Your Life

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Value-priced wines for the holidays

It is hard to believe that the holiday season is coming up so quickly and it’s already time to start planning for parties and other festivities.

One of the more difficult decisions to make can be the wine that you intend to serve your friends and loved ones, while at the same time keeping in mind the impact on the pocketbook.

When serving wines in the party atmosphere, I think it’s wise to serve both red and white varietals at a little cooler temperature than normal. If it is served a little cool, it will warm up while your guests socialize allowing the aromas of the wine to emerge in the glass. Be careful that it’s not too cold, because then you can’t taste the nuances and flavors of the wine.

Since being founded in 1990, Blackstone Winery has produced wines that are very approachable at a young age, and are medium to full-bodied. By body, I am referring to just how thick the wine feels in your mouth — so a light-bodied wine would feel almost like water with less concentrated flavors and a full-bodied wine would have a more creamy feeling with highly concentrated flavors.

The 2007 Winemaker’s Select Merlot is a perfect example of a red wine that can be enjoyed immediately. This wine starts with a nose of toasty oak and contains flavors of dark fruits, especially black cherry as well as spicy hints of plum. While tasting this wine, it was easy to understand just why Blackstone Merlot has long been one of the best-selling merlots in North America. The 2008 Winemaker’s Select Chardonnay was quite crisp, containing citrus flavors with slight hints of butter. This wine is 95 percent chardonnay with a small amount of Gewurztraminer and Semillon added to the blend. Both of these wines retail in the $11 range and should be easy to find.

I would serve a soft cheese, such as brie, along with a smoked salmon appetizer to complement the chardonnay, while a sharp cheddar would clearly pair well with the merlot.

The Woodbridge wines produced by the Robert Mondavi Winery are also value minded, retailing in the $8 price range. Robert Mondavi founded the Woodbridge Winery in 1979 with the concept that he could produce a very affordable everyday wine for the average consumer.

The winery is in Lodi, Calif., which is where Mondavi grew up.

Lodi is one of the oldest wine regions in America and is the top producing wine district of the five major varietals (cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and zinfandel) grown in California with almost 100,000 acres planted.

The 2008 chardonnay combines flavors of spicy pear and vanilla, with hints of baked apple and it was somewhat soft on the finish.

As with the Blackstone Chardonnay, this wine would pair wonderfully with smoked salmon.

Jim Rawe, a family attorney in Bradenton, is an avid collector of fine wines. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at jimrawe@gmail.com.