SUMMER FAVORITES 5/26/10

Hey Mambo Swanky White – California, 2008
$15 per bottle, $12 case price Swanky is a good word to describe this bone-dry, acidic blend of Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Muscat and Sauvignon Blanc. It shows a swirl of citrus, peach, apple and wildflower flavors that are frankly delicious, a classic California white wine at an everyday price. 90 points Wine Enthusiast for ’07

Robert Oatley Rosé of Sangiovese – Mudgee, Australia, 2008
Bottle $15 Case Price $12
Medium body with a fruit forward nose of peach, with apricot, vanilla,
pear and mint on the palate. Lovely for spring.
Wine Spectator & Wine & Spirits 88 points

Red Guitar Tempranillo/Garnacha – Navarro, Spain, 2008
Bottle $14 Case Price $11
A wonderfully complex bouquet of cherries, leather and even a touch of earthiness, with explosive raspberry fruit characters and soft tannins. Together, these varieties combine to produce a wonderfully dense, powerful wine with loads of black fruit, ripe raspberry and a smooth, long finish.

Budini Malbec – Mendoza, 2009 Bottle $14 Case $12
Very dark garnet, black at the center, appealing black-cherry and berry aromas are typical of good. fruit-forward Argentine Malbec. It hits the palate with a brief impression of luscious softness, but that’s quickly pulled back with lemon-squirt acidity and barely perceptible tannins, finishing clean, long and dry.

Case price available on mixed cases. Next tasting: Wed, June 2. New wines by the glass

This post is for Marilyn!

According to Lettie Teague in the Wall St. Journal, a wedding runs about $30,000 and most of that is spent on the ring, the dress and the flowers (hear that Pam?) And the wine? Lettie says she’s often wished that the centerpiece was a spit bucket instead.

But wedding wine shouldn’t be expensive or too precious. It’s hard to savor a wine properly while dancing to “Brick House.”

Lettie offers 5 tips for choosing wines for a wedding:

Taste at least 10 wines, 5 red, 5 white before choosing.

Buy a good sparkling wine but don’t waste money on Champagne. No one ever asks to see the label.

If you bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee you will almost always pay much less than if you had chosen from the house list. (Not true at Flight though. Buy multiple bottles through us for a discount, add $10 corkage fee and it’s still cheaper than buying elsewhere and bringing it in.)

Choose a wine with the widest appeal that also will go well with food. Fairly fruity, light bodied with good acidity.

Six affordable, appealing and widely available wines Lettie recommends:

2006 Monte Antico Rosso $10

2008 Inama Soave Classico $15

Roederer Estate Brut nonvintage Sparkling wine $19

2005 Château Greysac Medoc $15

2009 Spy Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc $15

2009 Scholss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner $15

Actually, the wine produced by these Argentine women, is so delicious, you really don’t care who made it, but you do come away after reading this article, believing — I’m sure this is sexist — that woman are more concerned with quality, not quantity as perhaps their male counterparts are, or at least, were.

Women Change Focus of Wine Making in Argentina

“Susana Balbo (pictured above) is to Argentine wine what Martha Stewart is to homemaking and Oprah Winfrey is to media in the United States. Together with Laura Catena and Anabelle Sielecki, she has helped to change the focus of the Argentina’s centuries-old industry from quantity to quality.”

Nan said she loves Rhone reds and odd blends such as some of the Rhone-style Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre wines from California’s Rhone Rangers in Paso Robles. She is crazy about Oregon Pinot Noir, but her recession retreat wines would be Shiraz from Jacob’s Creek in Australia or anything from Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington State. A Zinfandel under $15 from California such as Cline or Windmill would also make her happy.

Check out the entire article in Bold Life here.

Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc is #9 with 96 points!

We also have these on the list:

#19 Landmark Steel Plow Syrah 94 points#32 Colome Malbec 92 points
#47 Orin Swift The Prisoner 92 points
#69 Catena Malbec 91 points
#77 Gloria Ferrer Brut 90 points
#82 D’Arenburg The Stump Jump 90 points

How about a top 100 wine dinner? Let us hear from you if you like this idea.

The Wine Spectator, October 15 issue, lists 500 great buys in wine right now. Some are grocery store wines (Barefoot, Little Penguin), some are boxed wines which according to WS, are getting better and better and some you can get by the case from Flight. (828-694-1030).

Reds- 90 points and higher

Peter Lehmann – Shiraz Barossa 2006. 91 $16

Yalumba – Grenache Barossa Bush Vine 2008 90 $17

White – 90 points and higher

Villa Maria, Riesling Marlborough Private Bin 2008 91 $18

Beaulieu Vineyard, Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros 2007 90 $17

Chateau St. Michelle is Washington State’s values powerhouse for both red and white wines, according to WS.

Find a good wine shop, set a budget of $120 for a case. (We’ve had four children at Chapel Hill, one is still there and $120 for a case of wine made my eyebrows go through the ceiling, but I digress) That averages $10 a bottle (and should last them a semester, no?). It’s cost effective though — you’ll likely get a case discount and you will have better wine than if you rushed out to by a bottle at the last minute.
Taste and take notes! Make certain to get all the information like vintage year as wines can vary greatly by year. Sip and enjoy!

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, authors of the column, “Tastings” in the Wall St. Journal offer 5 tasty wines in big jugs for just those times:

Concha y Toro “Frontera” Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Chile) about $9. “This wine is a steal!”

Barefoot Cellars Pinot Grigio Nonvintage (CA) about $11.

Folonari Soave 2007 (Italy) about $12

Bolla Bardolino 2007 (Italy) about $14

Citra Montepulciano d”Abruzzo 2007 (Italy) about $10

/>Iron Horse Vineyards

The Russian River Valley Pinot Forum invites 60 sommeliers each summer to join 20 wineries to learn what makes the Russian River Valley area of Sonoma County, California, so special for growing grapes and making world class wine. Flight’s sommelier, Nan Jennings, attended last month, and the answer is “Fog.” Napa and Sonoma are parallel valleys and look like they would have the same climate, but Sonoma, especially the Russian River Valley, is visited almost every morning by a thick layer of fog off the Pacific. This keeps the grapes cooler and more moist, perfect for Pinot Noir.
This is your expression after sampling Pinots all day! Nan Jennings and Elliot Chandler

Gala Pinot Forum events included a lavish dinner at MacMurray Ranch Winery, with a tour of Fred (My Three Sons) MacMurray’s home, and Bacchanalia, Mardi Gras beads and all, at Arista Winery, with workshops and tours of many other wineries during the days.

Merry Edwards and Nan Jennings

Here they are in order of rating:

88 Penfolds Chardonnay South Australia Koonunga Hill 2007 $11

88 Yalumba Viognier South Australia The Y Series 2008 $10

87 Fetzer Chardonnay California Valley Oaks 2008 $9

87 Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio Vigneti delle Dolomiti 2008 $10

87 Oxford Landing Chardonnay South Australia 2008 $9

87 Snap Dragon Chardonnay California 2007 $8

87 La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Ventoux 2007