An overpriced French wine a la Costco

A number of years ago, your Two Wine Nuts read a book written by guy totally into French wines (Kermit Lynch’s “Adventures on the Wine Route”). It was a great introduction to the seduction of French wines but honestly, it didn’t make buying French wines any less mystifying. However, one thing we did learn was that Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines are generally considered very good.

A brief explanation about Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In Europe, wines are named for the area or region that the wine is made in, as opposed to the American tradition of naming a wine for the grape the wine is made from (Burgundy – a place – versus Chardonnay – a grape). There is an area in southern France called Châteauneuf. Long ago, before Vatican City, Popes lived in a town called Avignon, in the Châteauneuf area. This area produced wine, some especially for the Pope. Eventually, the wine became known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape – Châteauneuf wine for the Pope. Referring to our last post (July 12), Châteauneuf-du-Pape is also considered a Rhône style wine since Châteauneuf is in the Rhône region of France.

This is why your Two Wine Nuts focus more on American wines. SO much easier to understand the history and labeling!

We bring this all up because a few days ago while shopping in Costco, we spotted a Costco branded Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine for $19.99 and were too curious not to buy it. Specifically, it was a 2005 Kirkland Signature Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee de Nalys. We opened it tonight to enjoy with some grilled pork chops. Bottom line: not worth the 20 bucks.

This red wine had just the slightest hint of brown color, sort of a maroon red instead of a purple red. The aroma (or nose) was very definitely strawberry jam. One Wine Nut also picked up a grape smell. With so much fruitiness in the nose, we weren’t sure what to expect from the taste. True to Rhône form, the flavor was much more earthy than fruity. Actually, the most distinct flavor was tannins. Tannin is a component of plants. Red wine gets its red color from being in contact with the skins of the grapes. The skins, as well as the seeds and stems, have tannin in them. So, red wine very typically has tannin in it. Another way to get tannin in wine is via the oak barrels. Either way, the tell-tale sign of tannin is a puckery, astringent feeling in the mouth upon sipping a wine. This Kirkland Châteauneuf-du-Pape had lots of tannin because our mouths felt like we had sucked on a cotton ball soaked in facial toner (you gals out there know what this is). It’s not as bad as it sounds, but as a sipping wine, this one needed food. When we paired the wine with our pork chops, fruit suddenly appeared. However, it didn’t last very long. The wine did get increasingly easy to drink over the course of the meal, but this was largely due to the moderately high 14.7% alcohol content.

All in all, this Costco offering was interesting to taste but not at all worth the $19.99. If you are interested in trying a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, we instead recommend visiting your local wine shop and asking for recommendations. A good one will definitely be worth $20; this one wasn’t.

A Great “Go To” Zin

Yesterday was a wonderful preview of Spring 2007. We celebrated the sunny, warm air with BBQ’d hot dogs, cheese, crackers, tapanade, and an old stand-by Sonoma Zinfandel. We and our neighbors toasted the arrival of daffodils and riding mowers with a 2004 Murphy-Goode Liar’s Dice Zinfandel. Yum.

We first discovered Liar’s Dice at a Zinfandel festival in San Francisco back in the late 1990s. We then visited the Murphy-Goode winery in Sonoma and bought several bottles of the then hard-to-find Liar’s Dice. These days, you can find this reliable, proud-to-serve (red) Zinfandel at Costco for $14.99.

Murphy-Goode produces some very solid, representative wines. If you want to know what a Zinfandel or a Fumé Blanc (also called Sauvignon Blanc) or a California-style Chardonnay (heavy oak and butter) is supposed to taste like, Murphy-Goode is a great place to start.

In terms of their Zinfandel, Liar’s Dice has a deep, seductive berry nose with a dark cherry, currant, and peppery taste. It is a pleasantly rich Zinfandel that will go nicely with any BBQ’d meal, as well as pizza, pasta dishes, or just a nice kick-back evening on the patio. It feels a tiny bit special to open on a Wednesday night and is great to open with friends when you want a nice bottle without breaking the bank. We’ve been drinking Murphy-Goode’s Liar’s Dice for over ten years and have never been disappointed.

A favorite dessert wine!

We consider this dessert wine one of our best finds of all-time. We first discovered it in 2004 while we were on vacation and went to a restaurant well-known for its chocolate soufflé. We dutifully ordered the soufflé but what we walked away raving about was the amazing Muscat we blindly ordered to go with it. Campbells Rutherglen Muscat from Australia is one of our favorite go-to dessert wines. We keep it in stock and are always excited by an opportunity to share it with someone for the first time.

Most Muscat grapes produce a sweet white dessert wine. Campbells is unusual because its rich amber color makes it look a lot like a tawny port. This wine gets its color from the creatively named Brown Muscat grape, which is apparently grown in the southern part of Australia (Victoria, northeast of Melbourne).

We got to bring out a bottle of Campbells last weekend when some friends invited us over for dinner. In addition to a restaurant-quality meal, they served an out-of-this-world orange crème brûlée for dessert. The wine and dessert together were fabulous. Campbells smells like oranges and it has a light caramel-brown sugar flavor. Our friends declared it a dangerous little candy wine. We declared them converts.

We’ve seen Campbells Rutherglen Muscat in various wine shops, but we made quite a scene the first time we saw it in Costco. Yep, you can get this wonderful treat at Costco for a mere $13.69 per bottle. Serve it with heavier desserts of chocolate or caramel, or just drink as dessert itself. Or just skip the meal altogether.