» Meet 
We've already learned that if you're looking for wine and, say, enough toilet paper for a platoon, you head to Costco. If you're looking for wine and tasty but weird food products, you head to Trader Joe's. My latest discovery, though, is that if you're looking for wine, and, say, rugs, wrapping paper, ethnic baskets, and fancy soaps, you go to Cost Plus World Market.
I'm in love with this place. (I know -- I don't shop much, so every place seems like a revelation. Too many years working 80-hour weeks has made me a neophyte to retail fun.) I recently stopped at a Cost Plus to buy baskets for my newborn daughter's nursery. I left with said baskets -- and with a case of excellent, very fairly priced value wines. When you work in the biz and know most wholesale prices, you don't like the markups you see lately at, say, Whole Foods.
But I digress. I talked to the guy who buys wine for this particular Cost Plus, and he said that while corporate dictates a certain amount of bulk buys, individual stores have some leeway in stocking other selections. That means you'll find familiar big-batch wines like Ravenswood or Kendall-Jackson, but also perhaps some treasures the local buyer has discovered. And a few cases of this or that vintage are clearly just aching for a good home. Buy the weird and the wacky -- at these prices, you can have fun and experiment.
Some highlights:
1) Torrontes, "Lo Tengo" (Mendoza, Argentina 2004) - $5.99
This wine rocked for the price. Torrontes is a white grape native to Argentina that's very floral in style -- my husband calls it the jasmine wine, because it smells like the vines in our yard, and he's right. It's aromatic, crisp, and light. I forgive its horribly cheesy Tango hologram label, too, and the bad pun, since the wine's so good. A second label product from the venerable Bodega Norton brand . . .
2) Pinot Grigio, Zenato (Veneto, Italy 2005) - $8.99
This wine is so much better than that Santa Margherita pinot grigio I've seen sell for almost $20 a bottle based on its popular ad campaign. Pinot grigio rarely deserves to cost more than $15 a bottle, unless it's an exceptional pinot gris from Alsace or Oregon. (Fact: pinot grigio = pinot gris. Pinot grigio is NOT pinot blanc.) Zenato bottles a good, everyday pinot grigio that is light-bodied and easy-drinking for the price. Great value.
3) Verdejo, "Las Brisas" (Rueda, Spain 2005) - $9.99
Yum. Here's an example of why Spain is kicking everyone's butt in the race to offer high-caliber wines at deep-discount prices. Australia was winning for a long time, but the Aussies have made some mistakes, like saturating the market with way too many generic shiraz products that become indistinguishable. What Spain is doing is so much cooler -- celebrating wacky native grapes from places you've not likely heard of: in this case, the grape is verdejo and the region is Rueda. The traditional verdejo is here blended with sauvignon blanc and a grape called viura. To taste, this wine has a distinctly lemon-waxy aroma and a mouth-filling texture that's creamier than, for example, the pinot grigio I list above. Try this one with something like shrimp scampi or chicken piccata.
4) Vitiano Rosso, Falesco (Umbria, Italy 2004) - $9.99
This could be my favorite pasta wine of all time. A blend of the traditional sangiovese grape with equal parts merlot and cabernet sauvignon, this wine is youthful and fruity. It spends just a few months in oak barrels before it's released, and is meant to be easy-drinking. Italy's Umbria is finally getting its due as a region after years of being overshadowed by Tuscany and Piemonte. Buy a case to keep on hand, since it's tasty to drink and inexpensive enough to use in your arrabiata sauce.
5) Petite Sirah, Bogle Vineyards (California, 2004) - $7.99
Bogle is a mammoth producer based in the California "Delta," the vast inland agricultural area near Clarksburg. Typically, this is the home of generic jug wines, and, frankly, some of Bogle's products aren't much better than jug wines. Notice that the label reads only "California," meaning the grapes could and often do come from just about anywhere in the state. Their petite sirah, however, is an exception worth noting. It's quite yummy for the price, and considered by Bogle their "heritage" wine. Unique to California, petite sirah is NOT related to syrah, but to an ancient vine called dourif. The wine is intense and inky, with notes of boysenberry jam and candied plums . . . kind of a slutty wine, if you'll forgive the adjective, but attractive just the same.
6) Red Sky Ranch, "Meritage" (Napa Valley, California - 2003) - $13
Now here's smart partnering. Napa giant Beaulieu Vineyards makes tons of wines, from the sublime to the downright ordinary, and frequently has extra grapes on hand, I would imagine. What they've done with this inexpensive product is make a proprietary label just for Cost Plus, and the wine is really very good at the price -- much better than I expected. "Meritage" is a term invented to describe Californian bottlings that feature the traditional blending grapes of Bordeaux, and this particular wine has all five of the greats: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, malbec, and petit verdot. I would have this wine with burgers off the grill at home and be very, very happy. I might not serve it with expensive filet mignon. You get the drift.
16 Comments
LEAVE YOUR COMMENT
You must sign in to leave a comment