Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel, Vintners Blend, 2011

I haven't been a fan in general of Zinfandel, which often can be a fruit bomb. But I've always been a fan of Ravenswood, and the 2011 Old Vine Vintners Blend is a great bargain at $10.

Make no mistake, there is strong fruit in this bottle; it is juicy and jammy. But it's finely crafted to make it easy drinking with a combination of cherry and herbs and a finish the makes it a great pairing with grilled meat. Wine Spectator recently rated it as a Best Value. Plenty has been made, too, so it should be easy to find (I even found some in a Walgreens!). I hear the 2010 is really good too! And you should be able to find it in some shops (I know I did!).

Another great bargain. I score it 8.5 using my scale at the left.

Famille Perrin, Côtes du Rhône Villages, 2010

Nothing is better than finding a $10 wine that drinks like something more expensive, and this one does. The Famille Perrin line is from the fabulous house Château de Beaucastel, crafter of some great Châteauneuf-du-Pape and some high-end Côtes du Rhône Villages, the latter costing you close to $40.

The Famille Perrin line retains that richness and earthy quality with a nose filled with cinnamon and dark chocolate. The fruit is subtle and lightly hoisted on a mineral beam that gives a clean finish with smooth tannin. It's cherry, but it's not. It's cassis, but it's not. Currant, perhaps, but it's not. Delightful, it is! This is a great wine for a party because it won't cost you a lot to impress your guests.

This is a great bargain. I score it 8.5 using my scale at the left.

A raspberry of a rosé

When drinking rosé, what's the fruit that initially comes to mind? For me it's always been strawberry. I would almost venture to say that strawberry is the sin quo non of rosé. But what of raspberry? That's what the label on the Charles & Charles 2010 Columbia Valley Rosé says, and when I tasted it, I had to agree. This rosé has a delightful crisp raspberry flavor that is really interesting. This makes it a tad sweeter than other rosés, but not too sweet. It finishes dry like a delicious rosé should.

This wine is a blend of Syrah, Morvèdre, Cinsault, and Grenache, very much a Rhône style, not unlike the whites from that region. It holds up with bolder and spicier dishes too. I had it with my "famous" Balinese pork dish, which is both sweet and spicy. See the recipe below.

This has been a great year for rosé and I have found many wonderful wines for $12 and less. And this one comes right up to that $12 price point. I have seen it for more, but seriously, if you shop around, you'll find it for $12.

Wine Spectator scores this an 88. I give it an 8.5 using my scale at the left.

Balinese pork recipe

I find the best pork to use is boneless rib meat. But the meat from boneless pork chops works also (not as tender though IMO).

Partially freeze the meat so it's firm and easy to slice, but not so hard you can't slice it.

Slice the pork thinly and lay out on a plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper; use a lot of black pepper.

Depending on how much pork you use, you can make layers, salt and peppering each layer. Let the pork sit for a while with the salt and pepper.

Prepare/ready the following:

One small or half a medium onion, thinly sliced (use either white or red)

2-3 whole cloves of garlic, or use about a teaspoon of minced garlic

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

150 ml of hot water (hot from the tap is fine)

5 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (the thick kind, Indonesian style)

1/2 teaspoon of sambal olek (more if you like it really spicy)

Stir the sweet soy sauce into the hot water so it's all mixed.

Heat oil in a wok (I used bacon grease for added flavor, but sesame oil is good too, or just regular corn oil).

Stir in all the pork at once, stir around.

Add the garlic, stir until pork is cooked.

Add sliced onion and ground ginger, stir quickly (the ginger will start to coat the wok).

Add sambal olek, stir so that the chili is distributed evenly.

Add the water and sweet soy mixture, stir and scrape the wok so the ginger that stuck to the wok gets mixed in too.

Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer and cover.

While the pork is simmering, start your rice.

Check the pork occasionally and stir.

When the rice is done (or after about 20 minutes), remove the cover from the pork and let it bubble for a while so the liquid evaporates slightly and thickens.

Serve with the rice.

This also goes well with a Riesling or Gewürztraminer.

A consistent rosé does it again

Each spring as I go through my round of rosé tasting, I always pick up the latest release from Château Beauchêne. The 2012 Le Pavillon from the Côtes du Rhône lives up to its reputation of being an inexpensive and quaffable wine. These aren't classic wines, but solid performers that are light and easy to drink. The strawberry and kiwi is fresh and light on a mineral beam that finishes clean.

This wine is food-friendly as well. You should be able to find it for less than $10. The producer has a solid reputation for steadiness and consistency. It's a great wine to pick up a case for entertaining, your guests will love it.

I score this with an 8.5 using my scale at the left.

2012 Provence rosé shines again

My search for the perfect summer wine has been exceptional so far because of the plethora of great rosé that is available. The Rhône region of France, more specifically Provence and the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region, traditionally produces great rosé, and many of these can be had at bargain prices. My latest tasting exploration brought be to the 2012 vintage Minervois from Chateau Sainte Eulalie.

While the DMZ from South Africa and the Spanish Jumilla rosé I tasted remain top contenders, you won't go wrong with this wine, particularly when you consider it's just $10 a bottle.

Like all the rosé I've tasted so far, this is very food-friendly and would go great with roast chicken.

It is a blend of primarily of Syrah and Cinsault with smaller proportions of Carignan and Grenache. It's full of strawberry, raspberry, and even cranberry, with a hint of herb. It has a long, fresh finish that leaves the palate clean.

I score this an 8.5 using my scale at the left.

Jumilla rosé hurray!

My annual hunt for a summer wine is getting very interesting! My latest find comes from the Spanish region Jumilla, an appellation I'm quite familiar with in terms of its red Tempranillo. These wines are often very inexpensive and very expressive, although they are frequently wound so tight you can leave a bottle open for hours before it will finally relax and connect you with a sumptuously complex red that is both easy drinking and food friendly.

Needless to say, when I saw the Bodegas Olivares 2011 rosé for just $8 a bottle at Whole Foods, I grabbed one, expecting it to be tightly wound and delicious.

I was correct on one count: The wine was delicious! Juicy with strawberry and subtle spices, yet remaining dry and fresh. It was not as tightly wound as I would expect from a wine from Jumilla, but then again, this wasn't made with Tempranillo. It is a blend of 70 percent Monastrell and 30 percent Syrah. Like all great rosé, this wine is both great for just drinking and food-friendly. This is a wine I will be definitely going back for more!

I rate this with a 9 using my scale at the left.

South Africa has a hit rosé

Admittedly, I have not always had good luck with South African wines. The reds I've tasted have been fruit bombs that made many an Australian red seem tame. And the whites I've tasted have been too citrusy and not enough herb. So I haven't tasted many because I've been disappointed so many times.

But the 2012 DMZ rosé from DeMorgenzon is delicious. This rosé is made with Cabernet Sauvignon. It is crisp, juicy, full of strawberry and kiwi flavors that roll deliciously about the tongue and finish with a fresh zest. There's watermelon and pomegranate as well, but it remains a refreshingly dry quaff. The nose is light spring fruit and subtly floral. And the color, wow! A vibrant pink, even reddish, but clear as crystal.

Also, an interesting note, the producer plays music in the vineyards under the idea the vines will produce better grapes!

Best part: it's just $12 a bottle. This will definitely be at the top of my list of summer wines. But the hunt continues!

I score this with an 9 using my scale at the left.

Bargain Bordeaux Blanc

The Chateau Haut Sarthes 2011 Montravel is a Bordeaux Blanc that can be picked for - wait, hold on to your chapeau - $9 a bottle. This is a delightfully food-friendly bargain, but I caution you, it's really not to my taste for drinking on its own.

Sauvignon Blanc is the primary grape in most Bordeaux Blanc and this wine is no exception (there are Bordeaux Blanc blends that use zero Sauvignon Blanc). With 50 percent Sauvignon Blanc, 40 percent Semillon, and 10 percent Muscadelle, this wine retains crispness and acidity with keen citrus notes. There is grapefruit for sure, and this tartness will stand out if the wine is consumed without any food. But combine this with food and that acidic grapefruit disappears with the wine retaining its robustness. Lime with a hint of herb assumes the starring role now.

I tried this wine with sushi and it paired wonderfully. Even with the Miso soup and gari this wine's character and structure held firm. It also managed well with a simple appetizer of sharp cheddar and saltine crackers. This will probably be a good bet as an inexpensive wine to take to a BYOB sushi or fish restaurant.

Because I would buy this again, I score it with an 8 using my scale at the left.

Alamos 2011 Malbec

There's a plethora of very tasty and very inexpensive Argentine Malbec on store shelves right now. Seems like you can grab just about any bottle you see and you'll take home a winner! Another fairly inexpensive Malbec out there is the Alamos 2011, which you should be able to find for $12 or less.

This went really well with a roast pork I recently prepared with some butternut squash and green beans. A simple meal, but the wine brought a delicious elegance to the table with some sturdy tannins on the finish. Like many Malbecs, it was dark, inky; the nose a delicate mixture of floral and fruit scents with a racy flavor of blackberry. This is definitely a good find, but I think for the price and the taste I might lean more toward the Diseño I recently wrote about.

I rate this with an 8 using my scale at the left.

Diseño old vine Malbec

Oh the joy of finding a great value! The 2011 Diseño old vine Malbec is a wine crafted in the great tradition of Argentine Malbec that tastes much better than you would think for a $10 bottle. Malbec at this price point can be jammy with way too much fruit, but not this one!

It has the hefty structure and complexity of great Malbec and while the fruit is definitely there, it's balanced on a smooth beam of mineral and subtle notes of tobacco. When pouring you immediately see its dark inky color, a deep purple so dark it verges on black. The nose is subtle and floral rather than like a jar of Smuckers.

It's supremely drinkable and a great food match, doing well with anything from spicy tomato sauce pasta with spicy Italian sausage, to sauteéd boneless chicken thighs. I most recently had this with a spiced pork chop agrodolce accompanied with some lemon garlic Brussels sprouts and butternut squash; it was very good! The pork chop is very easy to prepare and you can find the recipe on my Pinterest page.

I rate this an 8.5 on my scale at the left.

Vale do Bomfim 2008

I'm feeling just a bit embarrassed because I haven't written about this delicious wine. Not only was it delicious (notice the verb tense), I paid just $10 for it!

This Douro from the House of Dow, the 2008 Vale do Bomfim, is among the most delicious $10-bottle of wines I've ever had. Full-bodied with lush fruit, but with a tannic structure and mineral quality to let's you know this is a wine with deep character.

This was very versatile. It went well with pasta, with roast pork, and with seared tuna. It was just delicious! And I'm a bit saddened that I drank the three bottles I picked up. Wine Spectator categorized this wine as a "drink now," but the producer notes on the back that while it's good right now - nay, great! - it will "continue to improve further in bottle." Hmm, for how long I wonder?

I know if I see any more of these I will pick up as many as I can. And I think you should too.

I rate this a 9.5 using my scale at the left.

Rosé is a wine for summer

We may be on the backend of summer, but there is still plenty of time to enjoy some delicious rosé, and as they have done in recent years past, the French are producing some marvelous rosé with much of it available for less than $12.

Many of my favorites have come from Provence and the Southern Rhône area, but an exceptional good buy widely available now come from the Bergerac area of Dordogne in Bordeaux. The 2011 Chateau Haut Sarthes can be had for as little as $8 and it's a delicious find. I would call this wine delicious if it were $15, but for $8? This is totally delightful.

This is a lovely find because apparently just 15 percent of the rosé produced in the Bergerac is exported, and most of that goes to Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

And it goes well with a wide variety of food. The first time I had it, my friend Curt brought it along to have with artisan pizza at the Pizza Art Cafe in Ravenswood Gardens here in Chicago. A crisp dry rosé with the sumptuous flavor of ripe strawberries, it also went well with a pork tenderloin served with Brussels sprouts and corn on the cob. It really is a juicy and versatile wine.

I rate this wine with a 9.5 using the scale on the left.

Dry Chenin Blanc with Coho salmon

What goes with a really well-prepared Coho salmon fillet? A really inexpensive dry Chenin Blanc, that’s what, and the 2009 Clarksburg vintage of Dry Creek Vineyard’s Wilson Ranch Dry Chenin Blanc is a great match and value at just $10 a bottle.

The first word I tapped into my iPhone notes about this wine was “Wow!” I’m going to be buying some more of this, that’s for sure! This crisp, dry, bright wine has a mineral quality and bright acidity that really buoys the citrus fruit and juicy green apple. The finish is clean and fresh. Just really grand for a $10 wine.

The Coho served with this wine was simply prepared. I sprinkled some fennel seed onto the fish and pan fried both sides in a bit of olive oil. I then added some sake and lemon juice for a final steam before serving. The Chenin Blanc was excellent with the preparation, the licorice-like flavor of the fennel playing really nicely with the fresh citrus of the wine.

I score this wine a 9 using my scale at the left. It’s worth repeating, I will be getting some more of this while it lasts in the stores!

An outstanding bargain in stores now

There is nothing more exciting than finding an extraordinary wine for a really cheap price. And friends, there’s an outstanding bargain out there right now on the store shelves. If you ever see any bottles of Vineyard 10 Red Wine 2007, a Two Vines blend from Columbia Crest, grab them. In a Jewell near where I live, I found this gem on the bottom shelf selling for $5.99. I grabbed a bunch. So should you.

Wine Spectator rates this blend with an 88 score, but it drinks better than that to me. Made with Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Grenache and Mourvedre, it’s not a big wine, but it’s smooth and very drinkable. It has a nose like a much higher priced wine, and a silky finish with soft tannins. The blend is very similar to French Rhones, which are my favorites. This is probably why I like this blend so much. It’s fruit-forward, but it’s not like opening a jar of jam.

Normal retail is suggested at $8, so to find this at $6 was great. As the label suggest, it goes well with pasta. But this is easy to drink I think it would go with many things, and is just fine to sip on its own. Do yourself a favor and look for this one. This may be a bottom-shelf wine, but it tastes more like a mid-shelf wine.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the absolute best, I give this one an 8.5.