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Wine guide: You’ve got 100 bucks to spend and a serious need for vino
ERIK KELLAR / Staff
Feature wine photo on what $100 will get you.
ERIK KELLAR / Staff
$100 bottle of wine.
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It wasn’t too long ago that P. Diddy was told us it was “all about the Benjamins.”
But these days, $100 isn’t what it used to be. Heck, for some people $100 barely gets them a full tank of gas.
But if you spend it right, you can get a lot for that crisp, three-digit bill. That’s where we can help. Today’s story begins a new series that guides you (with the help of local experts) to the best of the best that a Benjamin can buy.
This time — wine.
Few things cause more sweaty palms for a novice wine drinker than stepping into the wine store, especially when the bottle they’re after needs to impress. Whether it be the boss or in-laws or just your friends for a dinner party, you want to make sure you are offering up a wine that has hints of tobacco, not something that tastes like a wet cigarette.
So what can you get for $100? Here three local wine sellers recommend some of the best of what your money can buy. Prices don’t include sales tax.
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Total Wine
Tyler Haas
Wine buyer
5058 Airport-Pulling Road N., 649-4979, totalwine.com
One for $100 or less
An Old World wine to impress your in-laws or to add a little bling to your next posh dinner party
Azelia Barolo San Rocco ’03 ($90):
A rich, powerful, yet balanced Italian wine with notes of cherry, smoke and some floral elements. Wine Spectator loved it, rating it 93 points on their 100-point scale. Barolo is a big seller in the Italian wines. It’s one of those wines people love to give as gifts or to have for a special occasion. It pairs excellently with rich meats.
Eight for $100
Old World wines for dinner at home or to bring to a party
San Marzano Salice Salentino ($13):
A jammy, fruity, easy-drinking wine from Salentino in Puglia, Italy. Made from negroamaro and malvasia nera grapes.
Castell Del Remei Gotim Bru ($15): It’s medium-to-full-bodied, lovely notes of black cherry, very intense. A great wine from Spain. Ninety points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Louis Bouillot Brut ($15): A sparkling wine from Burgundy (don’t call it champagne) that’s made in the traditional method — with chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. Lots of apple and pear in the mouth; a little toast in the nose; dry and creamy. Ninety points from Beverage Dynamics.
Barone Fini Alto Adige Pinot Grigio ($16): A rich, full-bodied pinot grigio from Alto Adige, in northern Italy. Lots of citrus and peach flavors.
D’Autrefois Pinot Noir ($10): A pinot noir from the Languedoc, in the south of France. Full fruit flavors in the beginning of the taste, and a smooth slide into a little spice at the end. Probably our best-selling pinot noir at Total Wine.
Rondel Pura Raza Brut Cava ($8): Sparkling wine from Spain. Light, citrusy and easy-drinking. A customer favorite here. Ninety points from Wine & Spirits.
Nobilis Vinho Verde ($7): A slightly sweet, effervescent wine from Portugal, with citrus and tropical notes.
Grao Vasco Dao Tinto ($7): Primarily Touriga Nacional grapes, from Dao, in Portugal. Spicy berry flavors, very friendly wine.
Total: $91
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The Wine Merchant
Thom McKay
Wine buyer
12820 US 41 N Suite #2, 592-0000, thewinemerchant.net
One for $100 or less
Ramey Cabernet, Larkmead Vineyard ($99.99): This vintage is blended of 84 percent cabernet sauvignon, 8 percent cabernet franc, 7 percent petit verdot and 1 percent malbec. A Bordeaux-style wine. Elegant and spicy in the mouth, with energetic red and dark berry flavors and firm, youthful tannins.
Six wines for about $100
Wines you might not have heard of
Trevisiol Prosecco ($15.99): Semi-dry. Hints of pear and floral notes, nice mousse, yeast notes. Prosecco is a great Italian sparkler more people are enjoying instead of champagne.
Le Rote Vernaccia ($15.99): Aromas of fresh cut grass and fruit. A very refreshing wine from San Gimignano. Great with seafood and salads.
Dancing Vine Chardonnay ($12.99): Aromas of apple, banana with a hint of nutmeg. Flavors of citrus, and banana provide a nice finish.
Edge Cabernet ($24.99): Big wine for a small price. Hints of chocolate, black cherries and spice. Big finish. A real treat to drink with a steak.
Nessun Dorma Super Tuscan ($17.99): Dried cherry and spice aromas with touches of mocha, toast and coffee.
Lamadrid Malbec ($14.99): An elegant, medium-bodied malbec that has an attractive toasty, smoky nose with hints of earth and black cherry.
Total: $102.94
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Haskell’s Wine and Spirits,
Ben Sandstrom
Wine merchant
2021 Pine Ridge Road, 254-1120, haskells.com
One for $100 or less
Les Forts de Latour 2003 ($99.99): With a blend of 78 percent cabernet sauvignon and 22% merlot, the earthy terroir of this wine belongs to the Pauillac appellation. The 2003 vintage reveals a brilliant, deep, dense plum color with abundant characteristics of lead pencil shavings and generous fruit, and only is breaching its 15-year capacity of maturity. If drunk now, it would reveal full fruit and dark berries, with moderately high glycerin and alcohol, but if cellared, would WHAT calm, lending to the terroir of glacial deposits and earth.
Three for about $100 or less
A three-wine flight for four to be served at a dinner party
First course: Mousse of Duck foie gras with truffles
Domaine Zind Humbrect Reisling, 2005 ($21.99): Domaine Zind Humbrecht wines have the most consistent level of high quality in Alsace. Nearly all of the reislings in 2005 fermented dry with low alcohol. A smoky pungency enlivens the palate with luscious, bright grapefruit and finishes with an invigorating juiciness and chalky minerality.
Second Course: Giant scallops with a light cream sauce and lavender
Chateau d’Esclans Whispering Angel 2006 Rosé ($19.99): This 2006 vintage rosé is beautifully complex and makes the perfect second wine of the flight. Made of grenache and rolle, this wine is a seductive light or even imperial pink color, with spring flowers and plants on the nose. Its palate is filled with delicate strawberries and cream, and a slight minerality. Served slightly chilled, it finishes clean and moderately dry, and screams to be sipped with seafood. My perfect pairing would be tender giant scallops with a light cream sauce and lavender. Just about any summer greens would also pair harmoniously. A must try summer sipper!
Third course: Osso Bucco.
Numanthia 2005 ($59.99): Numanthis is made from ungrafted vines of Tinto de Toro grapes that are 70 to 100 years old. The wine was aged for 18 months in small Bordelaise barrels of French new oak. The wine has a vibrant garnet color, a marvelous nose of ripe blackberries, currants and raspberries. It fills your mouth with a full pleasant taste leading to a long remaining finish.
Total: $101.97
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Selected vocab
Appellation: A geographical-based term used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown.
Barolo (buh-row-low) Typically smells of tar and roses, and can take on an unusual orange tinge with age
Cabernet franc (kab-er-nay frawnk): Both fruitier and sometimes more herbal or vegetative than cabernet sauvignon, although lighter in both color and tannins.
Cabernet saugvignon (kab-er-nay sew-veen-yon) Cabs smell like black currants with a degree of bell pepper or weediness. In the mouth, cabernets can have liveliness and even a degree of richness, yet usually finishes with firm astringency.
Chardonnay (shar-duh-nay): A white wine that allows its flavors to be dramatically affected by differences in soil, climate and vineyard practices.
Finish: A tasting term for the lingering flavor after a wine has been swallowed.
Malbec (mah-beck): A midseason ripener, it can deliver very deep color, ample tannin, and a particular plum-like flavor component to add complexity to claret blends.
Merlot (mare-low): While its flavor profile is similar to a cabernet sauvignon, merlot tends to be softer and slightly more herbaceous.
New world wines: Wines from the Americas, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand
Old world wines: Wines produced inside of the traditional wine growing areas of Europe and North Africa.
Petit verdot (peh-teet vair-doe): Winemakers generally use these grapes as chefs would use seasoning. It’s rarely bottled as a stand-alone varietal. Most often makes up no more than percent of the total grape mix in wines
Pinot grigio (pee-no gree-jee-o): A light-bodied, often lean wine that is light in color with sometimes spritzy flavors
Pinot noir (pee-no nuh-woir): A full-bodied red wine that’s high in alcohol ( yet neither acidic nor tannic) with substantial flavor despite its delicacy.
Rosé: A light-bodied wine many confuse with sweet jug wines of the ‘60s and ‘70s. These days its usually made in a dry style and a wide range of colors, from nearly straw to a deep plum.
Tannin: Extracted from the grape skins and stems, it gives a wine firmness — and some roughness when young — but gradually falls away with aging. A tannic wine is one that is young and unready to drink.
Terroir (tear-war): French for “soil,” it refers to the physical and geographical characteristics of a particular vineyard site that give the resultant wine its unique properties.
Varietal: Describes wines made primarily from a single-named grape variety
Sources: wikipedia.org, erobertparker.com, winepros.org
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