Fresh & Easy Wine Reviews

the vine yard 2009 Columbia Valley Late Harvest Riesling - ~$7

2011-05-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Perhaps because I had markedly poor experience with its Cabernet Franc label-mate, I'd put off reviewing the vine yard's Late-Harvest Riesling (LHR). Turns out I needn't have worried. This is a good little off-dry (i.e. sweet) white wine.

Now, there are those who would contend that this wine - off-dry, low (at 9% ABV) in alcohol and associated with funding for breast cancer research - is being marketed unabashedly to women. Women, say, like my mother, who I'm pretty sure would like this wine. I would counter that this marketing effort doesn't in itself compromise the quality of the wine itself. I'm not a frequent consumer of sweet wines, but I can give respect where respect is due, and it is due here.

Given the low alcohol level and relatively low residual sugars, this is a LHR on the lighter side. The nose offers aromas of baked apple, pineapple, citrus and cinnamon. The mouthfeel is slightly viscous and the flavor is shaped by elements of Macintosh apple sweetness, dried apricot, lychee, and a cinnamon note that reasserts itself on the finish.

If you like off-dry (i.e. sweet) white wines, this will likely do nicely for you. It's sweet in soft, pleasant manner, and while it lacks the balancing acidity of its more distinguished peers (say, an off-dry German Spätlese), it also avoids the cloying, one-note syrupy simplicity of its domestic cousin, white zinfandel.

At ~$8, the vine yard's LHR is playing the same ballpark, price-wise, as similar Washington state bottlings by Hogue and Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 11/15

WineWrights 2009 Napa Merlot - ~$10

2011-04-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Fresh & Easy's WineWrights Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, so I had high hopes for this Merlot. While it's not quite as rich or complex as the Cab, it's a good red in its own right, featuring flavors of plum and chocolate, wrapped up in a pleasantly dense, typically plush Napa Merlot package . There is a measure of oak and soft, lingering tannins on the finish.

All in all, a well-made red from Napa, and at ~$10 the price is definitely right for that storied wine real estate.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Chateau Vaguelas 2008 Corbieres "Cuvée Prestige" Red Blend - ~$13

2011-04-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is not an in-house Fresh & Easy wine, and there was an "Available While Supplies Last" sign on the shelf at my local F&E, so I'm not sure if this is a one-off inventory sort of thing or not. Regardless, this is an interesting wine from the up-and-coming Languedoc region in southern France.

It's pungently grapey in aroma, and follows up with flavors of ripe red cherry and blueberry with a good backbone of leather, spice, and clove notes. The tannins are a touch on the tough side, but all in all this is an interesting wine that offers some real regional character, and that would likely pair well with a variety of typical red wine foods (I suspect it would go quite well with BBQ).

The only sticking point for me is the ~$13 price tag. That's hardly exorbitant for a quality French AOC wine, but Chateau Vaguelas faces some stiff competition from Fresh & Easy's own Chateau Calage GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre) blend, which is characterful, appealing red that goes for almost half that price.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 12/15

Barrel Ranch 2009 Pinot Noir - ~$13

2011-04-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

This California Pinot Noir, from Fresh & Easy's Barrel Ranch line, shows an appealing tawny color in the glass (not really relevant to the whole taste experience, but it really is a nice red hue) and offers scents of cherry, white flowers, and earthy mushroom.

In the mouth, it's medium-bodied and well-rounded, featuring flavors of strawberry, sour cherry, and and tart rhubarb.

Overall, it's a wine that straddles the bright red fruit/sinuous earthiness divide that often distinguishes California and Oregon Pinots from each other. I'm reminded somewhat of Erath's entry-level Pinot Noir in terms of style, though not quite in terms of finesse or complexity, and so at ~$13 it seems to be priced about right.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 11.5/15

Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$9

2011-03-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

One thing I know about California's Pacific Coast Highway is that it is, according to the USDOT, an "official National Scenic Byway" (as though there are unofficial NSBs lurking out there). Now that's perhaps not the best way to suck the fun out of one of the most scenic drives in the U.S., but I'd guess that it's up there.

But on to the wine. This 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is my first foray into the Pacific Coast Highway (or PCH - I'm not sure which name Fresh & Easy is going with) line of middle-shelf domestics. It's markedly minty and menthol-y on the nose, with an undercurrent of sweet dark fruit. On the palate it's fairly plush and inviting, with juicy cherry, blackberry, and boysenberry notes - indeed, "juicy" is an apt single-word descriptor for this wine - balanced a good thread of acidity. The tannins are modest and short-lived.

In a few words: this is a wine in the company of the likes of California stalwarts Fetzer, Meridian, and perhaps Mondavi's "Private Selection" line. It's a relatively direct and easy-drinking red that makes for a nice every-other-day sort of bottle, and at ~$9 it's priced at about the level I'd expect for a Cab with grapes sourced from "California" in general rather than a more specific sub-appellation (e.g. Napa). A good choice, perhaps, to accompany a spring picnic just off of a National Scenic Byway near you.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 11.5/15

WineWrights 2009 Monterey Pinot Noir - ~$11

2011-03-22T14:10:00.001-07:00

Yet another entry in Fresh & Easy's revamped domestic wine portfolio, the WineWrights Pinot Noir makes for a good budget version of a varietal that is often difficult to do well for a budget price.

It's more fruit-driven than Fresh & Easy's Primarius Pinot, featuring mouthfilling flavors of bright, sweetish strawberry and cherry. The good acidity suggests a pairing with grilled or poached salmon or roasted pork loin.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12.5/15

I♥CA 2009 California Merlot - ~$4

2011-03-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

This straight-forward California Merlot from Fresh & Easy offers plummy berry flavor and moderately astringent tannins on the finish.

Sure, it's a little one-dimensional - and not quite as interesting as its Pinot Grigio label mate. All in all, though, it's a perfectly serviceable wine at a very affordable price. It's definitely a step up, taste-wise, from ultra-bottom-shelfers like The Big Kahuna and Saludas.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 11.5/15

Barrel Ranch 2009 California Merlot - ~$14

2011-03-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

This new Merlot at Fresh & Easy is a member of one the new wine lines at Fresh & Easy. Given their mid-teens prices, it would seem the Barrel Ranch wines are meant to be part of Fresh & Easy's top-shelf domestic portfolio (though they're still stocking higher-end "outside" wines like Simi's Sonoma Merlot).

Given this top-shelf expectation, the Barrel Ranch Merlot was a bit of a let down. It's not a bad wine, by any means, and features a bright cherry and plum flavor profile. Still, it seemed a bit generic and soft-spoken, something particularly surprising given the high quality of the ~$5-cheaper WineWrights line. I suspect I'll give this Merlot another try to be more certain that this bottle didn't catch me on a bad day.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 10.5/15

WineWrights 2009 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$11

2011-03-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

I've long held that Fresh & Easy does better with Old World regional (e.g.the Reflexión Rioja Reserva)and New World varietal wines (e.g.McGuigan's Handmade Barossa Shiraz) while tending to struggle with domestic offerings. The recently-released WineWright series of premium-appellation California varietals may tip this balance. Given the price and grape sourcing (Napa, Monterrey) this line seems poised to compete with the likes of Trader Joe's in-house Napa reds (such as their Vintj Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon and Napa Meritage). If the WineWrights Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from the Napa's Rutherford sub-appellation, is any indication, Fresh & Easy has progressed by leaps and bounds from its previous California entries, notably the underwhelming Clairville Russian River Cab.

The wine opens with dried raspberry, menthol, and something a bit cedary on the nose. A pleasant, subtle jamminess characterizes the flavor profile, which is distinguished by notes of dark ripe plum, tar, and spice. The astringent tannins loosen up after twenty minutes or so and give way to moderate oakiness and a richness that is still structured rather than unctuously velvety (this is a flaw I've noticed in TJ's otherwise tasty Napa Meritage).

As for the price ... even in the current context of depressed prices for Napa Valley grapes, you don't come across many Rutherford Cabs at ~$11; that this Cab actually tastes like it's from Rutherford is impressive. Quality wine at a reasonable price: I hope this is a harbinger of Fresh & Easy's future direction in California.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 13/15

I♥CA 2009 California Pinot Grigio - ~$4

2011-03-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

The, um, stylishly named I♥CA line is a new series of bottom-shelf California varietals at Fresh & Easy. I suspect Fresh & Easy is becoming a bit more adept with their California bottlings, as the wine in the bottle actually bears a fairly strong resemblance to the description on the back label; in the past, these descriptions were often more the stuff of a marketing department's wishful thinking.

The I♥CA Pinot Grigio offers a green, limey, almost Sauvignon-Blanc-like nose and follows up with green citrus and (the back label doesn't lie!) creamy notes of peach. All in all, this is a crisp, fairly well-integrated wine. It's a relatively modest white, to be sure, but it covers a surprising amount of ground for a ~$4 bottle.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 12/15

Ora 2009 Pinot Grigio - ~$5

2011-01-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

Fresh & Easy pairs up its Ora Montepulciano D'Abruzzo with this '09 IGT Pinot Grigio from Italy's Veneto region. It's a pleasant, drinkable wine that's light in body and style but still exhibits some varietal character, most notably apple and lemon notes.

At ~$5, it falls within the value category. It's a pretty good candidate for a warm-weather aperitif or a bottle to pair with something along the lines of steamed mussels. In fact, this is just the kind of wine you'd use to make the broth and then drink with the finished mussels.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 11/15

Napa Family Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$12

2010-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Given Fresh & Easy's mixed record with California reds, this Napa Cab is a pleasant surprise. A fragrant nose full of bright red cherry and tobacco notes is followed by nice balance of cherry, raspberry and a hint of mint. The lively acidity and good tannic grip offer some nice structure, and the whole package closes out with soft, subtle oak.

So I would put this one in the "win" column; Fresh & Easy's domestic offerings may yet catch up to the recurring quality of its European and New World imports

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 12/15

Long Country 2009 Cabernet Savignon - ~$8

2010-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

This Fresh & Easy Cabernet Sauvignon hails from Chile's Colchagua Valley, typically a reliable area for earthy, robust Cabs.

The wine offers dusty notes of pencil lead and black fruit on the nose and follows through with cherry, raspberry, and dark chocolate on the palate. The tannins a fairly mild and short, and the focus here is on straightforward Cab fruit rather than oak finish. All in all, this is a solid effort at a fairly decent price.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12/15

Rockliffe Family 2008 Syrah - ~$11

2010-11-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

This Washington state offering from Fresh & Easy's in-house Rockliffe Family lineup features pepper is typically Syrah on the nose, featuring pepper, red-berry fruit, and loamy soil on the nose. There are likewise Syrah notes on the palate, notably plum, black cherry, and leathery earth.

It's a decent red in the style, though a bit closed and a little harsh in the finish. What's more, it lacks the opulent, spicy elements typical of so many Washington Syrahs in the same price range.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 10/15

Hilltown Vineyards 2009 Chardonnay - ~$8

2010-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

This is the new vintage of Fresh & Easy's Hilltown Chardonnay, reviewed here. This latest release follows in the fruit-forward, unoaked style of the earlier vintage. The flavor profile definitely leans more toward tropical fruit (pineapple, guava) than the earlier iteration, and on the whole the wine is a bit richer and creamier in the mouth.

This is, once again, a nice, approachable white, and still a pretty good deal for the price.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Castillo 2006 Rioja Crianza - ~$8

2010-11-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Fresh & Easy seems to have replaced their Reflexión Rioja Riserva, which I really liked, with this Crianza version of the Tempranillo grape. Crianzas are aged quite a bit less in bottle before being released, and this difference is borne out in the contrast between the Castillo's brasher, more fruit-driven style and the mature elegance of its elder sibling.

Violets, spicy red fruit, and damp earth are the dominant aromas and the wine follows through with flavors of peppery sour cherry and some tart raspberry on the end. The emphasis here is all about the fruit and the acidity, though the wine softens (perhaps a touch too much) after a good deal of air. It's a pleasant enough bottle, but somewhat one-dimensional.

It is a more energetic wine than the Reflexión, certainly, but in this case I have to give the nod to age over youth.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 11/15

Nine Below Chardonnay 2009 - $8

2010-10-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

I'm rarely a fan of wine gimmicks, so perhaps my bar was set rather low for this low-calorie, low-alcohol Chardonnay from Southeastern Australia. In any event, I found it drinkable if undistinguished, featuring a straightforward flavor profile of green melon and pear. The finish is relatively clean, though a nit marred by a saccharine-like sweetness that it is a bit out of balance.

This wouldn't be my first choice for an Australian Chard, but if you're in the market for a low-cal, low-alcohol white, this might well do it for you.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 10/15

Matuco 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ~$9

2010-10-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of the Matuco Malbec, but not so much of this recent Cabernet Sauvignon bottling from Argentina.

The nose hinted a bit at classic Cab aromas of tar and dark berry. At first I thought it was closed and needed some time in the glass, but it never really opened up.

There were hints of plum and briary blackberry, but for the most part the fruit and backbone of a Cabernet Sauvignon - from Mendoza, Bordeaux, Napa, wherever - was MIA. It was hard to believe that this is a 14% ABV wine, given its overall reticence.

Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 9/15

Ora 2008 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo - ~$5

2010-09-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've had good experiences with Fresh & Easy's Italian selections, and so I was curious in a "pleasantly surprised" way when I noticed this Montepulciano d'Abruzzo on the shelf. Even at the Indicazione Geografica Tipica level, Montepulciano d'Abruzzos can be very good wine deals, as evidenced here.

The wine opens with earthy aromas of cherry and blueberry. Typical of the Montepulciano grape, this is soft and approachable red but not at all flabby or fat. The acidity is nicely balanced and gives the wine a nice grip. In the mouth Ora is all about succulent, slightly sour cherry fruit and hints of licorice and tar, and it finishes with soft, sweet tannins.

All in all, this is a fun, juicy, fruit-forward red, and perhaps something to reach for instead of a generic Merlot.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12/15

Flat Rock 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$4

2010-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Rounding out Fresh & Easy's Flat Rock series is this very young (2009) California Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wine is somewhat washed-out garnet in the glass and offers simple but pleasant aromas of cassis, cherry, and raspberry. In the mouth the cherry persists but overall the wine is thin (more cherry cough syrup then cherry fruit) and closes with somewhat oit-of-whack tannic astringency. After thirty minutes in the glass, some leathery earthiness emerges and the tannins become better integrated.

So zero-for-three, I suppose. Perhaps the the fundamental problem, or perhaps problems, with the Flat Rock series of wines is that it's just hard to make good Californian wine in this price range (unless, like Gallo or Mondavi, you have access to huge swathes of vineyards all over California). Secondly, going up just a few dollars (and knowing what to look for) can raise the quality level substantially. Sebastiani's Pepperwood Grove label, Columbia Crest's Two Vines series, Estancia's Pinnacles bottlings - to name a few - all typically deliver good-to-very-good wines in the ~$7 - $10 range. And that's not counting imported wine, like, say Australian over-achievers Rosemount, Lindeman's, and Penfolds' Rawson's Retreat.

My local Fresh & Easy here in Arizona is offering a bunch of good wines at pretty good discounts. For example I can get the La Parra Loca Tempranillo/Shiraz blend for under ~$5 a bottle, and quite a bit less if I buy a half-case or more. So I'd skip the flat Flat Rock series (boy, they got the first part of the name right!) and stock your own value wine shelves with wines that have a little more to say.

Score

Drinkability: 3/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 7/15

Pebble Bay 2009 Sauvignon Blanc - ~$6

2010-09-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

This Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a recent addition to Fresh & Easy's wine shelves, and if you like New World Sauv Blancs, this is pretty good news for you.

The most immediately striking feature out of the bottle and into the glass is the assertive lime-citrus nose that's zingy enough to suggest white pepper.

The green citrus notes continue on the palate, joined by some Granny Smith apple tartness and just a bit of ginger on the back end. A touch fruit cocktail syrup sweetness (without the viscosity, of course) makes it a bit fatter and a little less crisp than the Boro Hills Sauv Blanc, it's New Zealand compatriot at Fresh & Easy.

In the end, I prefer Boro Hills' greater complexity and length (relatively speaking), but this is perfectly fine New World Sauvignon Blanc at a very appealing price.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Flat Rock 2009 California Chardonnay - ~$4

2010-09-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't care much for Fresh & Easy's Flat Rock Merlot (wouldn't thinking up names for imaginary wineries be a fun job, by the way?). The Flat Rock Chardonnay is a bit more appealing, but really this is damning with faint praise.

Typical of a very young white, it is green-yellow in the glass. The nose is muted to the point of silence. To its credit, it does not commit the sins common to bottom-shelf Cali Chardonnays - too much buttery sweetness, too much oaky richness. There is a bit of creamy mouthfeel and some pleasant apple-lemon freshness on the palate, but on the whole this wine is a bit too neutral; "inoffensive" might be the best word to describe it.

Score

Drinkability: 4/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 9/15

Flat Rock 2009 California Merlot - ~$4

2010-08-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Flat Rock is a new Fresh & Easy in-house collection of California wines - Cab, Merlot, and Chardonnay - priced, at ~$4, for the bottom shelf.

The Merlot in the glass is a rather surprising bright translucent purple, suggesting a not-too-terribly-extracted wine. There is plum, cedar, and a little spice on the nose. In the mouth, the lack of extraction is pretty apparent: there are sourish cherry and mild strawberry notes along with a hint of menthol, but overall the flavor is one-dimensional and the wine finishes thin and flat.

Better luck with the Cab and/or Chardonnay? Perhaps, but it seems as though F&E's California offerings still can't compete with their imports at this price point.

Score

Drinkability: 3/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 7/15

Franciscan 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$24

2010-08-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Franciscan is a well-established quality winery in Napa, California, and so of course it's wines are widely available outside of Fresh & Easy. Still, I thought it would be worthwhile to review one of the "top-shelf" F&E offerings.

The Napa Valley Cab is Franciscan's "entry-level" version, but it is hardly a light-weight red. The nose offers up tobacco, chocolate, and a touch of sweet oak. The palate is at once muscular and lush, defined by dark-roasted coffee and bitter-sweet chocolate laced through with plum and currant notes. The tannins on the finish are assertive but nicely fine-grained and well-integrated with the toasty oak and mocha on the longish finish.

Though at ~$24 it's pricier than most Fresh & Easy offerings (and you can likely get it for closer to or a bit under $20 at larger wine retailers) this is definitely something to consider if you're in the mood for a robust Cab for a special occasion.

Score

Drinkability: 9.5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 13/15

Ambas 2008 Chardonnay - ~ $6

2010-08-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

Not much to write home about here. I like Argentinian Chardonnays generally because of their emphasis on pure fruit, and there's a bit of that here - some pear and apple crispness and a hint of tropical fruit richness - but all in all the wine comes off as simple and bit muddled, with an off-putting acidic harshness on the finish.

I might have gotten an off bottle, so I'll try again in the near future.

Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 9/15

La Parra Loca - 2008 Sauvignon Blanc/Verdejo Blend - ~$7

2010-07-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is the white version of La Parra Loca, a counterpart to the tasty Tempranillo/Shiraz red blend. The grape mix of 85% Sauvignon Blanc and 15% Verdejo makes for a real winner for the price and an excellent pairing with light summer food.

The Verdejo gives a lush roundness to the pear-and-apple opening and the acidity of the Sauvignon Blanc kicks in deliciously on the crisp finish. Another impressive showing from a Spanish Vino de la Tierra!

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 13/15

Other reviews:
Indigo's Sugar Spectrum
Bruce on Adegga.Com

Penrosa 2008 Rosé - ~$6

2010-07-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here we have a Spanish VdlT rosé from Bodeagas Realeza, which I assume is a typical "in name only" winery of the sort Fresh & Easy uses for its in-house wines. The grapes are Tempranillo from the Castilla Y León region in the northwest.

The wine takes a while to open up, or, I should say, warm up. Faint aromas of candied strawberry and lime zest emerged after a bit of time in the glass. Though it is dry, this is a rosé that goes in the direction of strawberry and raspberry sweetness, and perhaps a bit too far. Though it offers some fizzy effervescence early on, overall the wine struck me as a bit flat and simple.

While I can't complain much given the price, there are better, cheaper alternatives very close to hand.

Score

Drinkability: 5.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 10.5/15

Palro Estate 2008 Rosé - ~$4

2010-06-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

This rosé is a dry Argentinian bottle made from Malbec grapes, which I see more and more in pink wines. It boasts an interesting darkish translucent pink color reminiscent of cherry cough syrup. The nose is fresh and inviting, with highlights of dried flowers and citrus fruit.

Indeed, this is a refreshingly fruity wine offering flavors of strawberry and pomegranate closed out by bracing grapefruity zing. All in all, a pleasant summer sipper.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Ogio White Zinfandel - ~$6

2010-06-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of summer, Fresh & Easy is rolling out its summer line of rosés and white Zinfandels. In addition to domestic names such as Sutter Home and Beringer, I counted (I think) a half dozen imports. I'll be reviewing the internationals over the next couple of weeks.

we start things off with Ogio' offering, a dry white Zin. I should say that I believe all of the imports are dry, so no need to worry about the cloying, syrupy sweetness of the "classic" off-dry American "blush" wine.

Ogio's pink bottling is the palest of the Fresh & Easy bunch, not quite onion skin but certainly not as dark-hued as some of the Tempranillo roses. It offers pleasant, albeit slight, aromas of strawberry and roses. True to the advertised 12.5% ABV, it features a nice vibrant acidity immediately in the mouth. This is pleasant enough, but no real fruit presence develops (a real let down in a rosé wine!) and in the end it's rather a banal, closed affair.

Quite disappointing given my high hopes for another Ogio success.

Score

Drinkability: 4.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 9/15

Rockcliffe Family 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$11

2010-05-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

I often find Cabernet Sauvignons from Washington state leaning toward the leaner side of the flavor profile, which can be a good thing in that it allows these Cabs to bring some of them more subtle varietal characteristics to the fore. Fresh & Easy's 2006 Rockcliffe Family Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley doesn't quite manage to pull this trick off.

The nose is a pleasant mixture of chocolate and toasted cinnamon spice, but the palate is rather austere, offering some cherry and blackberry set against moderate, somewhat rough tannins.

Not a bad wine, but not, as the back label proclaims, "a classic Washington State Cabernet." For that I'd stick to something like Columbia Crest's ubiquitous and very affordable Grand Estates bottling.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 10.5/15

Dreamstone Moscato - ~$9

2010-05-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Fresh & Easy is starting to push some summer sippers and I believe that the Dreamstone Moscato is one of them. This is an Australian wine, made from Frontignac grapes, which are Australia’s version of the remarkably profligate Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains grape. Indeed, you can find a Muscat wine from just about every wine-producing country in the world

It does have a bit of the characteristic ripe, musky Muscat style on end of the palate. More obvious, though, are the three Ps characteristic of this sort of wine: peach, papaya, and passion fruit. This wine is lightly carbonated and rather refreshing when well-chilled. The low alcohol level (8.5% ABV) makes it attractive as a sipper, but the sweetness on the finish does get a bit cloying after a while.

A nice summer drink, but perhaps best paired with dessert – say, strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 11/15

Cape Peak 2008 Syrah - ~$5

2010-04-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

This Syrah comes from South Africa’s Western Cape, which doesn't really tell you much. It is like saying "California" or "South Eastern Australia." I wasn't fond of Fresh & Easy's Cape Peak Chardonnay because it had an odd, non-varietal taste.

This Syrah’s a bit of a different story, in that it takes the flavor profile of a soft, dark, fruity Australian Shiraz in a rather extreme direction. Though the nose is interesting, offering plummy earthiness, sweet tobacco, and clove, in the mouth this wine's candied blackberry sweetness is a bit overwhelming. It's as though the winemkaer thought to himself, "If they like that [yellow tail], they're going to love this!" I don't mind [yellow tail] (aside from the silly typography), but this wine seems bit too eager to please.

At ~$5, though, this wine will definitely find many fans among the fruit bomb set.

Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 10/15

Napa Family Vineyards Chardonnay ~$12

2010-04-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty nice, albeit generic California Chardonnay. It hits some typical Cali Chard notes: ripe pear, tropical fruit and vanilla on the nose, a slightly viscous glycerin mouthfeel, and fruit cocktail syrup, pineapple, and toasty oak on the palate.

It’s a good, well-made wine, but not a great bargain at ~$12, especially with the price of the superior Small Wonders Chardonnay seemingly reduced to ~$10.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 11/15

Hacienda Altavina - 2009 Carmenere - ~$5

2010-03-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

Let me say, first off, that the label for the Hacienda Altavina wines at Fresh & Easy has got to go. A dour Abuelita looking at you disapprovingly through a keyhole is in no way conducive to drinking wine. On the other hand, it may drive some to drink too much. Not having had a dour Abuelita for some time, I can't honestly say.

Alright, on this wine. Carménère is to Chile as Malbec is to Argentina: a "national" grape that was cast off in France's Bordeaux region only to be rediscovered in the New World, to generally delicious results. For some years now, it's been made into tremendous value wines.

The 2009 Altavina is a translucent purple in the glass and gives off nice earthy, savory aroma dominated by soft red fruit. The palate is soft and plummy, with some deeper notes of dark-roast coffee and savory olive. There's good fruit and good acidity here, making for a nice food wine (my experience with grilled steak and chimichurri bears this out).

All in all, this is a good, albeit modest red, one that offers some nice varietal characteristics. At ~$5, it's a wine whose quality outstrips its price by a fair bit. In other words, a Fresh & Easy success.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Saludas 2009 Vino de la Tierra White - ~$3

2010-03-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

Unlike its red counterpart, the white version of Saludas offers no indication of grape varietal. My guess is that there's a few a grapes in the mix here, and that Viura might be playing a leading role.

This wine is quite pale in the glass, almost transparent. The nose gives up green apple and lemon-lime, and these notes follow through in the mouth, closing out with a limey, slightly harsh astringency. It's not unlike a Vinho Verde but without the effervescence and with a bit too much green sourness on the finish.

I'd love to see Fresh & Easy bring in a good Vinho Verde, but I doubt that they could offer it at ~$3. And if they did offer such a wine, well, it'd likely be somewhat underwhelming and best served well chilled.

Score

Drinkability: 3.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 8.5/15

Conquista 2007 Torrontés - ~$8

2010-03-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

Torrontés is the white counterpart to Malbec in the sense that it is not very widely grown outside of Argentina. The similarities most definitiely end there, though. Where Malbec typically features dense, rich red fruit, Torrontés is more of wisp of wine, highlighted by delicate floral fragrance and spice. I expect that it'll soon displace Viognier as the hip, refreshing summer white.

Speaking of new, here we have a recent arrival on the Fresh & Easy wine shelves, Conquista's 2007 Torrontés from Mendoza. That it's from Mendoza is of note only because, while that region is Argentina's most famous, Torrontés does its best work up north in Salta.

In the glass this is decidedly golden wine in appearance. The nose offers notes of honey, honeysuckle and gardenia. On the palate it's rather sweet, featuring honey and peach syrup with the fat mouthfeel tapering off into a bit of lime zing at the end. It seems to me like a lusher, more tropical take on Gewurztraminer.

If you like spicy, slighty sweetish Gewurtzes and Reislings, you should give this wine a try. At ~$8, though, it's pretty far from a value wine, as you can get lots of good (and some better) Torrontés at this price.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 2.5/5
Total value: 10.5/15

Saludas 2009 Tempranillo - ~$3

2010-03-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

Here we have a Vino de la Tierra from (more or less) the middle of Spain. For those clamoring to know what "Vino de la Tierra" means, first off, stop your clamoring! All it means, as perhaps you already know, is that this is a "country wine," not quite up to the standards of a Denominacón de Origen Spanish wine. So like a French Vin de Pays or an Italian Indicazione Geografica Tipica. These can be good wines, I assure you.

Now, to this wine. The grape in the bottle is Tempranillo, which Spanish wine lovers will recognize as the essence of many a delicious Rioja. Of course, the greatness of those wines depends in part on barrel aging, a feature you'll not get with the Saludas. This is not to say that this is a bad wine, just that it's a young wine, one unacquainted with oak. It's an earthy red that features muted sour cherry meshing quickly with the short, slightly rough tannins.

You can buy so many bad wines for ~$3 a bottle - well, less now than in earlier days, thank God - that it's a pleasure to recommend this wine. It's a simple red, sure, but it has the taste of a grape (Tempranillo) that actually comes from a place (central Spain). That's not nothing these days.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 11.5/15

Chateau Ste. Michelle's "Eroica" Riesling - ~$20

2010-03-03T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is not a Fresh & Easy "exclusive" wine. The ~$20 price tag may have alerted you to this fact. It is, however, a wine that you can get at Fresh & Easy that is an absolutely delicious wine. Elsewhere you can get for about the same price.

If you have a special someone - or if you are a special someone!- who loves Riesling, I'd recommend this indulgence. Chateau Ste. Michelle's "regular" Riesling, also available on F&E's wine shelves, is a good Riesling. The Eroica is a much better one. Collaborating with a German on Riesling (Dr. Loosen, no less) will have that effect.

Since it's not exclusive to Fresh & Easy, I'm not going to give it a value score. Suffice it to say that if you like Riesling and are in the mood to spend ~$20, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And if you want to make a night of it, I recommend putting on some Anita O'Day.

The Harbor 2008 Chardonnay - ~$6

2010-03-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay is one of the reliably consistent values in white wine. Year in and year out it's a tasty wine that offers varietal characteristics (i.e. no overbearing oak or vanilla sweetness) for ~$8.

The Chardonnay in Fresh & Easy's recently added "The Harbor" line of wines reminds me of the Lindemans Bin 65. Both are sourced from the massive grape empire that is South Eastern Australia, and both aim for a similar style as well, emphasizing fresh peach and passion fruit, and featuring a glycerine mouthfeel balanced by nice acidity. The Harbor Chardonnay strikes me as a bit leaner than the Lindemans, but it's a fairly close call.

Priced at ~$6 it's a good everyday wine for anyone who likes the fruit-forward style of [budget] Australian Chardonnay.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Matuco 2008 Malbec - ~$10

2010-02-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have a theory about Malbec. More of a hope, really. The success of Malbec, the red grape of the moment among U.S. wine drinkers, will remind California winemakers of the appeal of Merlot. By which I mean Merlot before the crazy yields and massive oaking of the late 1990s. The Merlot that features dense, dark red fruit. The grape that makes up most of Cheval Blanc (sorry Miles, it's true).

Alright, California's not making anything resembling a Premier Grand Cru St. Emilion Bordeaux in the near future. But it can absolutely make a wine as tasty and approachable as Fresh & Easy's recent addition, the 2008 Matuco Malbec. This is a wine from Argentina's Mendoza region and it's one on par with competitors like Norton and Alamos.

VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT: This is a wine that benefits from some airing out. Directly from the bottle, it's a pretty sharp, tannic affair. After an hour or so, the nose features dark red fruit, wet soil and some sweet oak. In the mouth there's a rich mix of dark chocolate, blueberry, and black raspberry. The tannins are still there, but there much softened and framed by oaky sweetness.

Quality Malbecs are still pretty cheap and at ~$10 Fresh & Easy's Matuco has some stiff competition in the category. Ever the optimist, I'm looking forward to their Cali Merlots a few years from now.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 12.5/15

The Harbor 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$6

2010-02-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

The Harbor Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine sourced to Australia’s capacious South Eastern Australia region. A staggering amount of wine comes out SE Australia; this bottle's a good example (emphasis on the "good") of why. It's well-made in its modest fashion and eminently affordable.

The nose is slightly herbal and features big, jammy, dark red fruit. In the mouth you get sweet blackberry and raspberry fruit with a slight menthol bite and soft short tannins. It's tasty and engaging in what's become a trademark Australian style.

Simply put, this is a nice, straightforward Australian Cab in the company of a Lindeman’s Bin 45 Cab or a Rosemount Cab/Shiraz blend. A good wine to pair with the grill (spring’s just around the corner!)

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Ombretta 2008 Chianti - ~$7

2010-02-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Fresh & Easy's Ombretta Chianti is aptly named: its small shadow can't quite cover F & E's other Italian offerings. It has a lovely nose of blackberry and black soil that gives way to a medium-bodied palate of sourish cherry and dark earth.

Though it's a bit on the thin side relative to Fresh & Easy's Re Del Castello Chianti Classico, it's still a nice, solid everyday red and certainly attractive at ~$7 a bottle.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 10.5/15

Montcadi Rosé Cava - ~$8

2010-02-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

If you've been in Fresh & Easy recently, you've surely noticed the floor-to-ceiling displays of Montcadi's Rosé Cava. I wasn't particularly fond of the off-dry version of this wine, but the rosé is much more likeable. It's a dry wine made in the metodo tradicional (i.e. the fizz is produced in the same way as it is Champagne) from Trepat and Garnacha grapes. The flavor profile is more appealing and complex than the earlier iteration, and features delicate, slightly sweet strawberry backed by a citrus astringency. The dry finish is clean and refreshing.

I'd give a slight edge to F&E's Pongrácz NV Brut, but hey, it's a pink wine for Valentine's Day, and it's half the price of the Pongrácz. If sparkling wine suits your taste (or the taste of that special someone), you might want to pick up a bottle.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 11.5/15

El Burro 2006 "Kickass" Garnacha - ~$10

2010-02-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

I've intimated my dislike of "crazy" wine labels and/or names elsewhere, so I won't spend much time on the shortcomings of the marketing campaign devised by the makers of El Burro's Kickass Garnacha. I will say that that is one stultified-looking burro on the label, though.

The wine in the bottle is a red, a Garnacha (Spanish for Grenache), which is making some very nice varietal wines nowadays. The nose on this wine is promising, featuring cherry, candied red fruit, pencil lead, and some soily earthiness underneath it all.

In the mouth it's a bit more acidic than most Garnachas I've had. It's grippy, rustic wine, one marked more by sour cherry than raspberry. The finish veers toward a sour funkiness and somewhat abrasive tannins, both of which are offputting. In the end, it's a bit too rustic for my taste.

Score

Drinkability: 4/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 7/15

Pongrácz NV Brut Sparkling Wine ~$15

2010-02-02T19:31:00.000-08:00

The Cap Classique term used on the label is just the South African term for the French “champenoise” method. This just means that the wine in the bottle you hold in your hands is the same bottle in which both primary and secondary fermentation occurred. And there was some kind of riddling. The whole Champagne process is enormously fascinating but not, I realize, appropriate for right here and now.

The label language you do need to pay attention to is “Brut.” This is not a sweet sparkler like Ogio’s Prosecco. It’s a dry wine that features prominent grapefruit and lime on the palate. The promise of yeasty notes on the nose (a hallmark of tasty Champagnes) is unfulfilled.

The Pongrácz Sparkling Wine is not a bad wine (I prefer it to the Ogio, but I’m not a big fan of off-dry sparklers). Actually, it’s pretty good and I think it would pair up very nicely with spicy Thai food. It has some good depth. It’s just that if your “Champagne” budget is in the $15-20 range, I’d recommend going to a good local wine retailer and asking for a grower Champagne from France. The value-to-price ratio for these bottles is still quite stunning.

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 11/15

McGuigan Handmade Barossa Shiraz ~$13

2010-01-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know what "Hand Made" is supposed to signify. I can say that the label on this wine reminds me of a nice single-malt scotch ("Batch 4"?). Let's leave the thumbprint to one side.

The wine in the bottle is a nice, juicy Shiraz. There's a reason why Shiraz is Australia's national grape and this McGuigan bottle offers yet more evidence for this reasoning. It's immediately appealing for its saturated blackberry and raspberry fruit and then nice on the moderate, slightly peppery finish. There's some backbone to this wine that recommends it to a nice, rare New York strip steak. At 14.5 ABV the alcohol level is highish, but there's good acidity to maintain a nice balance.

Definitely comparable to the Yalumba Shiraz that Fresh & Easy seems to be phasing out.

Score

Drinkability: 9/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 13/15

Head-to-Head Cabernet Sauvignons - Hilltown Vineyards 2007 (~$7) and Rawnsley Estate 2007 (~$10)

2010-01-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

The Hilltown Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Monterey County. There’s not much more I can say about it, really. It’s an innocuous wine, one that is admittedly “red” but which doesn’t stand out in any way, either on the nose or the palate.

The Rawnsley Estate 2007 Cab, sourced to Australia’s Barossa region (but not the more prestigious Barossa Valley) is a different story altogether. The nose is a promising mix of juicy black currant and peppery spice. The juiciness follows through on the palate, and indeed this Cab drinks somewhat like a Zinfandel fruit bomb (without the mouth-searing alcohol). With bright acidity and a soft tannic finish, this Aussie Cab is the very definition of a fruity, easygoing red.

Worth the extra $? Need you even ask?

Hilltown Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 4.5/5

Total value: 9.5/15

Rawnsley Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4/5

Total value: 12/15

Boro Hills Marlborough 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - ~$10

2010-01-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

A Sauvignon Blanc is not the most obvious mid-winter choice, even here in the ever-delightfully warm southwest, but I'd been meaning to try this Marlborough offering for some time. Turns out it is the definition - one of the many, true - of a refreshing white, with bracing grapefruit astringency backed by some pineapple sweetness.

It lacks the finesse of, say, a typical Kim Crawford Sauv Blanc, but it is easily in his ballpark. Nice for the price, too.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 13/15

Merlara 2007 Corvina-Merlot - ~$4 (on sale)

2010-01-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

I picked this bottle up at a Fresh & Easy other than my local one. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen it at my local for a while. This leads me to believe that this label is on the clearance track. At ~$4 this is a great value. It’s an IGT from the Veneto, one that combines mostly Corvina (the big grape in Valpolicellas) and some Merlot. There’s some of that nice sour cherry from the Corvina and the wine overall has a nice deep earthy weight.

As when my local was selling the 2006 Yalumba “Y series” Viognier for $3.00 a bottle, I‘m going to buy all of the Merlara I can find.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 13/15

New Zealand 2007 Pinot Noir - ~$10

2010-01-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Tautology, thy name is: Fresh & Easy's New Zealand Pinot Noir, a Pinot Noir from the Marlborough region of ... New Zealand.

The wine opens very quickly and offers up a nose of strawberry, truffles, earth, and menthol. The palate features sweet strawberry and blackberry and is rounded out by sour cherry on the finish.

Overall, it's a decent, medium-bodied Pinot Noir, though one that exhibits a bit of earthy rusticity that makes it a bit rough around the edges (for a PN, anyway).

Score

Drinkability: 7.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 11.5/15

The Sonoma Trail 2006 Pinot Noir - ~$13

2009-12-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

Not much New Year’s cheer from this Fresh & Easy Pinot Noir. Though the name is utterly uninspired, the pedigree is good, with grapes from Sonoma’s solid 2006 vintage. And while there are some hallmark New World Pinot Noir notes – particularly cherry and strawberry fruit, black tea, and a gamey earthiness – overall the wine is rather thin and lean.

I would stick with Fresh & Easy’s Oregon offering, the Primarius Pinot Noir, or, if you’re willing to go up another price point, go with La Crema’s very nice 2007 Sonoma Coast bottling.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 9.5/15

Ca'Maritta 2008 Valpolicella ~$7

2009-12-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice light-bodied Italian red wine from the Valpolicella DOC. This is soft, fruity wine, very much in keeping with the regional style, and a good deal at ~$7. It offers cherry and violet notes on the nose and follows through with cherry and ripe plum in the mouth.

It's not as robust as a Chianti, but is nevertheless a good food wine. Think hors d'oeuvres rather than main course.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Hilltown Vineyards 2006 Chardonnay - ~$8

2009-12-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

For consideration today is the Chardonnay from one of Fresh & Easy's in-house wine label selections, Hilltown Vineyards. The grapes come from "California's precious Monterey County" - whoever writes the back-label blurbs for these Fresh & Easy wines might want to edit a bit more.

This is a straightforward, unoaked California Chardonnay offering Bosc pear and green apple on the nose. The palate features apple, grapefruit, and some pineapply sweetness mixed with a bit of white pepper on the end, and finishes with a zingy citric astringency. Those seeking a typical sweetie-pie Cali Chard should look elsewhere (they're still not too hard to find!).

The Hilltown Vineyards Chardonnay is a nice, refreshing white wine that will pair well with pretty much anything with which white wine is traditionally paired. A good choice for under $10. I should say, though, that it lacks the rich elegance of the Small Wonders Chardonnay, which occasionally can be had on sale at Fresh & Easy for just a couple of dollars more.

[NB. I've posted a review of the 2009 vintage here]

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12/15

[NB. I've posted a review of the 2009 vintage here]

Montcadi Cava - ~$7

2009-12-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

I had high hopes for this wine, as Spanish Cavas are often terrific sparkling-wine values. A pretty big disappointment, unfortunately.

Like the Ogio Prosecco, this is an off-dry wine. There’s not much to accompany the sweetness, though. Some simple green apple and a hint of grapefruit, with (though it may be a figment of my imagination) some nuttiness on the finish. The big bubbles are more reminiscent of Mountain Dew than the méthode Champenoise.

For anyone interested in a better sweet Cava at this price point, I recommend Freixenet’s Carta Nevada NV.

Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 8.5/15

Other Reviews:
Adam the Wine Guy

Ogio Prosecco Spumante ~$9

2009-12-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

With the holiday season comes the sparkling wines. True, I do enjoy a variety of sparklers during the summer months (when they show their best, to me at least), but the end of the year - the celebration of getting through yet another one mostly unscathed, we hope - is the traditional "Champagne" season.

Fresh & Easy offers more than a few sparklers, and I plan to drink many of them. (At your implied behest, of course). This Spumante from Ogio is not a Champagne, as the Champagne advocates will not hesitate to tell you (sometimes in court). I stipulate the point, but the Champagne folks can get a bit pedantic.

But back to the bottle at hand. This is a nice, somewhat innocuous sparkling wine. There's a bit of citrus on the nose and the palate is pleasant balance of lemon zest and peachy sweetness. I should mention that the "Extra Dry" designation means that the wine is a bit off-dry (i.e. sweet). Blame the French for the confusion. All in all, a pleasing, simple confection, well-suited for the role of aperitif.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 11/15

Ogio 2007 IGT Primitivo - ~$6

2009-12-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Here's another pleasant surprise from Italy. I've had Fresh and Easy's Ogio Pinot Grigio and found it banal. Not so with the Primitivo. For those in need of an introduction, the Primitivo grape is a Zinfandel clone, grown pretty much exclusively in the Puglia region of Italy (the heel of the boot, AKA Apulia).

The Ogio Primitivo has a nice Zin nose, featuring cedar, spice, and a whiff of wet earthiness. Drink it (please do!) and you get dark raspberry, clove, and a hint of licorice, closed out by moderate tannins. It's straightforward wine, certainly, but tasty in its own small way.

Some words of warning: for anyone expecting a Cali Zinfandel experience, this is not your wine. There is nothing brawny about this wine, nor is their even a trace of oak on the back end. By the same token, it's not drenched in alcohol, featuring instead a nice acidity that will make for a good match with grilled meat, stews, etc.

In short, it's a nice Italian quaffer that's a great deal for ~$6.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 13/15

Other Reviews:
Full Pour
Just a Grape

Re Del Castello 2007 Chianti Classico - ~$11

2009-11-30T21:22:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for Italian wines and so I had high hopes for this Fresh & Easy Chianti Classico. That said, I was a bit skeptical of the quality of a CC for ~$10. In the end ...

... high hopes realized! This is a tasty red wine, full of dark berry fruit and a nice solid earthiness, shot through with strawberry and finished with that wonderful Sangiovese black-cherry sourness on the end. True, you'll get a more complex Chianti Classico for more money, but that'll take a trip to a quality wine retailer. And if you must make that trip, for God's sake get a Riserva! For the rest of us, this Fresh & Easy offering more than holds its own.

Like pretty much all affordable Italian reds, this is wine that strikes just the right balance between fruit and acidity, and so is made for drinking at dinner. I would pair this with just about anything outside of the kingdom of fish. Turkey might be a bit of a stretch, but if you know in advance that it's going to be dry and salty, why not at the very least have a good glass of wine on hand to take the edge off of your resentment of the cook?

Score

Drinkability: 9/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 13/15

Clairville 2007 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - ~$14

2009-11-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

I thought this Alexander Valley Cab might be the second of a sort of “matched set” with Fresh & Easy’s Small Wonders Chardonnay, given that they’re the first wines at Fresh & Easy from single appellations in Sonoma County, they arrived on the shelf at about the same time, and they're both currently on sale for ~$10.

At any rate, the appellation and the simultaneous arrival on the shelf would appear to be a coincidence. Where Small Wonders was very much an easy-to-like Sonoma Chard, Clairville is not likewise a typically soft, voluptuous, oaky Cab in the style of say, Geyser Peak’s or Sebastiani’s Sonoma County bottlings.

Rather, this is a wine with some guts and some tannin. It’s a bit on the rustic side, which is to say that it’s somewhat astringent and rough around the edges. If you prefer an old-fashioned Cab to the more polished contemporary California style, this might be a good choice. To my mind though, it’s kind of tight and closed, with the tannic finish swallowing up the fruit.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 10.5/15

Small Wonders Chardonnay - ~$14

2009-11-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

This Chardonnay is pretty new to Fresh & Easy’s shelves. Now, at ~$14 this wine is not cheap by Fresh & Easy standards, but a comparable wine – that is to say, a Chardonnay from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley – would run you ~$20+ at Fry’s or Safeway. And that’s after the fake discount afforded by your store card. (FWIW: you'd do pretty well to pay ~$14 for a wine like this at a decent wine retailer). To my mind, you get more than your money’s worth with this bottle.

I’ll get this out of the way up front (or, rather, at midpoint): this is a yummy Chardonnay. To be sure, it's fashioned in the "California style," but in that respect it builds on strengths while eschewing weaknesses. It offers crisp Bosc pear and spiced honey on the nose and features pear, dried apricot, and honey on the palate, along with hints of clove and nutmeg. The finish is indeed sweetly oaky, but this wine is mainly about the delicious fruit and the very nice acidity that comes with it.

Now, about that oakiness. I’ve not jumped on to the “ABC” (“Anything But Chardonnay”) bandwagon mainly because I never jumped on the “NBC” bandwagon in the first place. In my experience, it’s often worthwhile to trail after bandwagon riders so as to scoop up the suddenly-unfashionable gems that they leave in their wake. If a ~$14 Russian River Chardonnay this tasty is part of the leavings, then I’m more than happy to trail along at the tail-end of the vanguard.

Score

Drinkability: 10/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 15/15

Recoleta 2008 Malbec/Bonarda - ~$5

2009-11-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Given the grapes here – Malbec and Argentina’s other reclaimed European grape, Bonarda – I was expecting that this bottling from Mendoza would be something of a fruit bomb. Certainly there’s some fruit here – notably bright Bing cherry – but the acidity is rather screeching and overwhelms the entire experience. All in all the wine tastes young and closed. A dud more than a bomb, it turns out, more than likely because of the recency of its vintage.

I realize that nobody is going to lay down a ~$5 wine they bought at Fresh & Easy. The point is, you shouldn’t have to: the winemaker should do that for you (well, for a red, at any rate). And some do. It will likely cost you a bit more, but in most instances the price is worth the value.

But back to this wine: I’m thinking it may be a good candidate for an "accelerated aging experiment" on the top of my refrigerator.

Score

Drinkability: 3/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 7/15

the vine yard Cabernet Franc - ~$8

2009-11-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

Fresh & Easy threw me for a bit of a loop today. Scanning the wine shelves I came across … a Cabernet Franc! This is not a common varietal bottling here in the U.S. Hell, it’s not a “varietal” at all in France, where it’s mostly grown, the French not being the varietal sort.

But back to the bottle in question. The annoyingly truncated name – “the vine yard,” yes, all in lower case – is a bit of a hurdle, but beyond that the label tells us that the grapes come from Washington state’s Columbia Valley. Many good wines come out of the Columbia Valley, but this is not one of them. It’s not that it’s a bad wine, it’s more that it’s not that much of a wine at all. A good Cab Franc (for which you’ll pay $20+ for the California version, truth be told) is redolent of earthy herbal notes on the nose and offers cranberry-like fruit and tea on the palate. The nose for this wine was grapey with a hint, at most, of violets (this after a few samplings over an hour). The palate was likewise innocuous, with a bit of dry, briary fruit toward the end.

C’mon, it’s Fresh & Easy. At this price, you can do better than this bland offering.

Score

Drinkability: 3/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 6.5/15

Reflexión - Rioja Reserva for ~$10

2009-11-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

There was a bit of hoopla surrounding this wine after it received a score of “90” in the Wine Advocate. Fresh & Easy-generated hoopla, but hoopla nonetheless. Just to be clear, the “90” is a score from Jay Miller, who covers Spain for the Wine Advocate, not Robert Parker. More importantly, however, Reflexión was part of a massive tasting of over 1000 Spanish wines, hundreds of which received scores or 90 or higher. The fact that it received only a score and not a brief description as well leads me to discount the whole “90” thing. That said, this is still a worthwhile bottle.

The wine definitely benefited from a good deal of air; I poured the whole bottle into decanter about an hour before drinking. The nose is an inviting mix of sweet spice, vanilla, and oak. The palate features chocolate, cloves and cinnamon, and hints of strawberry. True to Tempranillo form, the fruit here is moderate and the acidity is fairly low. The wine has some length and finishes with pleasant oak and soft tannins.

It’s a pretty likeable wine and ~$10 is a very good price for a Rioja Reserva . Unfortunately the “Parker laurels” make it unlikely that this wine will go on sale.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 13.5/15

2008 Ambas Malbec - ~$6

2009-11-02T12:46:00.001-08:00

Though hardly “secret value” meccas any longer, both Argentina and Chile are still turning out an impressive amount of good, inexpensive wine. Fresh & Easy’s 2008 Ambas Malbec is a good example. Made from Mendoza grapes, Ambas is a young, fruity red, a medium-bodied wine with enough heft to stand up to a grilled steak. A nose of violets and ripe red fruit is followed by a palate of dark, mouth-filling blackberry, sour cherry and some leathery earthiness.

While it is a bit on the young side, I would say this is a straightforward wine rather than a simple one.

Mendoza strikes again!

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 13/15

Other reviews:
WineSkinny.Com
Just a Grape

2008 Maison Maurel Vedeau Pinot Noir (~$7)

2009-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

A brand-new Fresh & Easy Pinot Noir from the Pays D’Oc for well under $10? I was equal parts curious, skeptical, and hopeful.

Well, curiosity is always rewarded, for better and for worse, and so it is in this case. The nose is promising, featuring earthy, gamey notes along with a bit of dried red fruit. There’s a pleasant early palate of sour cherry and tobacco, but the promise of the wine is, well, suspended by the overpowering tannins that pretty much crowd out everything else in the mouth - rather strange for typically low-tannin Pinot Noir.

After about an hour in the glass, the tannic sensation had subsided somewhat. After a few more hours, more fruit was available and the wine revealed itself as a pretty good, rustic red with decent varietal character.

Worth the $7, assuming you have ample time for aeration (I’d recommend pouring the whole bottle in a water pitcher or some such thing). And if you can get it on sale, as I did, for ~$5, even better.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 11.5/15

Cape Peak Chardonnay ~$5

2009-10-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Here’s a recent addition Fresh & Easy’s wine selection, a South African Chardonnay. South Africa’s been coming on gangbusters for a little over a decade now, trying to compete in the international market with international varietals and doing quite well in recent years. This Chard, from the no doubt corporately-named “Cape Peak” series of wines is sourced to the entire “West Cape” region, which is more or less the equivalent of “South Eastern Australia” or “California.” However, Stellenbosch and Paarl (both Cape regions) have been turning out some excellent Chards of late, so it’s not unreasonable to expect a “state” wine to be pretty good.

They say that Chardonnay is the winemaker’s grape because the juice itself is rather neutral; it is the winemaker’s decisions after the grapes have been picked that determine the taste of the wine that ends up in the bottle. The decisions in this case are, um, interesting. In short, this wine comes off both on the nose and the palate as a Sauvignon Blanc. There’s just enough varietal character here to make a credible case for Chardonnay (and I’m sure that it’s Chardonnay juice in the wine – it has the white certification tag on the capsule attesting to as much, per South African wine law), but it pushes the recent trend toward unoaked Chardonnay to the extreme.

In the glass the wine is a very pale straw color. The nose offers up grass, citrus, and faint notes of honey. Green apple and limey citrus dominate the palate and the wine finishes with what was for me an off sourness. All in all, its drinkability suffered on account of this varietal muddle.

If you love New World Sauvignon Blancs (from New Zealand, especially) – and frankly, I like but don’t love this style – and you’re trying to meet a Chardonnay fan somewhere in the middle, this wine might work for you. Keep in mind that that “somewhere” is quite a bit closer to your taste in wine than hers.

Score

Drinkability: 4/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 8.5/15

Lancewood Cabernet Sauvignon ~$9 (~7 on sale)

2009-10-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here’s an instance of why reading labels is tricky but is likewise very important.

The grapes in this Cabernet Sauvignon are from the Barossa Zone rather than the more prestigious Barossa Valley appellation, which is a specific entity within the Barossa Zone. At least that’s my best guess. If the grapes (at least 85% percent of them, at any rate) came from the Barossa Valley, surely that would be indicated on the label. At any rate, you shouldn’t consider this wine in the ranks of Barossa Valley heavyweights such as Penfolds or Peter Lehmann, either geographically or stylistically.

Speaking of style, the Lancewood 2007 Cab is, in a word, underwhelming. In the glass the color is a surprisingly translucent purple, more like a Beaujolais than a Cab. The 12.5% ABV, lightweight for a Cab, is another indicator of something less than robust. The nose offers mild aromas of blackberry and raspberry jam and a bit of sweet cinnamon. The first impression in the mouth is of a moderately fruit-forward and sweet red. The flavor profile is fairly simple, featuring blackberry and hints of mocha and mint. The tannins are quite soft and the whole experience is over in a hurry.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad experience, just an insubstantial one. True, the wine is only around $9, but if Fresh & Easy wines demonstrate one thing, it’s that there’s more bang to be had for that many bucks.

Score

Drinkability: 5/10
Price: 3/5
Total value: 8/15

Château Calage GSM - ~$8

2009-10-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Is there really a Château Calage? Something majestic, with the white, Disney-like spires you actually sometimes find in Germany and Austria? Only way over in the Languedoc, up off the Mediterranean Sea?

Well, no, but you already knew that. But the absence of spires doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good wine. The grapes (Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre) come from the quite large Coteaux du Languedoc appellation and while the bottle's back-label association of this wine with the “terroir of Châteauneuf du Pape” is a bit of a stretch, it’s not too much to say that the “Chateau” has managed a nice impersonation of a pretty good southern Côtes du Rhône.

This is a rustic wine in a good, brambly way. Dried cherry and tobacco on the palate with good, grippy tannins on the finish – hard to complain at the price.

Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 13/15

Roslyn Chardonnay ~$6

2009-10-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is a Washington chard sourced from the Columbia Valley. Always a good sign, since the Washington Valley typically produces solid-value whites.

Now, the label reads “Roslyn Family Vineyards” and if you look on the back of the bottle you’ll learn that the Roslyns live in Mattawa, Washington. But … there’s no evidence that there are any wine-making Roslyns in the state of Washington, at least none that I can find. Now, there is a Roslyn estate in Tasmania, but I think that’s just a coincidence.

Come to think of it, though, this Roslyn Chard did put me in mind of Australia’s “unwooded Chardonnay” movement. This is a very “green” wine (which is not to say unripe) – Granny Smith apple on the nose and on the palate, along with Bosc pear. There’s not a hint of oak or vanilla to be had here, the claims of the back label notwithstanding.

For those of you done with bottom-shelf, over-maloed “confectionary” Chardonnays, this is a refreshing quaff and about what you’d expect for the price. It's workmanlike, solid, but not really remarkable in any way.

Score

Drinkability: 6.5/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 10.5/15

2006 Primarius Pinot Noir - ~9 (on sale)

2009-10-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

A drinkable Pinot Noir for under $20 is a little unusual, and one for under 10 is positively suspect (though I did usually like Pepperwood Grove’s Pinot Noir until Sebastiani switched from California to Pays D’Oc grapes).

At $8.99 (on sale), the 2006 Primarius manages to pull off the bargain Pinot Noir trick rather well. The grapes are sourced from Oregon and the wine is decidedly Oregonian in style. The approach here is soft, wispy, and light-bodied. In the glass the wine is light garnet heading almost toward pink and the fragrance touches on many of the classic Oregon notes of a wine like, say, Erath –strawberry, clove, and a bit of earthy muskiness. The fruit is quite sweet – think raspberry more than strawberry – though balanced by good acidity. The sweetness gives way to an earthy mushroom on the moderate-length finish. The tannins are supple to the point of being imaginary.

It’s so light that I’m not sure if it would pair well with food. However, the Primarius does well as a gently pleasurable “cocktail” wine.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 12.5/15

Viña del Frade - Spanish Tempranillo (~$8)

2009-09-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is a Tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero DO. It's seen a tiny bit of oak (three months), which shows up mostly on the nose, along with cherry and damp earth. Cherry and black licorice predominate on the palate.

A good wine, but, frankly, a bit more simple in terms of length and finish than the cheaper, more "generic" La Parra Loco.

To its credit, Viña del Frade beats out La Parra Loco in the label competition.

Score

Drinkability: 7/10
Price: 3.5/5
Total value: 10.5/15

La Parra Loca - Tempranillo-Shiraz Blend (~$8)

2009-09-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

Silly name (“The crazy vine!”), somewhat “wacky” label (which reminds me of a children’s book our pediatrician gave to the kids on their last visit), but a good wine and a very good value.

This is a blend of a young and fruity tempranillo (95%) and shiraz (5%). “Shiraz” seems to me a bit of a misnomer here, as the earthiness and white pepper on the nose seem more Northern Rhone than Barossa. The palate is nicely balanced with sour cherry, cassis, and blueberry giving way to well-integrated tannins. There’s surprising length for a wine at this price point.

There’s some good acidity here, too, such that I think that this wine would pair well with the grill.

Score

Drinkability: 8/10
Price: 4/5
Total value: 12/15

2006 Leccino Zinfandel (~$7)

2009-09-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Credit where credit is due: this is a pretty good-looking bottle. An understated paper label, nice fonts, and the promising pedigree "Lodi" and "Old Vine" (a bit more on this in another post). A bit generic, I suppose, but a relief from the over-the-top visual aesthetic of many bottom-shelf wines.

The nose is pleasant, featuring briary earth, cloves, and a bit of cedar. The palate (i.e. kind of the whole point of opening a bottle) is a pretty big let down, however. Raspberry and blackberry predominate, flecked though with bits of black pepper and tar. The tannins are sharp and astringent, coating the tongue without offering much in the way of structure. The finish is short and a bit hot, as the 14.5% ABV makes a rather unpleasant appearance. After half an hour in the glass, the wine actually tasted flabbier and more alcoholic.

Spend the extra couple of bucks on a bottle of Gnarly Head.

(Oh, and a Silver Medal at SF's 2009 Wine Competition? Seriously?)

Score

Drinkability: 3/10
Price: 4/5
Total Value: 7/15

Bon Midi (~$4)

2009-09-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Pays d’Oc wines are cropping up everywhere in the U.S. Bon Midi, a recent addition to the wine selection at Fresh & Easy, is an instance of these wines. It’s a blend of Merlot (55%) and Grenache (45%) from the Vin de Pays de L’Hérault appellation in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France (the name “Bon Midi” means “The Good South,” more or less, “le Midi” being a colloquial term for the South of France).

Given the astonishingly low price (~$4) and the fact that I’m always on the lookout for cheap, good table wines, I had to give this a try. I think I’ve found just one of those wines.

After being poured and sitting in the glass for thirty minutes or so (you really want to let any wine under $5/bottle open up in a glass), the wine offered up earthy aromas of porcini mushrooms and cedar.

The palate offers up light strawberry, dried cherry, and a rustic earthiness throughout. The finish, not surprisingly, is quite short. All in all, a nice everyday sort of wine, one whose light style and low alcohol (12% ABV) make it a good food wine, albeit a somewhat innocuous one.

Score

Drinkability: 6/10
Price: 5/5
Total Value: 11/15

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2009-09-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

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--jim cahill

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