Day 3 of Value Wines

Leading up to tomorrow's one-year anniversary of this blog when I will do something different from this, I thought I would do one more day of value wines. Today, the focus is on some value regions where the similarities between those wines and those of either a neighbor or some other wine region are so tight, except for the price, that is.

Let's start in Spain. Generally speaking, Spanish wines are a pretty good buy. You can get some relatively inexpensive Albarino that has great acidity and wonderful flavor from Rias Baixas. Located on the far southwestern coast of Galicia which, in turn, sits to the north of Portugal, Rias Baixis is the home of four estuaries leading to the Atlantic Ocean. It's also the home of Albarino. Classic notes are a combination of floral, citrus, and stone fruit. Drink it on a late spring or summer afternoon or with seafood or raw vegetables.

While we are in Spain, let's also consider Jumilla. Here, we are in the opposite end of the country, far to the southeast near the Mediterranean coast not far from the port city of Cartagena. The grape that the area is known for is Mourvedre except that here it is called Monastrell. One of the classic grapes of the Rhone and known as the M in GSM, Mourvedre is a warm weather grape, quite dark, as well as tannic and producing high alcohol wines. It's wonder with the typical Spanish meats and hearty cheeses. Consider it with Jamon Iberico and manchego cheese sometimes at a price of less than $10 for a bottle.

Hungary has long been one of the great wine-producing countries of the world, but because it was part of the Soviet bloc in the post-WWII years largely up until the 1990 timeframe, production was low. In addition, the Soviets forced the Hungarians to uproot many of their more cherished vinayerds. But, these wines are experiencing a rebirth. We've had about a half dozen dry Hungarian wines recently and one has been better than another. If you are going to explore, my recommendation is to go with the local grapes like Portugieser, Olaszrisling, and Kekfrancos. None should be expensive and all are interesting and exciting.

And, finally, let's come back to the US. All 50 states now produce some wine although some of it is not from grapes, so I give the entirely non-grape states only partial credit. But, some of the great wines in the US come from places you would never think of. The prices are far better than the west coast in and these wines fare well when compared to all vu the finest from the west coast. In particular, I would consider wines from the Finger Lakes and Long Island in NY, Virginia wines, and the sweet wines from the Niagara Escarpment in far upstate NY.

Tomorrow, we leave value wines for sure.