VINOGRAPHY: a wine blog
Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world
~ Recently in Wines under $20 Category ~
2007 Morgan "Metallico" Chardonnay, Monterey
It's not a huge leap from veterinary medicine to winemaking, and that leap is made even shorter when you're enrolled at UC Davis which happens to be the top school in the nation for both. Dan Lee initially thought he wanted to work with animals, but a few courses as electives during his vet school tenure were enough to convince him to immediately enroll in the Enology program as soon as he finished his undergraduate degree. While he still loves animals, Dan hasn't looked back, graduating and continuing on to become a winemaker for Jekel and Durney (now Heller... continue reading 
- Posted by: Alder on April 29, 2009 9:41 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2005 François Blanchard "Violoncelite" Cabernet Franc, Touraine, France
Perhaps some of the most interesting wines in the world are made by cranks, crackpots, and wackos -- iconoclasts that keep time to their own secret rhythms and make wine in ways that often make sense only to them. You might say that I'm a collector of such wines and winemakers, in the same way that young boys collect baseball cards. And today I'll add another to my growing menagerie of eccentric visionaries that make extraordinary wine. François Blanchard is a jazz musician who one day found himself the owner of his family's (somewhat decrepit) wine estate and decided that... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 25, 2009 11:04 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Croatian Wine: Some Tasting Notes
There are a lot of wine regions I have yet to visit in the world, and with a young child I don't think I'll be getting to many in the next few years. But now that I've ticked South Africa off the list (a list that I've never really sat down to write), the region at the top may very well be Croatia. And this was before I tasted through the recent case of Croatian wines that arrived on my doorstep. Now that I've tasted them, I'm kicking myself for not dragging myself and Ruth there while we were childless.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 13, 2009 11:03 PM
- Filed under: Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2007 Rosemount Estate Show Reserve Chardonnay, Mudgee, Australia
In this day and age of farmers markets, boutique stores, and micro-breweries, it's easy for the upwardly mobile wine lover to forget that there are a lot of great wines on the market that are made in quantities well north of 5000 cases. There are big wine companies that make great wine, and big wine companies that make lousy wine. And some that do both. I've had mixed luck with Rosemount Estate wines throughout the years. I've had some wines that were everything I wanted them to be, and others that sent me running for the hills. In particular I... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 22, 2008 10:33 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2006 Handley Cellars "Hein Vineyard" Pinot Blanc, Anderson Valley
California's Anderson Valley remains one of its least known and most under-appreciated wine regions. In particular I believe it to be under-appreciated for its Pinot Noir, in particular, and in some cases, its Alsatian varieties of wine. I offer a slight caveat to the latter because while Anderson Valley is certainly known for producing wines in the style and varieties of those found in Alsace, France, in my experience they are mixed in quality. But when winemakers manage to get things right, Anderson Valley can produce some stunning examples of wines that might, in the right circumstances be mistaken for... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 8, 2008 11:28 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2007 York Creek Vineyards Touriga Nacional Rose, Sonoma County
One of my favorite punching bags in the world is the sorry state of California rosé. For some reason, winemakers just don't seem to be able to produce the beautifully dry, crisp, tart rosés that I have come to expect from southern France, southern Italy, and northern Spain. These Mediterranean wines are the benchmark for rosé, and most American wines fall quite short. Which is why I'm so enthusiastic when I discover pink wines that are made well in this country. And when they're made of exotic grape varieties, so much the better! If you gave me three guesses as... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 28, 2008 9:59 PM
- Filed under: Pink Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Ohyama Tokubetsu Junmai Nigori, Yamagata Prefecture
We all understand the power of brands. There was likely a time for most Americans alive to day when we used "Reynolds Wrap" when we meant aluminum foil. Some of us still say Kleenex instead of tissue and Xerox instead of photocopy. When one company pioneers a product that becomes so ubiquitous and common, it's likely that the name will stick, even when we're no longer using the original product. There was a time in Japan's history when sake was more easily referred to as Oyamazake, for exactly the same reasons. In 1882, the Shogun commanded that a sake... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 29, 2008 11:21 PM
- Filed under: Sake , Wines under $20
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2005 Veramonte "Primus" Red Wine, Casablanca Valley, Chile
It's hard to believe that in the early 1990's less than 100 acres of vineyards were planted in Chile's Casablanca valley. In little more than two decades, this region of Chile has surged in growth and popularity, and is currently producing excellent wines that generally represent fantastic values on the world market. The region is currently home to more than 10,000 acres of vineyards. Back when the grape acreage was still in the triple digits Agustin Huneeus decided that the Casablanca valley was one of Chile's most promising wine regions, and that he needed to start making wine there. Not... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 25, 2008 10:18 PM
- Filed under: Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2004 Chateau du Rouet "Cuvee Belle Poule" Blanc, Cotes de Provence, France
I drink wine from as many different countries as I can, as often as I can. I firmly believe that the only way I keep learning anything as a wine lover will be through continued exploration. There are times, though, when searching out new countries, grape varieties, and appellations just takes too much energy. At times like these, usually after a long week, I just want a nice meal and a good glass of wine to go with it. Like most people in these situations of part-exhaustion, I tend to stick to the predictable -- the least risky choice that... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 21, 2008 10:47 PM
- Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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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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