2010 Kirkland Signature Pinot Grigio Friuli, Italy

A seven dollar house label Pinot Grigio - how good can this be?

Apple and pear on the nose.

Excellent balance, solid acid, vanilla, pear, and a bit of peach.

More vanilla and pear on the finish.

Good Pinot Grigio is hard to find and pricey. Cheap ones tend to be flabby and dull - this one isn't great, but it's not flawed like one would expect from one of the level. Well done, Costco.

Score: 86

2007 Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

I wanted something Italian and the shelftalker assured me this cheap - $9 - bottle was something worth trying...let's see.

Raspberry and cherry on the nose - but not straight up fruit, more of a fruit jelly kind of thing.

A touch sweet, a bit earthy, a bit trashy - imagine a fruit jelly candy sitting in some coffee grounds in the trash for a few days and take a bite...there ya go.

Coffee, actually mocha, notes on the finish with cinnamon and cherry.

I like Italian wines, I dig the funk and the acid, but sometimes they get a little too out there...I fault it on the sugar, it's a bit too sweet for me to get behind, but if that's your kinda thing this may be worth investigating.

Score: 81

2001 Fontanafredda Barolo Serralunga d'Alba

On Saturday, February 26, 2011 wine nerds are celebrating Open That Bottle Night - an excuse, basically, to open that bottle of wine you've been sitting on for a special occasion that just never came. I bought this wine years ago for a good price, but the shelf talker warned me not to open it for a while, arguably it's still too early, but I knew I had to sit on it until 2011 for ten years. Retail on newer vintages is about $55. We're pairing this with some deep dish pizza - hell yeah.

Dark chocolate, maybe baking chocolate is more accurate - super dark either way - burnt tire, asphalt, and way in the background some rose perfume

Far more approachable and less funky than the nose would suggest - cherry, strawberry, nectarine - medium body, solid tannins, and still some rather firm tannins. A white tea thing, combined with a bit of black tea, comes through.

More of that white tea and almost a sourdough bread mouthfeel. Impressive length on the finish, lasts for well over a minute with cinnamon and cedar notes.

I dig it...well worth the wait.

Score: 91

2008 Carpineto Dogajolo

I wanted a cheap Italian red and found this one for nine bucks. This is a bit of a trend here at The Wineauxs - wanting cheap Italian red and snagging one at random.

Raspberry, blackberry, a bit of funk, a bit of earth - I dig it.

Blueberry. Maybe a light dusting of some brown spices, but there's not a whole lot going - nice acid, good light to mediumish body.

Some tobacco lingers, as well as some stemminess, and some earth.

At nine bucks, I don't feel ripped off - it's a simple Italian red, fine for pizza or pasta, but the fact is there are so many wines just like that...tasty, acidic, excellent with red sauce...that I'm just sort of meh about it. If I want something cheap and simple, I wouldn't avoid this, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to snag it.

Score: 84

2004 Il Colombaio de Cencio Chianti Classico i Massi

This goes for about $30 at retail, while I typically prefer cheap Chiantis (most of which are acidic, tart, and not sweet) every so often it's worth grabbing one of these mid-level ones...

Black raspberry with a white tea thing on the nose.

Cherry, tobacco, eucalyptus, a bit of cocoa....I'm thinking this may be a tad too old, it just seems flat.

Tart cherry and more eucalyptus on the finish.

Meh.

Score: 84

2007 Bruno Giacosa Dolcetto D'Alba

No recollection on this other than it apparently cost me $24. Dolcetto is in the northwest part of Italy and is the name of both the grape and region.

A somewhat mild nose with cherry, plum, and perhaps a cigar box kinda thing.

Cherry, blackberry, strawberry, plum - a lot ot fruit really - with a bit of smooth, sweet cedar. Everything flows together nicely - tannin, acid, fruit, wood - all is in very nice balance.

A fuzzy tobacco quality lingers on the finish with some ultraripe strawberry.

The wine is fairly straightforward and doesn't really have all that much depth, but it is undeniably tasty. I dig it a lot.

Score: 87

2007 Sopranos Chianti

I bought this for $10 on a whim - I enjoy tacky labels and I am a fan of cheap Chianti....I expected to not be much of a fan, but thanks to blind tasting I was kept honest.

The nose is like sniffing a cedar cigar box - big time tobacco and wood.

A firm punch of tobacco hit me immediately with this one - cedar comes out as well right away - cherry, plum, and some slightly underripe strawberry come through as well. Quite tart and acidic - a turn off for some, but I rather like the style. As the bottle opens, I do get a bit of a slightly sugary cola like quality - frequent readers know I am a sucker for cola, so this works nicely. Something I haven't gotten from a wine lately is that "garbage" quality I sometimes mention - difficult to describe and not necessarily (in fact, generally not) a bad thing. It's a weird sort of funk - a funkiness I associate with Italian wine - it is polarizing, but I quite enjoy it....kind of an earthy, smokey, barnyardy thing.

The finish is mostly - you guessed it - tobacco and cedar with a bit of red fruit, fading quickly, an ever so slight suggestion of menthol way in the back.

As a fan of cheap Chianti, you'll want to take this score with a grain of salt. I'm a bit ashamed to rate a gimmick wine so highly, but we keep it real here.

Score: 85

2006 Massarosa Frascati Superiore

She said, hey, Massarosa, baby
Keep on a workin child
This aint no time to quit
She said, go, Massarosa, baby
Keep on dancin
I'm about to have myself a fit
Massarosa, Massarosa



Thank you very much.

It's hard to pass up the ol' stab and grab when a $12 bottle is marked down to $3. I'll fly my private plane to Colorado for a Fool's Gold Loaf but I like deals on wine. There's not a whole lot of info out there about this wine other than it's a blend of two minor varietals Malvasia and Trebbiano.

A light nose that seems to mostly have a Golden Delicious apple thing going on.

This has some grassy qualities - not quite unlike a Sauvignon Blanc - as well as a bunch of minerality and some limey qualities. It's a bit bigger in body and lighter in acid than a Sauv Blanc, but it's still a rather pleasant wine. As it opens a bit, some pineapple and various tropical fruit qualities come through.

Some pear notes linger on the finish as well as a lingering buttery feel.

Respectable and for three bucks I am happy with it - perhaps a good wine to drink when you're having a little Fun in Acapulco? Perhaps working as a lifeguard? Jumping off cliffs? Pissing off a rival gangster or some sort of nonsense? You know what's a great movie? Charro.

Wine: 6
Value: Sure

2004 Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva

It's kind of a shame that the, apparently, unrelated Monsanto corporation is so evil....it's like buying a wine called Mussolini. It just feels wrong.

The nose here strikes me of mostly barnyard - funky to be sure, even some rotten banana comes through.

Smooth and somewhat heavy - not terribly acidic - loads of dark chocolate, cherry, (bordering on rotten) strawberry, tobacco, leather, cedar - pretty much everything you'd expect from a quality Chianti.

Chocolatey and tobacco notes on the finish.

This strikes me as a very well crafted bottle in a true Chianti Classico style. For $20 there's absolutely nothing to dispute here - drinking fine now but I'll bet in a few years it would be even better.

Wine: 8
Value Sure enough

N/V Verdi Spumante

This is around five bucks or so.

Giant bubbles and almost as light as a glass of water. A mild nose of orange blossoms.

Sugar water to an extreme, perhaps with a dash of peach nectar.

You know, the start of the finish is blah but then this really unpleasant sweet and sour thing happens.

This may be alright but that finish destroys it. Down the drain. I was hoping to sing Libiamo ne'lieti calici, instead I wish I was dying of consumption.

Wine: 2
Value: No

2006 Gabbiano Chianti Classico.

I believe this was $11 at Costco, which is tough to argue with.

Earth and chocolate on the nose.

Smooth drinking – cherry mostly with a bit of blackberry. Not much in terms of tannin but reasonably acidic background. In the 2006 regular Chianti I got some cola notes, and I'm getting them here too with a bit of root beer.

A short finish of earth with a tad of garbage.

While this is fine, I'm not convinced this is worth the extra $4 over the Chianti.

Wine: 6.5
Value: Pass

2007 Bolla Chianti

We had the option of seven dollars for a bottle or eleven for a double – eh, why not?

Chocolate and some spices on the nose.

On the lighter side of medium bodied, darker than I normally expect – chocolate, ripe cherries and blackberries. Good acidic backbone and reasonable tannins.

At eleven bones for a magnum, you can't really argue with this. To my palate, cheap Italian wine are consistently solid for the price – they're typically reasonably well balanced with solid acid and funk to balance out the fruit. This one is no exception. If you want to buy a larger bottle to drink over a few days, this is certainly a decent option.

Wine: 6
Value: Yep

N/V Asotria Lounge Prosecco

We haven't had luck with Proseccco - including several that are highly rated and respected, which leads me to believe that, like most Chardonnay, it's just not our style. So, why are we drinking this? Well, it's been about a year, our palates have changed, and I got swanky new Champagne glasses so I'm hoping for a surprise with this eight dollar bottle.

The nose has some bubble gum notes. There's some Japanese gum you can get at most Asian groceries – it's a collection of seven flavors – orange, grape, melon, strawberry, peach, green apple, and a seventh that has a frog on it, but no assigned “flavor” (that I can tell). This smells like that mystery gum flavor.

Light bodied, crisp, pineapple, just a tad bit sweet, but nothing cloying.

A slightly bitter finish with some lingering tropical notes.

I'm still not a fan of Prosecco, and I don't see buying another one anytime soon, but this isn't all that bad. It's fine, if you are into this sort of thing, then it's certainly worth your while. Personally, I recommend you hunt down that Japanese gum before grabbing a bottle of this.

Wine: 6
Value: Pass

N/V Incanto Rose Vino Frizzante

This was something I saw at Trader Joe's – I sadly don't recall the price but it wasn't more than seven bucks.

A mild nose, with just a bit of candied apple.

This is a slightly carbonated wine – it has a regular cork that requires a corkscrew, but it makes a pop noise when you open it. There's no real stream of bubbles – just some hanging on the side of the glass. The bubbles give it a very interesting mouthfeel – it's not quite fizzy, but you definitely feel it. Red apple and a few toasty notes and that's it. If it didn't have the fizz, I'd probably call this quite boring but it adds a layer to make it interesting.

I get some strawberry seeds on the finsh.

This is an extremely simple wine – very little is going on – but the bubbles give it a bit of depth, and there's nothing funky or unpleasant going on. For this pricepoint, that's not bad at all.

Wine: 6
Value: Yes

2000 Monsanto Nemo Vigneto “Il Mulino”

We've been slowing down a bit with drinking and buying wine, but when I saw this marked down to $20 from $50 I jumped on it. Seeing as we haven't done much Cabernet from Italy I figured it was worth trying. This is another wine which I didn't take a photo of, but as you'll see, still deserves your attention.

I admit I'm shocked just how “Italian” this smells – cherry, earthy, funky, spicy, loads of cedar and cigar box.

Obviously “Old World” - refined and subtle, light-medium bodied, nice tannic structure, loads of acid – all sorts of stuff going on – a bit of sassafras, tons of cedar, tobacco, cherry, some blackberry, clove, and all sorts of dried spices. As the wine opens, the fruit starts to come through – funky strawberry notes, slightly overripe and funky.

The sassafras and cedar cigar box linger for a while along with some ripe strawberry.

This, my friends, is perhaps the best Italian wine I've consumed – hell, this is probably the best bottle of wine I've had at under thirty bucks. $20 is quite the bargain here – even at $50 I'd be raving – this is outstanding.

Wine: 9.5
Value: Yes

2006 Dievole Pinocchio Nero d'Avola

About ten bones at various shops with a nifty looking label, why not give it a try?

A big nose – with a giant burst of fresh, ripe raspberry.

All sorts of raspberry on the palate here – good structure with enough acid to be enjoyable – but damn - this could be spiked with raspberry brandy.

The finish sees no change – loads of raspberry.

I promise not to lie - everything here is nicely balanced and fine but the flavor profile is very one dimensional. It's a decent wine for drinking with food and such, but for this sort of concentration just isn't terribly interesting.

Wine: 5.5
QPR: 5.5

2006 Fontana D'Italia Chianti

A six dollar frozen pizza calls for only the best eight dollar Italian wine I can find.

Rich dark chocolate with some oak essence on the nose.

Black fruit – black cherries – decent underlying acid, with some cedar notes, but overall a bit heavier feeling than I expected

Some oak notes linger on the finish – along with some cinnamon and clove.

Thoroughly uninteresting and not the style I enjoy. For the price, there are way too many “pizza wines” like this that are more enjoyable.

Wine: 5
QPR: 5

2004 Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona Rosso di Montalcino

This bottle was fifteen bones – marked down on clearance. Hey – why not?

The nose? Strawberries lingering on the edge of spoiled and cedar chips stuffed into sweat socks.

Loads of dark chocolate, reasonably strong tannins, a solid amount of acid – well balanced all around really. A lot of herbaceous qualities here – loads of dried and fresh spices – dried oregano and fresh basil come through as to some interesting nutmeg and clove notes – something you'd sprinkle on top of a pumpkin latte of some sort. In terms of fruit, this is interesting – at first pour: sweet, tart cherry; after 30 minutes: nothing; after 60 minutes: nothing; after 90 minutes: nothing; after 120: distinct black cherry. Wine can be a funny thing.

A lingering fuzzy clove and tobacco fueled finish lasts for quite a while.

Day two brings a fairly simpler offering. Almost no nose – though there is some strawberry fruit leather coming through. The palate is has the distinct funky Italian quality I like – dried spices, some tart cherries – so tart it's almost ultra dark cranberry. The finish is all earth, spice, and funk – loads of earth and tobacco.

Wine: 7.5
QPR: 7

2003 Adelsheim TF Willamette Valley

What's TF? Tocai Friulano. A varietal from northeastern Italy which the folks at Adelsheim fell in love with on a visit to the region. It's an oddball one to be sure. I discovered this in the fridge and cringed a bit at the 2003 date, but here goes. The 2006 of this sells from the winery for $22 – my cost for the 2003, on clearance no doubt due to the age, $6.

Interesting nose – lavender comes through strongly with some tropical fruit – lychee?

Oddly viscous – this is an interestingly “heavy” wine. Dry with a fair amount of acid and still some fruit – this is showing better than I expected. Lots of pineapple, quite a bit of lime, some nice minerality and loads of spiced tropical fruit – unripe canned and spiced things like guava and papaya are here (I must mention I unripe spiced papaya, though interesting, isn't something I'd seek out).

The lime sticks around for a while.

So here's where ratings are flawed – I find this wine quite interesting though not particularly delicious...a simple wine with this profile would be below five but how can I bash a wine this interesting and well made? Let me introduce you to the asterisk.

This wines ratings get asterisks on both fronts. The QPR asterisk is because I have no choice but to judge that based on what I paid for this particular vintage. The wine rating is adjusted for interest – I don't find this wine to be tasty, but it's more than interesting and its flaws may be due to age.

Wine: 7*
QPR: 7*

2006 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio

You know, I've seen this wine around for some time and I finally broke down and grabbed a bottle. This one goes for between $16 and $25 depending on where you shop – I have no access to sales figures and the like but my assumption is this is probably the most popular Pinot Grigio in the United States – from serious wine shops to Costco to the local grocery store, to almost any Italian restaurant's wine list, this one seems to everywhere.....but does it deserve to be?

Ultra tart apples and a little bit of pear on the nose with the slightest hint of gasoline.

Fruity, yet ultimately fairly dry. Apples, a little bit of grape jelly, some very dry stone fruit, maybe a bit of lime, and there is some decent mineral character here.

The finish is fades quick and is mostly lime.

I'll call this absurdly mediocre – there's nothing here, other than perhaps some less residual sugar, that you can't get in any number of cheaper Pinot Grigio out there.