When it rains, we pour -- A look at Chateau Peyrassol Rose

Was a soggy few days last few days here in Happy Valley. Typically, I’d be dipping deep into richer reds as the chill of winter starts to come on, but I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to continue my passionate advocacy for Rosé All Day just because the weather’s getting colder.

Honestly, I have no issue with rosé during the winter months. As an aperitif, I’d prefer to drink rosé than many whites when a chill is in the air, especially if I’ve got some meats and cheeses to snack on.

Drinkerbell, the wine fairy, brought along a bottle of Château Peyrassol 2019 Côtes de Provence Rosé during the soggy slog of last week. This bottle from Provence is a lovely reminiscence of summer, as well as a darned good food wine.

The Chateau itself has a fascinating history. Founded in the 13^th century by the Knights Templar, the Chateau originally was a major way station for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land (we will avoid subsequent discussions of the Crusades, however). After the French Revolution, the land was acquired by the Rigord family, where the wives ran the winemaking aspects of the estate through the following couple of centuries. Philip Austruy purchased the property in 2001 and revamped the winemaking operation.

Made from grapes from the oldest vines on the Chateau’s property, this blend of Syrah, Cinsault, Grenache, Ugni Blanc and Rolle (the last is better known as Vermentino), is a pale, rosy pink in the glass. The freshness inherent of a lot of Provence rosé hops right out of the glass at first sniff with aromas of lemon, orange blossom, and peach. These flavors carry straight through to the crisp, pleasant palate.

One criticism I have of some rosés is that they try for “fresh” and land on “acid bomb” instead. Not the case here. This wine has great balance between acidity and round mouthfeel. The finish is fresh, clean, with a lingering citrus flavor. Such a nice wine to just sip on, honestly.

As I mentioned, we tried this with a charcuterie board of salami, Marcona almonds, and Manchego cheese and it made a lovely companion to the starter. The chicken for dinner, roasted with a paprika-based spice paste, was a bit too assertive for the delicacy of this wine (Luckily, we had a nice bottle of Beaujolais in reserve!) – so if you’re having it with food, I’d probably stick to fish or a lighter meat preparation.

Or, you could pop and pour it in front of a fire and imagine how good it will feel once the weather warms and we can start being outside again. We’re going to need these kinds of reminders to get through the winter together in one piece.

This wine retails for $18-22. If you’re interested in spending a little more on a nice bottle of rosé, it’s certainly in that category.

Proof of Life -- And a Big Box of Rosé

Hello, friends. It’s been awhile.

Honestly, I’m not sure how to restart here, so I’m just going to ramble for a bit.

I intended to have a lot to say this year – was going to revamp things a bit and try to reboot the ol’ blog – but I started a new job at Penn State in October, which drew a lot of my energy, as did the day to day grind of surviving the reign of Der Gropenfűhrer.

2020 rolled around. The Sweet Partner in Crime and I decided to try to reset our respective livers. We more or less successfully completed a Dry January. Admittedly, we cheated a couple of times for special occasions (hey, Holly!) – but we managed to keep to the spirit of things.

Honestly, Dry January wasn’t as tough as I feared…at least for the first two weeks. We whipped up a supply of mocktails that kept us going, but I’ll tell you – the last week or so, until we staggered soberly across the finish line, were a real slog, because there were just some times that a glass of wine would have been perfect. We made it.

I lost some weight. I gained it back. I lost more. I weigh the same now as I did when I was half my current age. I started meditating regularly, which has been revelatory. Charlie and Rosie are still wonderful pups. The Sweet Partner in Crime was named a Fellow by the leading national organization in her field.

Then came COVID.

We went into our homes and, by all indications, started drinking our collective faces off.

Well, except here in Pennsylvania. Because of the crazy liquor laws – beer stores stayed open, but wine & liquor stores were all shuttered. Wine started getting in short supply around these parts. The grocery stores ran out quickly.

Thank goodness for our friends who drive the delivery trucks. Scott, our UPS guy, has been a godsend. Pennsylvania is a much easier place to ship to than our former address.

Which brings us to the actual wine content you’ve come here for, right?

As we were getting hard up for any kind of juice, particularly rosé -- I decided to venture onto Groupon and pull the trigger on a deal I saw for an inexpensive 15 bottle case. I’m happy to report that my experience with Splash Wines was highly positive. My order came with three bottles each of a selection of five rosé:

• Midnight Black Rose (Italy -- Trentino)
  
• “Rosé All Day” Beaujolais Rosé (France – Beaujolais)
• Maison Williams Chase Rosé (France – Provence)
• Domaine Jacourette Rosé (France – Provence)
• Mazzei Belguardo Rosé (Italy – Tuscany)

Ah...good to have you back at the homestead...

Seeing a raft of Italian and French pinkness looking back at me from the box filled me with hope. My major worry when I ordered this grab bag was that these inexpensive wines wouldn’t really be “rosé-ish” – meaning that they’d be overly fruity, slightly sweet, and somewhat heavier in body.

Not the case here at all. I’m not going to do detailed tasting notes on these selections. All of them are fine. Do any of them have flavors that leap from the glass to choirs of angels and transcendent goodness? Of course not. But are they, as a whole, light and crisp with enough flavor to be interesting, perfect for sipping while contemplating (or trying to avoid contemplating) both the excitement of a real social change in this country and the terror of the inevitable pain that will follow as the dying mule of racism kicks back hard? You betcha.

We’ve tried all five of these by now in various contexts. They’re perfectly food-friendly, pull and pop wines that aren’t just plonk. After shipping, the price was about $5/per bottle. At that price point, who’s to complain?

My friends, we’re a long way from the end of our various national turmoils. The levels of dumbassery we keep seeing are only going to increase as people demand that lockdown be lifted so other people can be forced to wait on them. Political ideology is no match for epidemiology, so no matter where you are – be safe, listen to and embrace the experiences of people who don’t look like you, and wear your damned masks.

And, of course, vote against anyone running for office, incumbent or challenger, who won’t do those things. Because not to put too fine a point on it -- they don’t care if you die.

The Angels of Rosé and The Naked Vine’s Victory Lap

Yeah, I’m going to relish this one a little.

One of the developments I’ve seen in the US wine market has been the greater demand for rosé. More domestic producers are sending out the pink product, spending their resource to create better versions. Rosé has finally differentiated itself in the market from White Zinfandel and other similarly syrupy sweet concoctions.

They're #1!

One of the Vine’s continual quests is to get the wine drinkers of our great land to embrace the pink. Trying to buy a particular bottle of French rosé at Big Wine Store and being rebuffed by one of the employees on the floor is a significant part of our origin story. I think a good rosé is just about a perfect wine – refreshing and crisp, yet able to snuggle up alongside various dishes and cuisines.

My instant love of French rosé set me up as one of the first bloggy pitchmen for this yummy stuff. The second column I ever wrote in this space was about rosé. I’ve hearkened back several times to the wise words of my wine mentor Renee Koerner, “Remember, pink is not a flavor!” and I’ve written about rosé more times than I can count. (Actually, I can count it. 35 times!)

So when a news release came across the transom indicating that a rosé was now the #1 selling French wine in America, I couldn’t help but smile. The wine in question was Whispering Angel from Château d’Esclans, which sold 200,000 cases of the stuff in 2016. They first entered the market in 2006 (the Vine’s inaugural year), when they were pleased to just crack the 5,000 case mark.

Château d’Esclans is in the Côtes de Provence growing region, the classical center of French rosé production (although the good folks in the Tavel region of the Rhone valley might question that designation). The Côtes de Provence produces 75% of all wine in Provence, with 80% of that being rosé. The main grapes used in Provence rosé are Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvedre.

As a quick review, rosé is produced using two methods, often in combination. The first is the maceration method – in which red grapes (such as those mentioned above) are crushed and the juice remains in contact with the skins for a brief amount of time – from a couple of hours to a day. The longer the skin contact time, the darker the color and deeper the flavor. The resulting pink product is then fermented into rosé.

The second method is called saignee or “bleeding.” In this method, a producer making a red wine will “bleed off” some of the macerating juice after a certain period of time to further concentrate the flavors and tannins in the remaining red wine-to-be. The pink-hued bled-off juice, once discarded as an afterthought (especially among red wine producers in the US) is then fermented into perfectly good rosé. At least 20% of the blend in a wine from the Côtes de Provence must be produced via saignee.

I had the opportunity to try the Whispering Angel 2015 Côtes de Provence Rosé side-by-side with its higher end cousin from Château d’Esclans, the Rock Angel 2015 Côtes de Provence Rose.

One of my favorite vacations with the Sweet Partner in Crime was a Mediterranean cruise. After stopping in Villefrance-sur-Mer, we took a train to Nice and had lunch in a little café there (where I now-regretfully asked why the SPinC’s lunch was called a Nicoise salad – I still haven’t lived that one down). Of course, we ordered a bottle of Provence rosé. The Whispering Angel took me right back to that café. It tastes like sunshine and the ocean. Pale pink, lean, and crisp – with gently acidic flavors of grapefruit and a backbone of mineral. It calls for leisurely dining over light noshables or the aforementioned salad. Hard for me to come up with a better example to point at and say, “This is what Provence rosé tastes like.”

Most wines are crafted for a certain context. Winemakers, through grape selection, vinification, and aging, determine whether a bottle will be a simple, straightforward sipping wine, a flexible-but-uncomplicated table wine, or something richer and more complex. Rather than a lean, stony, somewhat citrusy sipper, the Rock Angel has a lot going on – a complexity that I expect out of pricier reds and whites from Burgundy. Strawberries, herbs, and oranges are some of the flavors I found, along with an interesting creaminess layered atop the mineral backbone. I’d not tasted a rosé built quite like this one. This was a rosé you could open with richer preparations of chicken, fish, or salads and not fear it being run over by flavor. I had to tell myself to slow down and appreciate this wine, as I tend to drink rosé a little too quickly.

So, what the catch with all this deliciousness? While the consumption of French rosé has increased, wineries followed the logical economy and raised prices. Five years ago, a bottle of Provence rosé was rarely more than $10-12. The Whispering Angel usually retails for $22, although I found my bottle for $18. The Rock Angel runs around $30-35. And Château d’Esclans makes two other, more expensive versions – the most expensive retailing at around $100. I can’t imagine what that wine would be like (although I’d certainly love to find out).

This price increase had little to no effect on demand, especially among high-end drinkers (Google “Hamptons 2016 rosé shortage” for grins and giggles) – but you and I may need to do a little bargain hunting to find our pink goodness. From time to time, however, I’ll happily pay a few extra bucks to reminisce about our old café table…

Wine for Rehab Addicts

Home renovation shows are the Sweet Partner in Crime’s guilty pleasure. Especially the one where
an inordinately attractive person finds a suitably run-down or outdated target, starts a renovation, bickers and banters, runs into a complication that chews up the budget – but still manages to create a beautiful entryway out of wood reclaimed from an old gazebo they borrowed from a property up the road just in time for the big reveal…you know, that one. Or that one.

What does this have to do with wine? Well, we all like shiny things.

There’s an apocryphal “study” – that I’ve never been able to actually find anywhere – which allegedly states that the average person takes 38 seconds to select a bottle of wine. I’m not sure how exactly to read that. Were they controlling for the size of the wine store? Did they include choosing whether a person knew they were looking for red Burgundy or California Chardonnay?

Regardless...if you’re an everyday wine drinker, unless you have a particular bottle that go back to time and time again, wine buying is largely an impulse purchase. There’s the glance at the rack, a price comparison, a quick scan of any Parkerish scores that happen to be on the shelf, and the “Is a $10 wine at 88 points going to be different from this $15 at 90?” cross-reference.

And, of course, a purchaser looks at the label. Wine producers know this. We’re a long way from the days of plain wine labels with a winery, a region, a varietal, and a vintage. Bottle labels are packed with information now – tasting notes, food pairings, stories about how the wineries came to be. Each meant to distinguish one bottle from another, so a wine consumer can find what they’re looking for.

The current state of wine label marketing has been called “label porn” as producers try out newer, more eye catching, more quick-catchy displays and label artwork. Walk into any contemporary wine store and you’re deluged with an overwhelming array of funky fonts, cute art, and bright colors.

But cleverness only goes so far. Once everyone starts getting clever, then the buy me now message gets diluted. With all this variation, how can a producer get their bottle to call out “Pick me!”

One possible way? Make the bottle itself look different. Bargain-basement wines have done this for years – jugs of Almaden, lozenges of Mateus and Lancer, straw-covered cheap Chianti, or the hangovered fortifications of Black Tower are regulars. But among “normal” wines, a few standard bottle shapes and colors rule the shelves.

After getting a couple of interestingly-bottled samples, I popped down to Big Wine Store and did a pass through the aisles to snag a couple other interesting containers, with the notion of “When I’m done drinking this, could I repurpose the bottle into some interesting artifact” in mind:

Astoria 2014 “Caranto” Pinot Noir – Pinot isn’t something I usually think of when I think of Italian wine, but I’m always up for new things. Apparently, Pinot Noir grows in the northeastern corner of Italy, near Venice. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wine. I’m used to lighter Italian grapes like Sangiovese and Valpolicella yielding light bodied wines – but this Pinot had a surprising amount of oomph. Nice palate weight with raspberries and cherries combining silkily. Smooth smoky tannins are nicely balanced and yield a smoky finish. It’s a solid wine. I was stunned to see it listed for around $11. A great value in this stubby, high shouldered bottle.

Vilarnau (NV) Brut Reserva Cava – Let’s just give props first for the beautiful label design – a colorful mosaic-ish riot of color that easily stands out from a row of Cava. I make no bones about my enjoyment of Cava, one of my favorite “Don’t think” sparklers, but this one gets a few bonus points from me. First, it’s a “brut” that’s actually brut. Many brut Cava either lack fruit flavors or taste like they have extra residual sugar. This wine has some lovely green apple and yeast aromas, but the palate is dry, crisp, and refreshing. One of the more complex, balanced Cava at its price point. And pretty!

Gérard Bertrand 2015 “Cote des Roses” Languedoc Rosé  -- A truly unique bottle style, tall and tapered, with the bottom of the bottle cut into the shape of a rose blossom, so you can show up at your intended’s door like:

The wine itself is minerally and crisp, with light strawberry and citrus flavors. I found lemon peel and stone on the finish. A really versatile rosé, workable with anything from porchtime sipping to spicy pork dishes. You should be able to find this for around $13.

The curved, feminine lines of the Aimé Roquesante 2015 Cotes de Provence Rosé also caught my eye in the pink aisle. This inexpensive, dry, strawberry-filled quaffer that looks lovely in both the bottle and glass. The salmony color is backed with a lean, zingy acidity and and friendly fruity finish. An excellent value at $10, as well.

Finally, while traipsing through the store, I came across a cute little high shouldered bottle, the Scholium Project 2009 Lost Slough Vineyards “Riquewihr” Gewurztraminer. The Scholium Project does small batches of grapes from interesting vineyards, using natural fermentation and long aging. Their small lots are mirrored in their small bottles. I likely would have let this one pass if it hadn’t been on deep sale, as for 500ml, it would have run $35+. This Gewurz, sourced from a vineyard outside Sacramento, fooled me into thinking it was a Viognier with its perfumey nose of peach blossoms that marches quickly into a minerally, Alsatian characteristic. Honestly, it was a very interesting wine, while not my favorite.

Now that you’ve got some extra glassware, let your ideas for objects d’art run wild. While my own mind generally doesn’t run towards design, I hope the SPinC will enjoy this:

Naked Vine One-Hitter -- La Grêle Rosé

I'm a sucker for a good story. Especially if the story involves good neighbors and wine.

It's July 2012 in Provence, France. A freak, vicious hailstorm blows up over the vineyards of Chateau de Roquefort, a winery dating from the 1700's which produces "Corail" -- a longtime favorite here in the world of the Naked Vine. In seven minutes, their entire 2012 crop is more or less destroyed. There would be no 2012 vintage of this wine, or many of their other selections.

Enter a collection of 37 vignerons from around the province and beyond, each of which contributed some of their own harvest to the winemakers at Roquefort so that they would not have to miss a vintage. The folks at Roquefort got to work on a  rosé thanks to the generosity of their friends.

The result was Chateau de Roquefort's "La Grêle" 2012 Rosé -- a true regional partnership borne from compassion and friendship. The story in and of itself warranted a tasting in my eyes.

One of the truly interesting notes about this wine is that it's a first of its kind in France. As we've discussed previously, French wine law is extensive and very specific -- especially when it comes to the naming of wines. Under normal circumstances, a wine can only be produced from grapes grown within a particular area. With La Grêle (French for "the hail"), however, the grapes came from multiple growing regions. Thus, rather than a "Cotes du Provence" as you'd usually see, this is an "IGP Méditerranée" -- which translates roughly as "frickin' mishmash that we don't have a real name for."

How is it? Pretty darned tasty. If you like Provence rosé (and if you don't, dear god why not, you silly person!), then you'll find this to be right in line with many of those. Substantial in flavor without being overly heavy, full of peaches and raspberries, and very clean. I thought it held its own against just about any pink wine I've tasted this year. Well worth the $16 pricetag, and easily spotted on your local wine store's shelf because of the distinctive label, adorned with the names of the "With a Little Help From My Friends" crew of winemakers.

A Wink to the Pink

Few things bellow “Summertime!” more than my favorite warm weather drink, dry rosé. Settle in for a spell, then proudly order something fabulous and fuschia.

Now, I know there may be a few insecure souls out there in Vine land who may fear the judgment of a haughty looking wine drinker at the next table over on a restaurant patio, snootily and disdainfully glancing at you and your delicious pink beverage. You’re concerned they think you’ve ordered a glass of sticky white zinfandel. Worry not. Look these judgmental layabouts square in the eye, lift your glass and smile knowingly, because you know what is good. (And you know they secretly wish they’d ordered one.)

So, what is this stuff? What makes it so tasty, so food friendly, and so refreshing? Think back to Winemaking 101. Grapes are crushed and the juice is fermented. The color in red wine comes from the juice’s contact with the skins as the sugars ferment. All juice from red wine grapes starts clear and darkens as more tannin is leached from the skins in a process called maceration. For some big red wines, this skin contact in the fermenter can last over a month. Rosé, by contrast, is generally only left in contact with the skins from 12-48 hours, depending on a number of factors. The resulting wine is, not surprisingly, some version of pink.

There are a few different ways to produce rosé. There is the “skin contact” technique -- the purest form of rosé making. The juice is left in contact with the skins for an appropriate length of time. The skins are removed from the fermenter and the now-pink “must” completes the rest of its fermentational journey into rosé. A winemaker using is basically committing to a (generally) less expensive wine than making the whole tank into a full red, so it’s a less common technique.

With that in mind, the most common method of rosé production is called “bleeding” or saignée. A winemaker generally uses this method if they’re trying to concentrate (or “extract”) more flavor from a wine – or just if they want to make two different types of wine from the same tank. For instance, a Spanish winemaker may have a fermenter full of tempranillo, just pitched with yeast. She might then “bleed off” a certain percentage of wine in the tank after a day or so of skin contact. The remaining wine will be left with the skins to make a red tempranillo. The drained off, less colored wine will become her rosé.

Just in case you’re curious, this is the method by which white zinfandel is made – except the winemaker stops the fermentation while there’s still a fair amount of residual sugar, resulting in white zin’s distinctive strawberry Kool-Aid flavor.

Other, less common, methods include blending grape juices from white and red wines. While atypical, this is the method used in Tavel, one of the best known French rosé regions. In a real cheat, red wine can be decolored by filtering it with activated charcoal. Ew.

So, how does a discriminating rosé consumer select a particular bottle? Well, here’s the good news – it’s really difficult to pick a bad one. The basic Naked Vine Rule of Food Pairing holds true, since (as a very wise woman once said) pink is not a flavor. Down through the ages, civilizations made wine to go with their favorite foods. A rosé’s basic flavor starts from the profile of its red wine grapes -- just lighter, fruitier, and more acidic.  So, a good rule is to cling to flavor themes. If you have a meal that has a bit of a French flair, get a French rosé. Got a spread of small plates? Grab a tapas-loving Spanish rosé. Having a backyard grillout? American rosé will serve you well. But experiment – finding the ones you like is much of the fun. To get my warm weather repasts going on the right foot, we recently ran through a spread of tasty bottles from a variety of locales. Here’s what we found:

Veleta 2011 Tempranillo Rosé – An evening with a “fajita bowl” type dinner prompted us to open this Spanish rosé. In color, it’s considerably darker than many other roses. The wine’s major flavors are melon and strawberry. My favorite aspect of this wine is that can hold a bit of delicacy against a fairly spicy dish, which in this case was topped with a vinegary, spicy sauce. I could almost taste a trace of tannin to cool the heat. A great choice with summer tapas or Tex-Mex. For $10, a nice choice.

San Giovanni Pasini 2011 “Il Chiaretto” Valtenesi Chiaretto – From the Lombardy region in Northern Italy, this blend of four red grapes was tart, tight, and acidic – and, honestly, not altogether pleasant. (It may be that this bottle was slightly over.) It had a bit of an odd scent that dissipated after a little time open – and was much less noticeable as the cooling sleeve did its work. Some strawberry and mineral on the palate with a little bitterness to the finish. However, next to a somewhat spicy red snapper braised in a “Veracruz” style, it was pleasant enough. I would say, though, that Italians are best known for reds and whites – not rosé. In the future, I’ll probably follow that instinct. $13.

Von Schleinitz 2011 Pinot Noir Rosé – The Sweet Partner in Crime said, on tasting this wine – “Not to be too stereotypical, but if you asked me what I thought a German rosé would taste like – this would be it.” This is a wine that tells you aggressively, “HELLO. I am full of strawberry FRUIT and lots of ACID. I really work WELL with FOOD.” Honestly, I neglected to write down what we had for dinner with this – as we were chuckling away at our German grape anthropomorphism. That said, it’s worth a try if you enjoy German wines. $17.

the first German rosé either of us can remember having:

Chateau de Roquefort 2011 “Corail,” Cotes de Provence – Ah, Provence rosé. Arguably my favorite form of this pink stuff. If I think about rosé, close my eyes, and imagine a flavor – I’d land somewhere close to this. Faint flowers on the nose, followed with a light-ish body full of strawberry and peach. Slightly tart and slightly creamy, rather than being a big blast of fruity acid. Soft finish. A wine for exhaling with after flopping on the couch. Dinner with this blend of six different grapes was an appropriately French roast chicken tenderloins with tarragon with a “ratatouille sauté.” Scrumptious and sluggable. $14.

Charles & Charles 2012 Columbia Valley Rosé – A Washington wine made from 100% Syrah, which gives it its substantial flavor. “Chunky” was at the top of my tasting note. I found lots of firm cranberry and peach flavors with a pleasantly weighty body and a slightly dry, fruity end.  This is a rosé for when you want a wine that has big flavors, but you’re not in the mood for a deep, dark high-tide tannin red. You could conceivably have this with steak, if the little yummy noises I made when I had this with an awesome steak salad were any indication. $13.

So go forth and Love Pink, as the derrieres of many kids say these days…

Back to the Earth -- organic wines

Happy New Year, everyone!

Vine reader rthomas asked for recommendations on organic wines. Honestly, I didn't know much about them, so to the research we go…

We humans are not the only creatures out there who enjoy the bounty of the vine. Plenty of critters like to eat the fruit, various pests and bugs damage grapes and vines in many ways, and weeds can choke out the vines as they grow. The manmade solution in recent years has been various chemicals: pesticides, herbicides, fungicides -- you get the idea. These chemicals can find their way into the wines and, thus, into us. Some wines are genetically altered to better handle climate conditions. There are various chemical fertilizers, and preservatives (usually sulfites) are added to the wine at bottling. To clear wines, "finings" are added to the wine to pull out the sediment. Some of these finings are chemical in nature (although they're usually egg whites or a type of clay called bentonite).

Very few wines are "straight from the vine" anymore. However, over the last few years, "organic wine" has become both an attempt to raise non-chemical laden wine as well as a marketing ploy

What is an organic food? The USDA definition for organic food is: "Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers; bio-engineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled 'organic,' a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards."

A number of wineries started selling "organic wine" -- organic wines are, simply put, wines made from organic grapes. There are three categories of organic wine:

• 100% Organic: These wines use only grapes certified as 100% organically grown with no preservatives.
• Organic: Refers to wines that have at least 95% of grapes from certified sources and may have some small amount of sulfites added.
• Made with Organic Grapes: These wines are at least 70% organically grown grapes and may have a "standard" amount of sulfites added.

Some wineries are using "biodynamic" techniques to grow grapes. These techniques are above and beyond "organic" -- as they use only the resources found in the vineyard to produce the grapes.

Most "certified USDA organic" wines you're going to find will be American. Only a very small number of Euro-wineries have been certified here. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't organic wines in Europe. Between 2-3% of all vineyards in Europe would be considered organic, and many countries (including France, Spain, and Italy) pay subsidies to farmers who agree to follow organic standards.

So, what does this all mean to most wine drinkers? Some folks swear by organic wines -- say they taste better. If a wine doesn't have sulfites, it probably will also give you less of a headache if you overconsume a bit. Myself, I can't tell much of a difference. One place where you CAN generally tell the difference is on the pricetag. Not surprisingly, organic wines are going to set you back a bit of cash compared to "standard" wines. There are some in our range, though:

Bonterra 2004 Chardonnay -- A solid, decent Chardonnay from Mendocino County in California. Bonterra is one of the wines in the forefront of pushing the "organic" angle in its mainline advertising to raise its profile. This was a little more citrus-scented than I expected from a NoCal chardonnay, and Bonterra thankfully stayed away from the California tendency to oak a chardonnay into submission. This one has a nicer balance than many California wines -- a little tart, a little honey, and it finishes with a buttery flavor that’s pretty pleasant. I found this one on sale for $10 (they're about to release the '05), but you're probably going to shell out $13-14 normally.

Finca Luzon Verde 2004 Jumilla -- Another Spanish wine. Remember, like French wines, Spanish wines are classified by region. Jumilla is the region. The wine is made from 100% Monastrell grapes. Monastrell is typically a blending grape, but -- much like Malbec, is starting to stand on its own. (Monastrell is more commonly known as mourvedre.) I have no idea why the wine is called "verde" -- Spanish for "green." The Finca Luzon a very nice, easy drinking red wine. "Not too strong on the nose -- smelled like blackberry jam and mint. Rather soft and fruity to drink with some mild dark berry flavors. The finish was a little dry with a soft spice and lasted awhile. It's pretty food-friendly, as well -- pairing with anything from paella to peppery red meats. A solid budget wine if you're looking for something organic. You'll find this from $7-9.

Mas de Gourgonnier 2003 Les Baux de Provence-- From Provence in France -- this wine is a big French entry into the organic category. One sniff informs you immediately that this is an "Old World" wine. That deep earthy, Old World scent rolls out after a swirl, which covers up some black cherry. While this is a typically muscular French wine, it's not as heavy as several I've tried. There's a nice fresh fruitiness to go along with the earthy backbone of this wine. The finish is long and tannic. Like most French wines, it's wonderful with food, especially a big roasted meat dish or something earthy -- root vegetables and the like. Sharp cheeses would also be quite nice. $12-15.

Also, if you're looking for an excellent splurge wine that's organic, try Frog's Leap or Preston.

Until next time, keep it earthy.