Wine lovers are always on the lookout for great values in wine and in today’s challenging economic times that yearning is stronger than ever. Thankfully, we have a lot of great wine-producing areas that are churning out the good vino at prices that will allow us to maintain our wino-lifestyle – one of the primary regions doing that right now is Spain.
In this review, I take a look at two white wines that are extremely food-friendly, reasonably priced and are ones that I think will really be an eye-opener for those who suffer what I refer to as a wine-rut. A wine-rut is what we get stuck in when we – for whatever reason – fail to branch out and check out wines from other regions and perhaps even made from grapes you haven’t heard of or tried.
I know that areas like Chili and Argentina have created a buzz amongst wine drinkers for the past few years, however, Spain – right now – is producing insanely good wines for insane prices.
2008 Adegas Gran Vinum Nessa – W.E.P. Rating: 110%
- Grape Variety: 100% Albarino
- Alcohol: 12.5%
- Region: Rias Baixas
- Fermentation: 100% Stainless
- ph: 3.24%
- Total Acidity: 6.3%
- Brix at harvest: 19.6
- Annual production: 5,500 cases
- Price: $12
Nose: Lemon peel, grapefruit pulp, kiwi, limestone, hints of fabreeze and clear river-water.
Taste: Bring on the citrus train with boxcars loaded with lemon, lime and grapefruit. This wine has great acidity and finishes quite nicely. It’s well balanced – not hot at all going down the hatch and I get a nice sour taste on the very backside of the palate.
2008 Valde Pedro Escudero Valdelainos – W.E.P. Rating: 110%
- Grape Variety: 100% Verdejo
- Alcohol: 13%
- Region: Rueda
- Fermentation: 100% Stainless
- Price: $12
Nose: Apricots, honey, grapefruit skin, ball bearings.
Taste: Killer grapefruit component on the front attack which is wrapped ever-so-loosely by some honeycomb cearal. Excellent acidty which is kept in check by layers of apricot, starfruit and kiwi. The finish lingers on for hours – a complete no-brainer of a wine buy.
