards Late Harvest Riesling, Red Mountain, Washington
Frequent readers know that I'm not the greatest fan of dessert wines. Most sweet wines just don't have enough acidity to keep me from feeling like I'm drinking syrup, and many are just too sweet for me to take. Even though I had a huge sweet tooth as a kid, these days it's pretty easy for less than stellar dessert wine to push me into the zone where I feel like I ought to be taking insulin pills along with each sip. Dessert wines, however, are certainly one of the wine world's most hedonistic pleasures. When they are good, I... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 9, 2006 5:10 PM
- Filed under: Dessert Wine , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2004 Palmina Pinot Grigio, Santa Barbara County
You know how some entrepreneurs seem to start businesses in their sleep? They create a company, make it profitable or sell it to someone, and then it seems like a week into their "vacation" they're starting another one, and another. The most successful of these seem to have the Midas touch, with each business more successful than the last, as if they can't help but make tons of money. There's an analogue to this type of personality in the wine world, and it is readily demonstrated by one Steve Clifton. Clifton is best known for his partnership in Brewer-Clifton wines... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 22, 2006 5:11 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2003 Movia Ribolla Gialla, Brda, Slovenia
I am, like many of you readers, supremely lucky to be able to buy and to drink a wide variety of wines. Certainly the selection of wines here in California is exceptional, unfettered as we are from state-run liquor monopolies. Despite such an abundance of wines from all over the world, it never ceases to amaze me how many people seem to be stuck in the rut of only ever drinking a few basic California-produced varietals. While the number of different types of wine produced in California is growing all the time, it still pales in comparison to somewhere like... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 1, 2006 10:46 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
- Comments (6) - TrackBacks (1) - Permalink
Cumulus Wines, Orange, Australia: Current Releases
Where exactly on earth is Orange? Sounds like the beginning of either a children's riddle or a dirty joke. But it's a very interesting question, especially if you care about Australian wine Orange is the most interesting Australia appellation that I've never heard of. Interestingly, it's one of the closest appellations to Sydney, but somehow has never made it out of the shadow of its elder sibling, the Hunter Valley. Yet this craggy region, marked by extinct volcanoes and plunging hills, is one of Australia's highest altitude and coolest winegrowing zones, and to a certain type of winemaker and wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 22, 2006 11:29 PM
- Filed under: Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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