Three reds under $20 – De Forville, Potel, Baudry
Okay, these wines have little to do with each other besides being red and under $20. Oh, and they’re tasty and balanced. And suitable for throwing in your basement with 90 days’ worth of canned food. (canned beans: an impossible food-wine pairing?)
De Forville, Dolcetto d’Alba, 2006. (about $17; find this wine) I’m not always a huge fan of dolcetto, aka “the little sweet one” but, perhaps more aptly, “the little tannic one.” But this one really struck a chord with truffle and earthy notes and a good balance of acidity, fruit and tannin. Second day open, just as good, which is always a good sign. Importer Neal Rosenthal’s site has some more specs on this family producer; I picked up this bottle at Pasanella & Son.
Nicolas Potel, cuvee Gerard Potel, Bourgogne, 2006. (about $19; find this wine) Given that Potel is a leading negociant house in Burgundy and from several tastings of 2006 red Burgundies, I was optimistic that this wine would work out when I added it to my virtual shopping cart. It did. Dark fruit aromas, good acidity and tannins make this a standout in that rough-and-tumble category of pinot noir under $20.
Domaine Bernard Baudry, “Les Granges,” Chinon 2007. (about $17; find this wine) Bernard Baudry is one of my favorite Loire producers of red wine and offers consistently good values across the line. Even in 2007, a difficult year for some, was strong at Baudry. This “Les Granges” has good depth and succulence, which combine to make it a natural match for unadorned grilled meats–or even those cans of beans. This wine was also going strong on day two…On a related note, the Baudry 07 Clos Guillot bottling, alluring, fresh and vibrant with a great crack of pepper on the finish, bears mentioning. But since it costs $27, we’ll have to talk about that in another post.
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On April 29th, 2009 at 4:40 pm ,Jeremy Parzen wrote:
Hey Dr. V, just a little linguistic clarification from Dr. Bianchi: Dolcetto is more aptly translated “sweet-ish” where the diminutive suffix -etto attenuates the adjective “dolce” or “sweet” (rather than denoting the grape’s size).
Brunello is often translated “little brown one,” but similarly the meaning is actually “brownish.” In the case of Brunello, however, the name probably doesn’t refer to the color of the grape: many believe that the grape was named after a noble’s horse, although the origin is unknown.
Great post and great wines (I need to try that Chinon)…
On April 29th, 2009 at 6:55 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Thanks for the clarification, Dr. J. Bianchi! Sweetish does roll off the tongue; tannicish, not so much.