CLEVELAND, Ohio – Our review for wines this month includes some very different sippers, including a pair of good value wines and a delicious French offering.
Note: Our monthly reviews focus on wines $25 and under. All should be available on local store shelves. We list flavors we detect, then offer our favorite at the end.
(We also offer a pair of wine notes below).
Fetzer Pinot GrigioMarc Bona, cleveland.comFetzer Pinot Grigio
Fetzer Vineyards, Mendocino County, California; NV, $12
Peach and pear come out in this off dry wine along with a little honey. It’s not super complicated, but it also doesn’t have off flavors. Fetzer is a party wine as in great value to buy for a crowd that isn’t full of sommeliers. Fun and drinkable.
Fetzer RieslingMarc Bona, cleveland.comFetzer Riesling
Fetzer Vineyards, Mendocino County, California; NV, $12
Peach pops though in this off dry wine. A lot of fruit hits you including tangerine, and there’s a bit of acid that lingers on your tongue, making this a food-friendly wine. Try with Asian dishes. Great value.
VentessaMarc Bona, cleveland.comVentessa Pinot Grigio
Ventessa by Mezzacorona, Dolomiti, Italy; Pinot Grigio, 2024, $10.99
A little lemon but little else. From the northeastern part of Italy. Slight off taste. We tried, and we’re not finishing. Sometimes a cheap wine is a good price, other times it’s not worth it. We’ve had passable wines from this line so we’ll keep an open mind going forward. The wine is low in alcohol (9%) and in calories (90).
Madame de BeaucaillouMarc Bona, cleveland.comMadame de Beaucaillou
Ducru Beaucaillou, Haut-Médoc appellation, France; red blend, 2023, $23
Raspberry, some olive, cherry and dryness all converge in this wine that has a slight perfume aroma and some herbal notes on the palate. It’s roughly 59% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot. Wonderful savory wine, very food versatile, priced extremely well.
This month’s favorite: Madame de Beaucaillou
A few wine notes for March …
• Coravin, the wine-preservation system that extracts wine using a thin needle through the cork, has announced the sale of its 2 millionth system.
• Beringer Vineyards is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a variety of events this year. Beringer Vineyards bills itself as California’s longest continuously operating winery. It was founded in 1876 by brothers Jacob and Frederick Beringer. In 1934 it became the first local winery to open for public tours.
Dining and Cooking