Penrosa 2008 Rosé - ~$6

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

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

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

Ca'Maritta 2008 Valpolicella ~$7

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

Ogio 2007 IGT Primitivo - ~$6

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

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Recoleta 2008 Malbec/Bonarda - ~$5

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

Roslyn Chardonnay ~$6

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

Bon Midi (~$4)

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