The news is not good for those of us who love cheap wine. There wasn’t a whole lot of it worth drinking in 2007, and the ranks of the $10 Wine Hall of Fame have been reduced as we celebrate the Advocate’s sixth annual Cheap Wine Extravaganza.
Gone from the Hall are the Big Round red, white and pink. The brand was sold last year, and the new owner makes decent-enough wine, but it’s standard grocery store stuff that lacks the style that distinguished the old Big House labels. Two red wines that I wanted to add – Beaulieu’s Beauzeaux and Altano’s Douro – didn’t make it. The former didn’t release a new vintage locally, while the latter was flat and flabby compared to previous years.
The weak dollar didn’t help the cause, either, so I added a room on the Hall for imported wine whose price was pushed up by currency woes: “If you can find them for $10, buy them.”
The Hall did add three Gascon white wines – Domaine Duffour, Domaine des Cassagnoles, and Domaine D’Uby. These are made with less well-known grapes from a very less well-known part of France, which is why they’re less expensive. With that in mind, here’s the rest of this year’s Hall of Fame:
• The $10 wines from California’s Bogle Vineyards, and especially the petite sirah.
• Osborne Solaz, the Spanish red and white blends (though the red was a bit below its usual standard this year).
• Benziger Fume Blanc, the California winery’s version of sauvignon blanc.
• Italy’s Falesco Vitiano, which produces a solid rose, an even more solid white blend, and a stunning red blend made of sangiovese, cabernet and merlot.
• Cristalino, the Spanish sparkling wine, which comes in brut (dry), extra dry (sweeter than brut) and rose.
• California’s Toad Hollow pinot noir rose.
• The unoaked chardonnay and the petite sirah from California’s Jewell Collection.
If you can find them for $10, buy them:
• Chateau Ducla and Chateau Bonnet, white blends from Bordeaux.
• Domaine Pichot Vouvray, a French chenin blanc.
• Lindauer Brut, a sparkling wine from New Zealand.
