By The Glass
CHUCK FURUYA
A few years ago, red zinfandel became one of the hot tickets on the wine scene again. Opinions differ as to what brought on this huge resurgence in popularity. I think in these economic times people simply are looking for value, and zinfandel at that time offered great value for the dollar. Distinctive reds
are great value winesSo now that zinfandel has risen in price, what's next?
We have seen a wave of Italian wines make their way into the United States and into our 50th state. If one does a little homework first, many tasty, interesting values may be found.
With the growing popularity of Italian, southwestern, American and Mediterranean-inspired foods, Italian "country" wines make a lot of sense, as they innately work well with these kinds of foods. Many Italian wines also work well with vegetable-oriented fare, especially with recipes using eggplant, roasted bell peppers, mushrooms, fennel, carrots, onion, garlic and even tomato.
Another area to look at is California red wine blends. The two I specifically have in mind combine the worldliness, food friendliness and value that Italian reds offer, coupled with the ripeness, spiciness and "down home" deliciousness normally found in California red zinfandel.
Big House Red, Ca' del Solo: The label shows a man making a jail break out of the "Big House"; similarly superstar winemaker Randall Grahm looks to "break free" and give his own interpretation of what a tasty, interesting, food-friendly contemporary red wine should be. Although every vintage is different, if you know Randall, you can bank on the wine being down right good!
REDS, Laurel Glen: Interestingly, another of California's winemaking icons has chosen to produce a value-oriented red-wine blend, which he simply calls REDS. Winemaker Patrick Campbell has made an international reputation for himself and his Laurel Glen winery via its estate mountain-grown cabernets. Well, REDS is something completely different. It is a "wine for the people," and priced accordingly.
REDS is for those occasions you are hankering for something other than cabernet. It is most apropos for the dining table with dishes from spaghetti to meatloaf to BBQ meats to tacos to chili. I look at it as an upgrade for any red zin its price range.
Chuck Furuya is Hawaii's only master sommelier.
This column is a weekly lesson in wine
pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals.
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