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

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 Auslese - which would be significantly more expensive as well), 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

I♥CA 2009 California Pinot Grigio - ~$4

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

Hilltown Vineyards 2009 Chardonnay - ~$8

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

Nine Below Chardonnay 2009 - $8

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

Pebble Bay 2009 Sauvignon Blanc - ~$6

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

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

Ambas 2008 Chardonnay - ~ $6

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

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

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Ogio White Zinfandel - ~$6

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

Dreamstone Moscato - ~$9

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

Napa Family Vineyards Chardonnay ~$12

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

Saludas 2009 Vino de la Tierra White - ~$3

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

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

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

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

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

Pongrácz NV Brut Sparkling Wine ~$15

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

Boro Hills Marlborough 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - ~$10

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

Hilltown Vineyards 2006 Chardonnay - ~$8

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

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

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