WINE OF THE WEEK

This week I taste a bevy of decent wines, and it's a fight right down to the wire to decide which one I'm going to nominate this week.  It's a decent split between the wine regions, as well.  Out of the fourteen I sample over two days, eight of them are domestic, all-American wines, and six of them are Italian wines.

Out of the Italian wines, I am stuck between the Legonziano Cocciatosta Trebbiano d'Abruzzo (awesome stand-alone white) and the Cantine CastignanoVerdicchio (tasty white that needs food, something spicy and flavorful like Indian or Thai food).  I have been searching for a good white and haven't been struck by anything.

Now, I'm stuck between two.  Not for long, though.

Of all the Italian wines, I am completely enamored with the Contramolini Valpolicella, a red that haunts the taste buds in a very positive way.  A red, though; again, I'm choosing a red.  I cannot pick yet another red.  (Yup, I even have this fight with myself at the wine shop -- "A red!  I can't come home with another red!")

While the Italian wines are outstanding, not a bad one in the batch, it doesn't jibe with the whole long holiday weekend theme.  I need to pick an American wine in honor of Independence Day.  Therefore, I recommend any and all of the above wines (all under $17 a bottle, the Trebbiano d'Abruzzo under $10), but none grabs the top spot.

Tasting the American wines, I find myself gravitating toward the reds again.  (Dang!)  Two from Oregon jump right to the forefront: Sokol Blosser Evolution Red (non-vintage) that pops a fruity but pleasant and smooth finish; 2014 Elouan Pinot Noir that is also fruity but earthy and doesn't have that sharp bite that so many pinot noirs do. 

But, to be honest, my pinot noir knowledge is based on dating a wine snob who not only acted like Miles from Sideways, he looked a lot like him, too -- like Giamatti's skinny, short, big-nosed, asshole twin.  He insisted that Oregon pinot noir was the only one worth drinking (on that he was dead wrong) and that pinot grigio "is the PISS of wines" (because I preferred it).  About the only thing I can say about pinot noir
 is that the ones from Oregon aren't bad at all, although I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

So, drum roll here, I'm nominating an American white this week's Wine of the Week -- 2014 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Vognier from California.  It's the first one I taste of the American wines, and I go back and re-taste it after all the rest, including the reds, and, yes, I still like it best. 

Finally!  A white wine I can take home with me!  The flyer says that this wine "offers what consumers love" (truth) and touts its fruity, medium-bodied texture with a finish that stays on the palate (in a good way). 

At $10 a bottle, it's a consumer's steal, and that is, after all, the American Way.