We love to cook big family dinners together at our house, with different family members responsible for different courses but all bumping hips and butts in the kitchen at the same time. We drink wine while we're doing it--and listen to loud music. Then we all sit and eat together, and the food and wines are usually very good indeed. The conversation is inevitably enriched by the bottles we open and share. I seem to remember that Carl Sandburg wrote a poem called "Happiness" about a similar scenario.
I started buying wines in quantity that would eventually constitute a collection when I was in my early twenties. I had always had a collector's mentality, and I also brought passion to the endeavor. I spent weekends driving to California wineries and talking to winemakers and tasting their wine with them (it was a simpler time and one could do that then). I read constantly about the history and geography and science and the art of making wine. It was my escape from the stress of efforts to start a new company. Early on I adopted a simple strategy to focus my wine-collecting efforts: best wines, best years. Every year I tried to buy the best wines made in the world in that year. I enjoyed the hunt. So it was that by the time my children were old enough to taste wine, they were doing so from a cellar that consisted of some of the world's greatest. I didn't hesitate to share the wine because if you aren’t going to share treasure with those closest to you, then with whom?
We would do birthday celebrations with great wines from the birth year of the honoree. We would drink great Chardonnay from California and France with Dungeness crab and sourdough bread and fresh creamery butter. We would compare Zinfandels over simple roast chicken. We cooked steaks together and ate them with first growth Bordeaux and great California Cabs or fine Burgundy and Pinot Noir. And we would experiment with Riesling and Gewürztraminer and Asian food. Wine was just plain fun for us, and the prices for even the great wines were reasonable enough when I bought most of them to be considered an acceptable splurge.
My kids don't collect wine, but they (and their spouses) drink it regularly, and with intelligence and enthusiasm. They have begun to turn the tables on their old man. They love to bring wines for me to try at our gatherings. These are bottles they have learned about from friends or good wine merchants, tasted, compared and become their own little treasures, which they proudly share. So the torch is being passed.
The fact is that many of the wines that show up in this column have started with recommendations from my children or sons-in-law, who all have great palates and genuine enthusiasm for the subject. Of course, the wines are then blind-tasted against many others before being selected for Ryder's List. But their track record of picking winners has been impressive. I have also learned some important things about wine and about myself. For most of my life I have drunk the world’s greatest wines, and I have enjoyed them enormously. I lived the mantra: "Life's too short to drink bad wine." But over the past few years I have learned that drinking the inexpensive treasures family members have shared brings me every bit as much pleasure. And I have learned irrefutably that quality and price in wine are not proportionate, that is, a $100 bottle is not necessarily ten times better than a $10 bottle. In fact, that is seldom true. And sometimes the more expensive wine is not better at all.
So my kids and their spouses have taught me about a new kind of hunt--the hunt for great wine bargains. I now have the pleasure of sharing that knowledge with you.
Monastrell. Malbec. Nero d'Avalo. Tempranillo. Mourvèdre. Barbera. Cabernet Franc. Grenache.
Not exactly household names, right? When was the last time you marched into your wine merchant and said, "Can I get a nice bottle of Monastrell?" Yet, these are some of the grapes you will meet on Ryder's List below. The wines come from Spain and Argentina and Sicily and Corbierres and Languedoc and Australia and Washington and Sonoma. They are all big husky wines that I like to drink with outdoor summer cooking and rustic food on crisp autumn nights. There are lessons here in history and geography and modern commerce, but I will let you discover those on your own. What I will promise are great wine bargains for under $15 that will delight your palate and probably warm the cockles of your heart, whatever those are.
(Please note: These will all get much better if left in the glass or properly decanted for at least an hour.)
2004 Columbia Crest Merlot, Grand Estates, Columbia Valley, Washington
This is not the burliest wine on our list, but it may be the one most people enjoy. It has a vivid coffee-house nose, with scents of wet tea leaves and mocha. The flavors are rich and sweet, with deep red berry fruit accented with coconut and coffee. It is sensual and exotic and just plain delicious. Not all Merlots are this good, but they can be quite wonderful despite what the movie Sideways suggested. If you want to try a more expensive bargain wine from the same neighborhood, ask for a Novelty Hill, which makes wonderful Merlot priced in the mid-twenties. The best inexpensive wines in the world may be coming from Washington State these days. About $10.
2005 Terrazas de Los Andes Reserva Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
This is a huge, deep purple wine from a winery with very high standards. The nose has sweet cherries and berries, and the flavors are vibrant dark fruits with a touch of dark chocolate. There is nice balance here in a lesson for those who assumed Malbec was just a blending grape. About $14.
2004 Domaine Sainte-Eugénie La Réserve, Corbières, France
This is not very muscular, but it is rich and good and enjoyable. A lovely dark red color leads to scents of earth and berries and licorice on the nose. The red fruit flavors are soft and gentle, especially in this company. A standout from importer Robert Kacher. About $14.
2005 Altos de la Hoya Monastrell, Jumilla, Spain
You are greeted here by a dark purple color and a fresh raspberry nose. The flavors are juicy raspberry, too, but with body and balance. I like it with burgers or spicy food. About $9.
2005 Water Wheel Vineyards, Memsie, Australia
This is a Shiraz, Malbec and Cabernet blend, mostly Shiraz. It starts quietly with a subdued nose of faint raspberries and mocha. But those same flavors burst onto the palate. It is good and rich and round on the tongue, with a bite at the back of the throat. About $14.
Non-Vintage, Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red, Lot Number Forty-Two, Geyserville, California
This is a wonderful wine for the price, with grapes grown just down the road from those of Ridge Geyserville, my benchmark for great American Zinfandel. The wine is deep purple, with red edges and has mouth-filling flavors of ripe purple plums and blackberries, with hints of coffee and spice. About $11.
2005 Castano Monastrell, Yecla, Spain
A son-in-law served this at a family celebration, and the wine was so delicious I decided I had been unduly influenced by ambience. But it did very well in the blind tasting, too. It has very dark purple color and chocolate-covered cherries on the nose, and fine flavors of cherries and red plums. It is tannic and needs some time in the glass, but is a standout. About $9.
2006 Finca Flichman Malbec, Vino Riserva, Mendoza, Argentina
This is unusual, but very good. It has rich, deep and silky red fruit flavors with the essence of coffee latté on the nose and palate. Nicely balanced. Like drinking wine in Starbucks. About $12.
2004 Nugan Estate Shiraz, South Eastern Australia
This is small scale for a Shiraz, but enjoyable. Medium red color and a bright nose of berries and tea. It is spicy and peppery with ripe strawberry flavors on the palate. Smooth and easy. About $12.
2004 Juan Gil Monastrell, Jumilla, Spain
This wine came with about five recommendations and earned them all in the blind tasting. It defines the term "burly red." The darkly brooding colors and subdued nose awaken with an hour or so of breathing. The flavors become a rich and raisiny cherry compote. Silky with a tannic bite at the back. About $14.
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