gluggy
By Sylvia Jansen, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CSW
tribute to a miracle
This is a tribute to the miracle of gluggy wine under $ 15— in particular, a tribute to red gluggies.( Now, there are those who believe that I never taste wines under $ 15, but just between you and me, they are wrong.)
Really good inexpensive wines in the under- $ 15 range are true miracles. To arrive on the Manitoba market at under $ 15, a wine must be produced with a ridiculously tight budget for the grower and the winemaker; it has to be shipped in heavy, breakable glass, using fuel and money to get here; it has to go through imports, taxes and levies; and it has to provide some, however modest, margin for the people handling it from start to finish. Face it: to make a great wine that sells in our market under $ 15 takes genius.
There are two main requirements for great gluggy:
1. The wine must offer a nice balance, an easy drinkability, and a modest price tag.
2. The wine must reflect its place of origin with honesty.
The first of these requirements is straightforward. Inexpensive wine does not need to be deep, complex, brooding or sexy: it just needs to be nicely quaffable and easy going, both in the glass and on the pocketbook.
The second requirement— to reflect its place of origin honestly— is a bit more complex. I am not talking about romantic notions of an $ 11 wine magically transporting you back to your holiday in Napa. I am talking about the personality of place. A modestly priced wine from Spain, France, or Italy should not taste just like the modestly priced wine from the same varieties out of California, Australia, or Chile— and vice versa. It should have a good regionality.
Grapes destined for great gluggy do not need to come from octogenarian vines, producing tiny bundles of
Try these little miracles in a bottle:
Italy: Vallone 2007 Flaminio Brindisi Riserva Puglia........................................... $ 14.99
Botter 2011 OGGI Primitivo Puglia......... $ 11.99
Spain: Torre San Millan 2011 Gorrebusto Tempranillo Rioja......................................................... $ 11.99
France: Laudun Chusclan 2009 Les Costes Côtes du Rhône......................................... $ 13.99
USA: Beaulieu Vineyard 2010 Coastal Estates Zinfandel California.................................. $ 13.99
Australia: Milton Park 2010 Shiraz........................... $ 14.99
Argentina: Catena 2011 Alamos Malbec Mendoza................................................... $ 14.99
Chile: Ventisquero 2011 Reserva Carménère Colchagua Valley...................................... $ 11.99
unbelievable grapes, because a certain quantity of production is gluggy’ s friend. Nor does great gluggy need to hibernate for a winter or two in expensive new oak barrels, tying up the producer’ s cash flow.( Mind you, dusty, musty old equipment, or wine made in the chemistry lab are not good steps on the path to great gluggy, either.) Great gluggy is a good expression of the grape variety( or grape varieties) in the bottle. It finishes its fermentation, rests for awhile, gets polished up, poured into its bottles, and goes out the door, ready to meet you for dinner on a Tuesday night.
Allow me to pay tribute to just a few great gluggies I know. One of them is a
Spanish gem, Torre San Millan Gorrebusto, a nice Tempranillo with a good cherry core and a spicy little edge. Across the border takes us to a wine from the warm south of France, Les Costes Côtes du Rhône. If you want a smart Californian to cozy up with on a cool evening, try the BV Coastal Zinfandel: ripe, full of fruit and smooth. From Argentina, a bright Malbec from Alamos is a generous addition to the table. And the great thing is that none of these wines taste like each other. It is a new miracle in every glass.
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