by Fredric Koeppel
The Commercial Appeal Today we continue our theme of inexpensive wines, turning to reds of many sorts. Let's arrange them by state or region or country, for no other reason than that's a way to do it.
These wines aren't intended for collectors of serious, full-bodied wines or for connoisseurs who want only Bordeaux First Growths or California Wonder Cabernets. They're for the regular Joe or Jane looking for an easy-to-drink wine for an unpretentious dinner. A few of these wines also represent value beyond their price.
California
Bonny Doon's Ca'da Solo Big House Red, non-vintage, is big and red indeed, a simple but smoky, ripe and spicy blend of Rhone Valley grape varieties. Try it with pizza or hamburgers. Very good-. About $10.
Though an austere finish is more demanding than it ought to be, the Parducci Vineyard Select Pinot Noir 1998, Mendocino, is otherwise fragrant with smoke, minerals and black cherry scents and offers a pleasing texture with tasty cherry and cranberry flavors. Good. About $11.
Or pay a buck more for Parducci's Vineyard Select Sangiovese 1997, Mendocino, whose raspberry-strawberry fruit scents and flavors, tea-like earthiness and moderately dense texture make for a pleasant if undistinguished quaff. Good. About $12.
Of three reds California-designated from Ironstone Vineyard - a Zinfandel 1998, a Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 and a Shiraz 1997 - the best are the cabernet, which offers coffee and cedar qualities, a gloss of dried herbs and spicy black cherry and black currant flavors, and the zinfandel, a wine infused with blackberries, blueberries and black currants and with a nice smoky-earthy-minerally character and surprisingly firm structure for the price. These two rate Good and sell for about $9.
With its hearty structure, bright raspberry-cassis flavors and minerally elements, the well-made Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 1996, Napa Valley, is an attractive drink with red meat dishes, pizzas and pastas. About $11.
Not quite 100 percent cabernet - there's 3 percent zinfandel - the Seven Peaks Cabernet Sauvignon 1997, Central Coast, should not be missed for its bouquet of vanilla and violets, smoke and minerals and ripe, roasted raspberry and cassis; it's dense and chewy with oak and polished tannin, and displays lots of black fruit flavors but also plenty of forest floor. It cries out for steak or lamb chops. Very good. About $13.
Australia
Rated Very Good-, the Wolf Blass Shiraz 1997, South Australia, is an uncomplicated but pure manifestation of the grape's fleshy blackberry jam nature. More detailed and satisfying is the Wolf Blass "Red Label" Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1997, South Australia. Composed of 75 percent shiraz and 25 percent cabernet, this wine opens with a warm bouquet of spice, minerals, vanilla, blueberry-cranberry-blackberry scents touched with leather and cedar; these qualities carry into the mouth, where they 're supported by tannin and oak. Very good. Each about $12.
You may need to twist a few arms to find the Barwang Shiraz 1998, South Eastern Australia, which offers amazing quality for the price. Incredibly bright and vivid in the nose, with enticing raspberry-blackberry-blueberry scents, and remarkably firm and structured in the mouth, intense and chewy with black fruit flavors resonant with violets and black pepper, at about $8 this wine is definitely a Great Bargain.
Argentina
Last week, I was enthusiastic about the Chardonnay-Semillon 1997 from Bodegas Balbi. This week, I recommend the winery's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1997, Mendoza, an intense smoky, tarry, cassis and black cherry-scented-and-flavored wine that goes down smoothly without being a lightweight. Rated Good. About $10.
Newly imported to this country are rustic wines from the San Telmo concern in Argentina's Mendoza region. The San Telmo Merlot 1999 displays a rich bouquet of coffee, tobacco, dried thyme, black cherry, licorice and creamy oak and a firm texture whose spicy, foresty elements bolster raspberry and cassis flavors. Very good. It's several degrees more palatable than San Telmo's intense, spicy, earthy, minerally and austere Malbec 1999. Good. Each about $10.
Italy
Last week, I loved the Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 1998, but I'm not so eager to recommend the company's red wines, with one exception. I found Ecco Domani's Barbera d'Alba 1997, Sangiovese di Toscana '97 and Pinot Noir delle Venezie '97 to be weirdly atypical of their grapes and styles. I will endorse, however, the Ecco Domani Cabernet Sauvignon delle Venezie 1998, a fresh, smoky and minerally wine, flush with cassis and blueberry scents and flavors, enticing with spice and dried flowers . Very good. About $10.
Portugal
We don't often hear about the tinta roriz and touriga nacional grapes, but they 're the varieties that make up the tasty Duas Quintas 1996, made by the Ramos-Pinto firm in Portugal's Douro valley, where the company also grows grapes for fine ports. The Duas Quintas '96 is clean and fresh while being dark, minerally, ripe and roasted and bursting with cranberry-cassis scents.
These qualities merge in the mouth, where they turn roasted and fleshy, touched with smoke, tobacco and cola, and are supported with medium body and a long finish. I actually like this wine better than its cousin, the Duas Quintas Reserva 1994 , which sells for about $27. The cheaper wine, priced at about $11, rates Very Good and is the Pick of the Week.
(E-mail koeppel@gomemphis.com or write The Commercial Appeal, PO Box 134, Memphis, TN 38101.)
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