Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Broccoli rabe, bok choy and bargains from the southern Rhône


When I moved to St. Louis from New York City, I quickly discovered that the chain grocery stores did not carry many of the ingredients that I easily found either in Manhattan’s greenmarkets or the numerous compact family-owned foods stores and delis. Broccoli rabe, bok choy and even a full bunch of fresh mint had suddenly gone from being staples to delicacies.

Finally I learned there was one place where I was bound to find all of my old favorites and even some new ones. That store is Global Foods, 421 N. Kirkwood. It is truly the one spot in the St. Louis area frequented by members of all ethnic groups. The store was founded by Suchin Prapaisilp, who moved to St. Louis in 1970 from Thailand. He like many other immigrants could not find the food that they enjoyed back in their homelands.

Today Global Foods has items from just about everywhere. If you go to the website, there’s even a map of the store showing which aisles carry a particular country’s products. And while food is the main attraction, the store also has a small but intriguing wine section with a moderately priced selection. While I admit that I’d be hesitant about buying some of those bottles, there are some pretty nice budget wines to be found.

For example, the store stocks some French wines from France’s southern Rhône valley. While that’s home to the superb and expensive wines that come from the appellations of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, it also produces some affordable, good quality reds that are great for everyday drinking. Some of these French wines at Global are from lesser known areas or labeled as Indication Géographique Protégée (IGP) rather than from a specific appellation. But I figured they would be fine for a casual dinner and they were.

One was the Domaine des Rozets 2010 Grignan-les-Adhemar priced at $9.99. I had never heard of the Grignan-les-Adhemar appellation but I could have sworn I had seen that label before. Turns out that I had. Grignan-les-Adhemar used to be called  Coteaux du Tricastin, an appellation that was created in 1973 at the northern edge of the southern Rhône. In fact, when the cashier rang up my receipt it still identified the wine as Coteaux du Tricastin.

About a year after Coteaux du Tricastin was created, a nuclear plant was built in Tricastin. The existence of the plant along with an accident in 2008 caused wine sales to drop.  Although no contamination was ever proven, the appellation’s image had been tarnished and the name on the label turned consumers away.

So wine growers petitioned for a name change with I.N.A.O., the French agency that oversees the country’s appellation. The I.N.A.O. approved the change in 2010. When authorities changed the name, new rules for improving the wine from the appellation also went into effect. For example the maximum permitted grape yield was lowered and the use of herbicides was restricted.

The Domaine des Rozets is  made from a blend of typical Rhône varieties: 60 percent grenache, 35 percent syrah and 5 percent cinsault. This is an earthy, medium-bodied red that’s quite dry with tangy herbal notes. It would pair well with burgers and charcuterie.

Another southern Rhône wine I found at Global  is the Domaine de Couron 2011 Merlot IGP Ardèche priced at $9.49. Although this medium-bodied merlot comes from an area in the Cotes du Rhône, it cannot carry the official Cotes du Rhône designation because it’s not made from the appellation’s allowed varietals. IGP is the Europe-wide term for vin de pays or “country wine.” This category doesn’t mean that the wine is of lesser quality, but instead focuses on geographical origin rather than style or tradition. It gives winemakers more freedom than having to abide by the rules to obtain an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) designation. In this case, the winemaker created a wine made of 100 percent merlot, rather than from traditional Rhône varieties. The result is a soft, fruity, fresh red that’s very quaffable and would go well with a variety of foods including burgers, chicken and pasta.

The Domaine de Couron and the Domaine des Rozets are featured in my June 25 Wine Finds column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.



#rhone #tricastin #grignanlesadhemar #INAO #cotesdurhone #IGP #vindepays #countrywine #ardeche #wine #winewednesday
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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Tired of Sauvignon Blanc. Try Verdejo from Spain's Rueda

When it comes to wines for summertime drinking, I have to admit that I have a strong bias for whites from Spain. In fact, the home to one of my favorite hot weather white wines is Rueda.

The Rueda Denomination of Origin (DO) was created in early 1980, making it the first DO to be approved in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León in northwest Spain. Winemakers had pushed for the creation of the appellation to promote and protect the area’s native grape, Verdejo.

Verdejo, which has been grown in Rueda since the 11th century, is one of Spain’s best white varietals. It's used to make clean, fresh whites with citrus notes and crisp acidity. Because these wines are often medium- to full-bodied, they can pair with a variety of foods, but I particularly like them with fish.

While wines from Rueda can often be found at wine shops, they are not so common in St. Louis grocery stores. So I was very pleased to find the Bodegas Naia Rueda at the Dierbergs Brentwood Pointe. It was priced at $14.49 in May and is featured in my June 18th St. Louis Post-Dispatch column. Naia is a well-respected winery that produces reliable Verdejo wines that win high points from critics.

Bodegas Naia's winery is located along the southern bank of the Duero River in La Seca just to the east of the town of Rueda. Some of its Verdejo comes from old vines and some strains are more than a century old. The winery also grows smaller amounts of Sauvignon Blanc and Viura.

Among other highly recommended producer is Bodegas Shaya, which consistently wins high scores from critics and which I’ve featured in previous year-end columns about my favorite wines. Bodegas Shaya is a Gil Family Estates wine.

The Shaya winery and vineyards are located in the province of Segovia, but it has an Australian winemaker. She’s Belinda Thomson, who splits her time between Spain and her parents’ respected Crawford River Winery in Victoria, Australia.

Another excellent choice is Bodegas Ordoñez Nisia, made from old vine Verdejo. Owned by the well-respected Spanish importer and wine producer Jorge Ordoñez, Nisia also earns rave reviews from critics.

Both the Shaya and Nisia wines are priced at $13.99 at Randall's in St. Louis.

But if your budget is below $10, it is possible to find a good Verdejo in your price range. It's Trader Joe’s to the rescue. The chain is now carrying the Marqués de Cáceres Verdejo Rueda for $7.99. It's a great deal and well worth trying.

#winesfromspain #verdejo #rueda #CastillayLeón #wine #winewednesday @summerwines







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