Cork Report | Barbara Ensrud | Wine Values And Pairings

Wine Values And Pairings

By Barbara Ensrud

This year’s Top 100 wines of 2009 (Wine Spectator, Dec. 31) seemed to include more value-priced wines than usual, with quite a few at $20 and under — a nod to the economics of the times, no doubt. Local wine merchants agree that wine-buying habits reflect this trend.
“The alcohol budget seems to be the last to go in a recession,” said Cory Lyerly at The Wine Merchant in Cary. “People are spending the same amount overall — they haven’t cut back on drinking wine — but they’re buying differently. Fewer of the $50-$60 reds are flying out the door. The biggest sellers now are in the $10 range.”
Profit margins are less on these wines, however, so wine sellers are feeling the pinch too. The best buys — and best values, in my view — are in the $12-$20 range, and they include reds much more pleasurable to enjoy right now than more expensive ones. Some of the most popular wines, noted Lyerly, are from Chile and Argentina. Australia has lost ground of late, but there are still some excellent buys from Down Under.
Here are some wines from different areas that I’ve tasted recently and highly recommend. Do remember that anything available at one particular shop can be ordered at others.
Domaine des Rozets 2007, Coteaux du Tricastin, $10-$11, The Wine Merchant, 3CUPS. Appealing blend of grenache, syrah and cinsault, a snappy red suited to a wide range of casual fare, from pizza to smoked meats to vegetarian chili.

Vieux Clocher 2007, Côte du Ventoux, $9-11, Chapel Hill Wine Company, A Southern Season. The ripeness of 2007 Rhône Valley reds makes for delightful drinking. Though Ventoux reds are lighter than Côte du Rhônes, they have plenty of juicy punch to enjoy with meat pastas, hamburgers, grilled sausages and the like.
Perrin Reserve 2007, Côtes du Rhône, $9.99, Total Wine, Trader Joe’s. The Perrin brothers, makers of the famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape Beaucastel ($115 a bottle), get lots of appealing flavor into this little red. Great value.
Domaine de Fontenille 2007, Luberon/Rhône, $13.99, Seaboard Wine Warehouse, The Wine Merchant in Cary. Great intensity at a modest price, a tasty blend of old-vine grenache and syrah that is great with roast chicken but can also handle steak or lamb and savory cheeses.
Brancott Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Marlborough, NZ, $12-$14, Harris-Teeter, Total Wine. Bright and zesty, with the bold citrus and mineral accents typical of New Zealand Sauvignons. Also one of 2009’s Top 100.

Cooper Mountain Pinot Noir 2006, Oregon, $20, Whole Foods. Pinot in a lighter frame with attractive fruit; made from organically grown grapes; excellent for grilled salmon.
Château Coupe Roses “La Bastide” 2007, Minervois, $13.99, Hillsborough Wine Company. Proprietor Todd Wielar dubs this appealing blend of grenache, carignan and a squirt of juicy syrah as “fireside juice for sure.” Just the thing for a blustery winter night.
King Estate Signature Pinot Gris 2008, Willamette Valley, OR, $17. Dry and crisp, but richer than Pinot Grigio, which allows it to complement sautéed chicken breast, tilapia or flounder filets, sea scallops, and seafood pastas. A consistently lovely white wine.
Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc 2008 “Charlotte’s Home,” Sonoma, $10-$14, widely available. Nervy and crisp, attractive mineral accents, excellent for shellfish.
St. Supéry 2008 Chardonnay Oak Free, Napa Valley, $18-$20. A comely Chardonnay — crisp and well-balanced, clean and bright, with pearish aromas.
Peter Lehmann Shiraz Barossa 2006, Australia, $14-$16, widely available. Big without being overly tannic, boasting generous dark berry and plum flavors, fine with roast or grilled leg of lamb.

Wines with Vegetarian Foods
As Moreton Neal points out in her Gourmet column in this issue, vegetarian dishes are increasingly featured at Triangle restaurants, many highly flavored and hearty. I’m often asked about pairing wines with vegetarian meals, and it does require a different approach.
While there are indeed bold dishes, such as Butternut Squash Cassoulet at The Irregardless Cafe, that call for flavorful, medium-bodied red wines, big and tannic reds will overpower most vegetarian dishes.
The Irregardless wine list offers some of the best values in the Triangle — well-chosen wines at very fair prices. There are several choices to pair with the cassoulet, for instance — such as the Santa Ema Merlot from Chile, a quite delectable red, or the organically grown Santa Julia Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina or the Shoofly Shiraz from Australia, each $21-$23 a bottle, $6 by the glass.
The popularity of Asian and Asian-fusion foods has proved a useful segue into wines with vegetarian foods. So many Asian foods — Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese — are meatless, but they are certainly not lacking in flavor. Wine lists in such restaurants have introduced light, crisp whites, dry and off-dry, such as Rieslings, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Viognier, unoaked Chardonnays — as well as lighter reds, such as Pinot Noir from Germany, Brouillys from Beaujolais, and claret blends of cabernet and merlot.
The dinner menu at Lantern in Chapel Hill offers intriguing meatless dishes, and the carefully chosen wine list complements them. Wondering what to order with fresh black mushroom and cabbage dumplings? Try one of the several Grüner Veltliners they offer, the slightly fuller Domaine Ostertag Pinot Blanc or the Bouzeron Aligoté.
And with the red curry and tofu pumpkin stew? Hmm … a lightish red might be best — the Jean-Marc Morey Santenay, perhaps, or Colterenzio Pinot Noir from Italy’s cool mountainous Alto-Adige region. A dry rosé could also work, but so could an Alsace Riesling.
Regions in the south of France — Ventoux, Luberon, Coteaux du Tricastin and Languedoc-Roussillon — offer many light reds suitable to the heartier vegetarian dishes, some light and fruity enough to take a light chilling. Cheese dishes, including pizza, can take more robust reds, such as Zinfandel, Dolcetto, Shiraz and Monastrell. Asian vegetarian dishes are often quite spicy, so keep that in mind and look to crisp, refreshing whites such as Riesling, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Grigio to cool the heat.