We’ve previously reviewed a number of good wines from Cono Sur, and I’d even go so far as to say I’m a fan. The breadth of the wines they produce is phenomenal and the quality of what we’ve tasted has been consistently good. I think of them as an innovative and experimental producer from Chile, […]
Viña La Rosa is one of the oldest wineries in Chile, established in 1824 by don Francisco Ignacio Ossa y Mercado. That’s a name and a half, if you ask me. I’m not going to get into a lot of background on this wine, but instead jump ahead to, “90 alert, 90 alert!!!” As a […]
The story of Odjfell Vineyards began about 25 years ago when Norwegian ship owner Dan Odfjell acquired property in the Maipo Valley of Chile. However, the planting of vineyards didn’t begin until about 15 years ago. They now have vineyards in a few different Chilean appellations. In addition to wine production, they also breed Norwegian […]
Let’s check out another ten dollar Carménère today, this one from Santa Carolina. Although the popularity of Chilean wines has only recently exploded in the US, Santa Carolina has been around since 1875. Founded by Luis Pereyra Cotapos, it was named after his wife, Carolina Iñiguez Vicuña. The roots of wine production at Santa Carolina […]
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Carménère is a variety once used in Bordeaux wines that has recently made a resurgence. It was always a difficult grape in Bordeaux, due mostly to late ripening. And then it was wiped in France, in part by a phylloxera infestation in the 1880’s. For years it was considered […]
As I think back on the wines we’ve tasted over the past year, one stands out in my mind as being really interesting… and I’m just now getting it posted to the site. Perhaps it stands out, in part, because we tasted it near the end of the year, but it is also just a […]
I have one more Silvaner from Castell to share with you, but this one isn’t 100% Silvaner. It’s a blend of 80% Silvaner and 20% Traminer, which is technically a family of grape varieties—the most well known of which is Gewürztraminer—but in Germany they tend to refer to all grapes from this family as just […]
Continuing the theme from yesterday, today’s review is another Silvaner from Castell. I mentioned in the review of Castell Trocken Silvaner that it is from Germany, but I didn’t mention which part of Germany. Both the Trocken and the Kugelspiel come from the Franken wine region in the state of Bavaria. This is one of […]
Silvaner is a grape variety that we haven’t reviewed on Cheap Wine Ratings, until now. It’s a variety that is grown primarily in Germany and the Alsatian region in France, which is one of my favorite regions for dry white wines. This particular Silvaner is from Germany, which surprisingly is also a first on this […]
It’s funny how often I hear people proclaim that they are not wine snobs, yet as I sat down to write this post I thought to myself that there are going to be some haters out there who post comments about how I must be out of my mind for finding this to be good. […]
