Building A Case For Value

It's not that often these days where I am actively working the sales floor at the store. However in the past and when I help out on the big holidays at Divine Wine, a customer presents me the following:

"Hi! I would like to buy a case of wine, but I am not sure what I want. Can you help me?"

Yes! This is what I do. It's my livelihood. I always get excited at the opportunity to send customers home with 12 bottles of wine that (hopefully) they will enjoy with friends, family, colleagues, or just by themselves on a random Wednesday night.

Now, there is a key component to the statement above: "I am not sure what I want." In general, wine drinkers know what they like, but in this instance I get the impression that my customers are hesitant to step outside of their comfort zone. After all, they are buying a full case of wine so people are investing their hard-earned dollars in me and my recommendations. Of course if you choose to make your own choices, which you are perfectly capable of doing, I won't treat you as if you were having a touch time choosing a dozen donuts:

No matter whether you decide to choose specific wines on your own or ask me for help, I have a way for you to structure how you go about purchasing a case of wine. For today, I am focusing on the everyday/value bottles. Consider this to be the $120-$150 range when all is said and done. Keep in mind that many retailers will take anywhere from 10-20% off of a purchase of a case of wine with the ability to mix and match how you see fit. Let's dive into some things to consider when building your case from a perspective of seeking value.

Find your brands:

As much as I love to show you something from a small artisanal producer from some remote corner of France, the fact is that your larger, well-known brands will be easy to come by. Additionally, depending on the size of the retail store, their purchasing power will dictate how low they can keep prices. So you might encounter that Alamos Malbec, Blackstone Merlot, Concha y Toro Chilean red blend for a very inexpensive price already, all of which make great house wines or something you can offer a guest at a party who is looking to have something familiar. You can score some of your favorite brands for as little as $7 per bottle in some places. However...

Include some lesser-known regions and grape varieties:

Know what Corbieres is? In context of this post, who cares? Just know that some great Cinsault-based pink wine is being made here for $12.

If you are shopping at a good store offering the combination of knowledgeable and friendly customer service, chances are high that the overwhelming majority of wines on the shelves will be at minimum, drinkable and at best, very exciting. So if you see a red wine from Portugal made with Touriga Nacional for $10, grab it. A rosé from Languedoc, France made with Cinsault for $12? Get it. A South African Chenin Blanc for $10? Go for it. There are tons of examples from Italy and Spain, too. Piedmont and Tuscany get tons of love (and accompanying higher prices to match) in Italy, but Puglia, Sicily, and the Veneto regions can frequently offer you significant value. Additionally, Spain still has an incredible quality-to-price ratio, maybe the best of any country right now. There is a ton to choose from.

Find "declassified" wines from a European producer:

Naming conventions and labeling rules for wines in Europe will often refer to a geography, which is most evident in the wines of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Lets say you have a producer of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a specific wine zone in the Rhône Valley of France with a set of rules for making wine. Chances are that the same producer might make a wine from a larger area, different grape varieties than are permitted in the "Grand Vin" of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or less stringent production rules to make a Côtes du Rhône wine, costing you a fraction of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Côtes du Rhône is a broader geographical area with more flexibility in rules for producing wines.

Another example comes from the Loire Valley. Sancerre's white wines are made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc in the Sancerre region. However, if the wine is made from vines outside of Sancerre, or don't adhere to technical aspects like vine age or yield control, then the wine might be labeled "Vin de France Sauvignon Blanc" such as the example below from Domaine de la Perriere.

Both wines are made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes from the same property owner, but the Sancerre is costing you $25. The one labeled Sauvignon Blanc? $10. This is a great way to go value-hunting. It might take a little digging around and a bit of research, but finding this kind of information will help save you several dollars.

Don't forget sparkling wine!

Look, we can't drink Champagne all the time, nor should Champagne and other sparkling wines only be reserved for special occasions. A bottle of bubbly as part of your case is a must-have. Best of all, you can find a fruity sparkling wine like Prosecco, or you can find Cava (Spain's sparkling wine made using Champagne's process, but with native grape varieties) can often be found at a bargain. For less than $15, you can spot one of each without a problem. Then you can pop the cork anytime you see fit, because you will have a bottle on-hand and ready to go, special occasion to celebrate, or not.

Why don't we do this...let's take some of these wines and stick them in the box. Then we'll add a few more, total it up, and you will see how you can build your mixed case of goodies to take home. Prices are approximate, and I will use 10% as the case discount as a conservative estimate. These are all wines I have tried and would recommend to anyone looking for a solid variety pack case that includes many styles of wines.

Mionetto Il Prosecco Brut, $11, a simple, easy-drink bottle of fruity sparkler, great for casual parties and Mimosas.

Fonseca Twin Vines Vinho Verde, $8, Vinho Verde is a light, low-alcohol, slightly fizzy citrusy wine from the northeastern corner of Portugal.

La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc, $10, this is the declassified Sancerre from above

Cantine Paolini Sicilia Pinot Grigio, $10, this Sicilian Pinot Grigio has some flavor to it, with melon and tropical fruit.

Tormentoso Old Vine Paarl (South Africa) Chenin Blanc, $13, try some Chenin Blanc as a Chardonnay alternative, plus a wine from South Africa. A region and a grape that deserves your love and attention.

Domaine Sainte Eugenie Corbieres Rose, $12, an unbelievably fruit-but-dry rose wine from southern France. Provence, for all of its delicate fruit and herbs that I really enjoy, does not have the fruit-forwardness of this wine.

Parolvini Barone Nero Veneto Red Blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Refosco, Malbec), $12, an interesting blend that includes the native northeastern Italian variety of Refosco, which has a leathery, violet-scented character. It plays so well with the deep, dark fruit of the other two grapes, and it's not every day you see Malbec being grown in Italy.

Azul Portugal Douro Red Blend, $11, a blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Touriga Franca. All of these grapes go into Port wines, but when vinified as a dry wine, it gives you plenty of structure and fruit with a bit of smokiness.

Domaine Bousquet Mendoza Malbec, $11, there is a proliferation of Argentine Malbecs out there, and for the money Bousquet delivers so well.

Bodegas Atalaya Almansa Laya Red Blend, $10, this is a blend of Monastrell (a powerful, dense, chewy high-alcohol red wine variety), and Garnacha Tintorera (one of the few red varieties whose pulp and juice is red also).

Concha Y Toro Casillero del Diablo Winemaker's Red Blend, $10, an easy-drinking staple in the large Chilean Concha y Toro winery's lineup. Fresh black fruit, licorice, and a touch of green bell pepper.

Gnarly Head 1924 Lodi Red Blend, $10, an opulent, blackberry jam and raisiny wine that is very soft on the palate.

Total for the 12 wines is $128. Take 10% off, and that's $115.20. Connecticut sales tax is 6.35%, so that gets us to a grand total of $122.52. That puts us in the lower range of what I categorized above. You are getting a nice spread of regions and grape varieties in this, too. Keep in mind that I have also listed these in order of how you might want to taste them if you were to do an absurd 12-bottle flight!

Hopefully, this gives you a great starting point in building your own case, but as always you know where to find me if you have questions. Good luck!

Fun To Say, Fun To Drink: Soave

Going by the intro picture above, you can clearly tell that while I really enjoy researching and presenting wine and spirits to you, I also don't take myself too seriously. You know that I will go for the obvious pun every now and then, and today is no different. For you teenagers of the 1990s, you know this artist as Gerardo, the constantly shirtless flash-in-the-pan rapper who blessed us all with the smash hit, "Rico Suave." You may be asking yourself, "Tony...what is wrong with you? How are you going to work this into a meaningful wine discussion?"

Actually, Gerardo's brief popularity may have played a part in reversing the fortunes of a wine region teetering on the edge of irrelevance in the United States. You see, the northern Italian wine zone of Soave (so-AH-vay) was once a major hit in this country thanks to the marketing of Bolla after World War II. By the 1970s, Bolla's TV ads for its Soave (a white wine) along with its red counterpart Valpolicella were everywhere.

Here is a pause for you to go click the link above to see for yourself. These things are pure gold. This one is also fabulous in all of its 1970s glory.

The wines gained a reputation for being bland, flabby, and flavorless, but they were inexpensive and easy to knock back in quantity, leading to it being the top-selling brand in the United States in the 1970s. However, as quickly as Soave rose to the top, it fell out of favor just as fast thanks to Pinot Grigio's ascent. When our bare-chested heartthrob's one-hit wonder was released in 1991, I have no facts that suggest Soave producers saw that as a wake-up call to restore its good name (which it always had locally), but I'm just sayin'! Maybe it forced them to take a hard look at how they were going to continue doing business in their export markets.

Soave's Production Zones, for your educational amusement. Image credit: Casa del Vino

Above: smurf-hating wizard Gargamel. Below: nutty and textured Garganega. Try not to confuse the two.

With that said, some revisions were made in Soave's classification system in the early 2000's. Distinctions were made within the large Soave region (originally given an official appellation in 1968), which had grown from 2,700 acres in the 1920s to over 14,000 acres. The "Soave Classico" region, the traditional heartland for making this style of wine, was restricted to the hillsides, which led to better-quality wines than those wines made from grapes on the flat, fertile plains (where a lot of the cheap 1970s stuff came from). A grape called Garganega (gar-gah-NAY-gah), a thick-skinned white grape whose texture resembles Chardonnay, must make up at least 70% of the blend, while Trebbiano di Soave and/or Chardonnay makes up no more than 30% of the blend. Other local varieties, such as Friulano and Cortese, can be included in up to 5% of the blend.

"Soave Superiore" follows similar rules as Soave Classico, but Pinot Bianco can be used. Even though many vineyards from the Classico region are used to make Superiore wines, some do extend outside the Classico region, but are located on hillsides that lead to good quality wines. These wines are labelled as "Soave Colli Scaligeri;" you may not see this often, but I am just preparing you in case you encounter it in your wine explorations. This region was named "referencing the hills around Verona that used to belong to the noble Scaligeri family that were Lords of Verona for many years." [Source: The Oxford Companion to Wine, Third Edition] There are also sweet, late-harvest versions called "Recioto di Soave," which I honestly have not experienced much, but probably should place that on my to-do list.

Bolla and large cooperative wineries own a significant percentage of business here; they make up at least 90% of all Soave production. The good news is that quality is so much better than it once was. Cantina di Soave is one well-regarded cooperative that makes many brands, but universally produces easy-drinking, but flavorful, wines. Smaller, family-owned wineries generally produce more expensive wines, but they will have additional layers of flavor. Acidity is not as high in Soave wines as they are in many other Italian white varieties, so the wines generally feel softer on the palate. No matter which way you go, Soave is great with seafood with its aromatic, citrusy quality; I find herbed mussels, clams, and scallops, or anything with pesto sauce, to be fine partners for Soave wines. Soave Classico tends to show a nuttiness to it, almondy in fact, so an almond-crusted sturdy white fish will work nicely with it.

So go ahead...put on your Z. Cavaricci pants while blasting "Rico Suave" and thank the guy who ushered in a Soave Renaissance (at least in my own mind) by trying these wines. All are meant to be consumed within a year or two, so find the latest vintage you can.

Rocca Sveva Soave Classico ($15): A great way to introduce yourself to this style of wine, Rocca Sveva is made by Cantina di Soave from 100% Garganega. The Rocca Sveva has honeydew, grapefruit, and Granny Smith apple flavors; this is a leaner, style with more acidity, but this will be very refreshing on a hot day with lighter foods. A great Pinot Grigio alternative, a piece of proscuitto on crusty bread is all you need with this wine.

Inama Soave Classico ($17): Another that is 100% Garganega, Inama has long been a choice that I offer those looking for the Chardonnay alternative. This is not as fruity as the Rocca Sveva, but does have a white peach/nectarine thing going on among the range of flowers on the nose and minerals/almonds on the palate. There is a silkiness to this wine that I enjoy with texture of scallops.

Cantina Prà Soave Classico "Otto" ($22): A full-bodied expression of Garganega, Grapes come from vineyards with 30-60 year old vines, leading to intense fruit concentration. The Otto has lemons, golden apples, apricots, plenty of floral aromas, and a wet stone flavor (yes...wet stones!), with a long-lasting nutty finish.