All posts by The Savvy Lush

Skank Wine of the Month | Wine Reviews

Protocolo

12 Comments

Cost: Average price $6.99

Where buy now: Everywhere, if you hit a great sale, this baby can get as low as $5!

Grapes: 100% Tempranillo

Region: La Mancha, Spain

Vintage: 2009

Protocolo

So, I was in a conundrum last Friday night. A friend, we’ll call him “Matt” (because that’s his name) was coming over and insisted he pick up some wine en route. Yes! Unexpected wine donation! Predictably, though, I was then asked, “Well, what should I get?”.

Ugh, that all-important question. Where do I even start? “What store are you hitting?” “What’s your price range?” “Are you going for quality, quantity, or both?” “What other wines are we going to follow up with?” I hemmed and hawed. I sighed and stammered. [Awkward!] Decisive wine selection is a crucial skill, as trying to come up with _the_ perfect_wine_ inevitably leads to disappointment.  If only there was a simple, inexpensive, yet gratifying wine, ideal for most any situation.

Well, I’ve found it.

Let me introduce you to one of THE best inexpensive red wines out there: Protocolo Red. An unassuming Spanish table wine, this is a quintessential “Skank” (but only in good ways- not in a “you need me to stick a Q-tip _where_?!?!” kind of way), and often my ace in the hole. [Oooh, poor choice of wording, there.]

I first bought Protocolo Red from Solo Vino years ago. Short on cash, and with 3 other bottles already in tow, I saw this baby for $6 and swiped it up. My expectations were low, but after one sip, I knew I’d found a winner. Was this just the mystique of low expectations at work? I saw it again and again at different stores and bought it, again and again. This wasn’t just a fleeting fancy, nor a coincidence. This is typically one of the bottles I grab when money is tight, or if I just want “one more bottle”.

This wine is very easy to drink, a solid table wine that can be paired with many types of foods. Like so many of my favorite reds, this one sports a dark cherry fruit redolence, a little earth, a bit of oak. With it’s mild-medium finish and pleasant amount of dryness, it isn’t trying to be anything other than what it is, which is key.

What makes this wine so inexpensive? I did some digging (well, I went to my human wine encyclopedia, Jason). Check out what he and his compadres are doing: http://www.thewinecompany.net/The Wine Co He informed me that a major reason we are seeing consistently delicious Spanish wines with an affordable price tag is because they have more vineyard acreage than any other country. Protocolo hails from the dry highlands of Central Spain, known as La Mancha. Surprisingly, this small region produces more wine than the entire country of Australia! However, Spain isn’t number one in wine production, or even number two- those top spots go to France, then Italy. This is because the old vines in Spain produce less fruit, and therefore, lend themselves to higher quality wine. This page explains it well: http://www.wineanorak.com/struggle.htm/Wine Anorak

Are you seeing a pattern here? I am: Win/Win!

“He likes it! Hey Mikey!” By gosh, the kid dug it and that made me grin. (Perhaps I shouldn’t call him a kid, as he’s only slightly younger, and recently referred to himself as a “grown-ass man”.) I’m tickled he is digging on wine right now, and knew Protocolo would serve as a proper gateway vino.

White Wine of the Week | White Wine Reviews

Twin Islands Sauvignon Blanc

Cost: Average price $12

Where buy now: The Wine Thief $11.99

Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand

Vintage: 2011

Twin Islands Sauvignon Blanc

This year’s bi-polar Minnesota Spring has left folks like me wondering what to drink. Hell, we’re all willy nilly, and that spills over to our beverage du jour! On warm days, people are busting open beers, whites, and rosés. The dreary, cold days you lean toward, well, heavier/darker beer, whiskey, and/or red wine.

This takes me to the drizzly, dreary day that was last Saturday’s Record Store Day. Record Store Day began back in 2007 to celebrate independent record stores. In collaboration, artists responded with limited release pressings and recordings, mostly on vinyl. Learn more:http://www.recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/614/RecordStoreDay

A group of us went down to Hymie’s to hear some local fave’s, The Brian Just Band and The Cactus Blossoms. In true Minnesota fashion, the weather was not about to dampen this celebration, despite the fact that the primary stage was outside. Folks stood steadfast in rain slickers and umbrellas, sporting their thrift store jackets or REI softshells & fleece while kids danced around in rubber galoshes. The entire scene with homemade art goods, 25-cent record bins, and 20-somethings with giant, freshly grown beards (facial hair, not female companions), made me feel like an extra on an episode of “Portlandia”. All in all, it was a great way to spend a Saturday.

After all that, though, I needed to warm up with a bevi so I wandered over to The Wine Thief in St. Paul. The place isn’t overwhelming and the staff is appropriately laid-back, but when asked, they’ll steer you well. They are serious about wine without taking themselves too seriously. There was even a nice little three bottle tasting going on. This week’s weather forecast calls for some shaping up, so how about a little New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc? Since I was impressed with the Marlborough Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc few months ago , I wasn’t very hesitant to give this one a try.

Twin Islands Sauvignon Blanc is a stimulating and damn smooth white wine. There is no alcohol bite to it. You could hand this out after a marathon it’s so refreshing and thirst quenching.  This beauty is crisp, yet smooth with light citrus fruit and peach undertones. Like a Roy Orbison record, you could serve this to anyone, from full-on snobs to your White Zin-loving mother-in-law, reasonably confident that they’d dig it. I have visions of drinking this alone in the backyard patio while thumbing through one of my zillion copies of Sierra Trading Post (honestly, must they mail so many?). Me? I enjoyed it with some fried chicken. Say what you will, but that $4.99 8-piece fried chicken deal (you could also get it grilled, but, c’mon) was calling out to me, so I ordered it up. The key is to get a fresh batch, not the sad, stale chicken parked for hours under a heat lamp. Out of the fryer, into my container! I was giddy with excitement.

Fried chicken awesomeness

I poured a glass of the Twin Islands, then got full-on cro magnon with a drumstick before I could even sit down. Alas, sat I did, and took a swig of Sauvignon to wash the breaded poultry down. (Thank God I was alone.) Soon, my fingers were all shiny, glistening from the grease. I even smudged up the wine glass stem with delectable chicken fat awesomeness. All the while I kept eating, I savored each sip. It went together so swimmingly well, the gleam never dulled.

This is the white wine for people who don’t like white wine. Period. Thankfully, due to Record Store Day, I now had a bitchin’ new soundtrack for my consumable induced coma.

Wine and Record Bliss
Red Wine of the Week | Red Wine Reviews

Castaño Monastrell

Cost: Average price $9.99

Where buy now: The Wine Thief for $8.99

Grapes: 100% Monastrell

Region: Yecla, Spain

Vintage: 2010

Castaño Monastrell

What do you think of when you lust for the golden green of Spring? That’s right- BBQ. You can be anyone/thing: carnivorous being, gluten-free, vegan, Atkins dieter, you name it. As long as a fire is sounding off Pavlov’s dogs, you’ve got yourself something.

A BBQ is an event, it’s a reason to gather, nay, _the_ reason to gather, and likely the oldest meaningful reason.

Grilling is so fun! I love grilling vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, onions, peppers, mushrooms- line ’em up! Lamb chops seasoned with salt, pepper and rosemary- head ’em up! Smoke some chicken, perhaps? We use whiskey barrel chips, soaked in water, then surrendered to the fire. Oh, let’s not forget about the quintessential American standard, the almighty hamburger – ride ’em in! Sure, have it your way: angus burger, kobe beef burger, turkey burger, bison burger, ostrich burger. Or hell, I love me a black bean burger! To blow your mind, my old pal Jer grills huge portabellas, slathers on the BBQ sauce, then slaps it on a bun. (Ooooohhhh. *Ahem* Are we still talking about BBQ?) Or, the mother of all things grilled & smoked, RIBS! Oh, sweet Sally Struthers, they’re good. All I can say is thank goodness Ted Cook’s isn’t in my neighborhood because within 48 hours, I’d be relegated to wearing a moo moo.

Simply stating that eating and drinking wine is complementary is almost missing the point. I get transformed, truly. My husband has caught me doing what he refers to as “the happy food dance”. Mid bite to final swallow, I’ll sit and bob my head back and forth, sometimes even humming. It’s like I’m possessed by the Adephagia http://www.goddessaday.com/greek/adephagia/Adephagia poltergeist. I’d rather be “big boned” and indulge in this stupor, than face an alternative.

Do you know what I ended up pairing with the red of the week? A Spanish Monastrell and… BBQ chips. Yep, dinner du jour. If it hasn’t yet occurred to you, let me enlighten: I was Homer Simpson in a former life.

This is a bottle off the “under 10” section at The Wine Thief. It’s a Spanish wine (surprise, surprise) but it is decidedly not Rioja. This one is a Monastrell (Spanish for Mourvedre). It’s a popular grape, second only to Garnacha in Spain. I’m not going to dive into the history, but will encourage you to: http://www.i-winereview.com/NonReportTastings/0910montastrellSelections.php/Monastrell

Lately, I’ve been chatting up Rioja’s value. Many of the best bang-for-buck wines are going to continue to come out of Spain, according to my sources. A departure from my beloved Rioja region, which is North Central Spain, I moved Southeast to the Yecla region. These wines are gaining in popularity as the wine making continues to improve. The Monastrell grape is a thick, black skinned fruit and they are finicky little buggers. They grow in very hot climates so the trick is letting them grow and stress enough, then cultivating them quickly before they go bad. The wine these grapes produce can really vary, mostly depending on seasonal temperatures.

The Castaño Monastrell is dark rich red in color, not as dark as the Graciano http://www.thesavvylush.com/red-wine-of-the-week-|-red-wine-reviews/rio-madre-rioja.html/Rio Madre (or as full bodied). However, this wine has character. I’m declaring this “The Spanish Zin”- sans the jamminess, but with lively juiciness. It reeks of dark berry, earth and smoke. Like a Zinfandel, it has more tannins in the flavor, which my husband refers to as “stank”. The finish isn’t long, but it teases you with a bit of spicy sweetness. This wine, like a Zin, is begging you to drink with some smoky BBQ. Or, in my case, the sad-clown snack of BBQ Pop Chips (which are surprisingly delicious, especially with this wine).

Buy up a bunch because you’ll swill this guy all Summer long! It’s so easy-breezy, drink-it-on-a-Tuesday night while catching up on your new favorite TV series or on the patio with the family. It’s going to give you an interesting and fun twist to the Rioja (Garnacha, Tempranillos, etc.) you’ve already been enjoying at a great price.

Blaze away, you golden green cowpoke, you.