January 2007

Sometimes it’s really nice to open up a bottle of wine you don’t have to think about. Just uncork, pour, and sip with whatever you’re having, and know it will manage just fine regardless of whether you have a rack of lamb or mac and cheese on your plate.

Naturally, if you go to the trouble and expense of roasting a rack of lamb, you’ll probably spend similar time and money on a wine. So really I’m talking more about the other side of the spectrum: the mac and cheese, tacos, pizza, and similarly cheap, quick, and easy meals. Do you really need to stare at your wine rack, trying to figure out which vintage of cru bourgeoise will match with the Ortega taco sauce? Of course not.

That’s why there are wines such as El Paseo Red, a 100% Tempranillo from the Valencia region of Spain. Its bright and colorful label evokes the same fun and thoughtlessness that’s inside the bottle. Pour it into a glass and you immediately enjoy aromas of plum and jam with hints of earth and spice, followed by a fruit-forward palate filled with red and purple fruit flavors: grape jam, mild earth, black pepper, and overripe / cooked berries. Acidity and tannins are medium, balancing out the fruit. A touch hot with alcohol in the finish, but not so much to be a turn-off. Ripe raspberry and a touch of vanilla spice in the finish. The acid and tannin levels are just enough to make this a good food wine. It will match well with a variety of meats, grilled dishes, simple fare (burgers, mac and cheese, etc.).

Bottom line: it’s a simple red wine at an appropriately low price (about seven or eight bucks, or less). A decent “everyday” table wine, and/or a good choice for adding to sauces, gravies, and marinades. And nothing to think about.

a-6 t-6 b-8 fc-9 v-7 ~ 86 points

US Importer: Precept Brands | Winery website: El Paseo

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Over the last 25 years or so, the island of Sicily has tranformed itself from an overgrown grape juice factory into a hotbed for cutting edge, superripe, fine wines. Its long, arid, sweltering summers allow for extreme ripening of grapes, thus producing ripe, dense, fruit-packed wines. In the last decade some remarkable (and expensive) Sicilian wines have stunned the wine world, but the island is also becoming known as a place for great values.

One of these is this red wine from the Colosi winery — Colosi Rosso — which retails for under 10 bucks. It has a somewhat closed nose at first, but if you give it some time it will eventually produce aromas of sour cherry, sour cranberry, and a touch of plum. In the mouth it has a ripe, fresh, open fruit flavor — cherry again, along with jammy red raspberry, black raspberry, plum, and pomegranate. It displays good depth, with mild hints of earth and tar, and has a smooth texture, with medium tannins.

I originally discovered this wine about four years ago, and though the acid and tannin levels seem to fluctuate according to the vintage (in some years, this wine may remind you of Chianti), the fruit has always been ripe and buying a bottle has never been a disappointment. Try it with chicken fricasee or chicken pot pie, or with meals based on turkey or lean ground turkey. It�s also enjoyable on its own — consider it with simple frozen-food type appetizers (hot poppers, pigs in blankets, mini-pizza). Because of the juicy jammy fruit, this might be a good bridge wine for transporting Yellow Tailers to real wine.

a-7 t-8 b-8 fc-7 v-9

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This wine is imported by Vias Wine

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When you are looking for a fresh-flavored, light-to-meidum-bodied, food-friendly red wine with good depth and a uniqueness based on its origins, and don’t want to spend a fortune, one region to consider is Sardninia (or Sardegna) in Italy. Perhaps best known for Cannonau (known elsewhere as Grenache or Garnacha), Sardinia still is a relatively unknown wine area outside of Italy. This is good news and bad news for wine drinkers in the US — bad because Sardinian wines are difficult to find, but good because what you do find is likely to be enjoyable and fairly priced.

The geekiest of wine geeks will be able to tell you that the wine to drink from Sardinia is the aforementioned Cannonau, but I’m telling you today that there is at least one other grape to consider: Carignano. Known as Carignan in France, the grape is often found in the same places where Grenache is grown — and used most notably in Languedoc-Roussillon in blends with Grenache and also Cinsault. In Italy, Carignano is rare — hardly found anywhere other than in Sardinia. However, it is in the Sardinian soil — particularly in the southwestern district known as Sulcis — that the grape reaches perhaps its greatest heights.

A great example of this grape from the Sulcis area is Santadi Grotta Rossa Carignano del Sulcis. If my quick brief on Sardegna didn’t interest you, maybe this will: this wine was created by the man who oversees the Santadi winery — Giacomo Tachis, better known as the winemaker from Sassicaia.

The nose of this wine shows ripe blackberry, black cherry, earth, alcohol. In the mouth, you enjoy a very smooth texture, ripe black raspberry, sweet boysenberry, and black cherry flavors upfront. Some black pepper, a touch of vanilla spice, and earthy, herbal elements appear in the midpalate and stay through the finish. Mild acidity, medium tannins. Finishes with dry black fruit, sweet tobacco, drying tannins — and lasts a lot longer than you might expect from a wine in this price range (about $10-12).

This is a nice, round, warm red with good tannins that will match well with hard cheeses, turkey burgers, poultry, and meatier fish, such as catfish and salmon. The acidity is acceptable but too low to stand up to some foods; keep it away from tomato-based dishes and fatty meats.

a-7 t-7 b-7 fc-8 v-8 ~ 87 Points

The US importer for Santadi Grotta Rossa Carignano del Sulcis is Neil Empson.

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