RED WINES FOR THANKSGIVING:

Routas Cabernet 2003 France, $11. The biggest, fullest budget red. Black currants, dark cocoa, pomegranate, crumbling biscuit toastiness, and black tea.
Ique Malbec 2008 Argentina $13.

Red plums, red cherries, and a deep purple violet scent through the entire experience.

Hook and Ladder 2007 Sonoma, $20. Award-winning wine to impress your relatives and your palate! Midnight fruits elevated by a mouth-filling finish; our easiest choice for a “serious” wine!

Pelta Tempranillo 2008, Spain $11. Juicy, refreshing black cherries spritzed with mandarin orange and accompanied by a hint of star anise and dark chocolate on the finish.

Ninth Island Pinot Noir 2005, $13. Juicy, tart, and funky red fruit. Think tanned leather, caramelize cherry stems, and roasted duck. A daring Pinot Noir to pair with a plethora of foods.
Chasing Lions Cab. Napa 2007, $15. NAPA VALLEY UNDER $20 is very hard to find. Chasing Lions has dark, thick fruit, and a nonchalant elegance that will make friends with the whole family.

WHITE WINES FOR THANKSGIVING:

Kremser Gruner Veltiner 2008, $11.
A dry white from Austria that has white pepper and fresh snap peas on the nose, but with a zippy crisp lemon and lime zest finish!

Ruviano Verdicchio Italy 2007, $14.
Fuzzy sage on the nose, crunchy almonds in the palate, and a finish of citrus and white sand. Amazing with roasted squash and vegetables.

Muscadet 2007, Loire Valley, $12.
This tastes like a breath of fresh ocean air wafting over lemons, limes, and a hint of crunchy white melon rinds. A 100% DRY WHITE !

Cru Cellars 2003 Chardonnay, $35.
America’s best Chardonnay. Tastes like a $100 white Burgundy. One barrel made. Thick, saline baked apples, preserved fennel, and a flirtatious wink of oak.

Errazuriz 2007 Chardonnay, $17.
Baked pears, cinnamon, and a heavy buttered popcorn oak nose. The exact opposite of zippy and crisp. Try pairing it with dessert, too!

Marigny-Neuf Loire Valley, $13.
Zippy, crisp citrus and tropical fruits. Dry, tart, and refreshing. Buy it for Sancerre lovers!

T.B. Ackerson Wines | No Comments

I’m hard on Spain. I’ve tasted and sold enough Rioja to kill a legion of horses. I need something more than just the “bright cherries and toasty oak” that I see in the majority of Spanish reds that get grand acclaim here in New York City. In the last ten years, Spanish wine has been putting me to sleep.

Last night though, Pesquera’s 2005 Ribera del Duero Crianza woke me up again! Yes, there cherries and oak are there (in fact, these guys use American, French, and Spanish oak barrels). The cherries and oak are built around one of the largest and most bodies I’ve had in a wine this year.

How serious was this wine? We kept the wine uncorked for a total of eight hours before giving our final opinions on the bottle. Green and black olives, toasted peach pits, and a hint of a smoky, aged cheddar dominated the nose. The palate ran into a wall of Bing cherry jam. The finish reminded us that this wine came from dirt; coffee and baked topsoil were strewn throughout the finish.

What does it need to be paired with? Something that will give you a heart attack; Baked brie smothered in caramelized onions and mushrooms, peppery soy-soaked steak, or salty wild boar sausage.

Spain, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Tempranillo | No Comments

We travel to Corbieres, a little region in the south of France, to taste a wine with a big reputation for “funky elegance.” Click here to watch the  Corbieres video.

Wines tasted: Cuvee Alice from Ollieux Romanis 2006

France, Grenache/Garnacha/Cannonau, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Videos | No Comments

The wine shop I run doesn’t have much of a mark up, but the new Wineberry boxes I just started stocking, are almost shockingly inexpensive. When it was packaged in individual bottles, the Moulin de la Roquille red Bordeaux had to be priced at roughly $17 for us to make our money back on it, but when you stop having to pay for heavy glass bottles and shipping for heavy glass bottles, you get a ridiculous deal.

A box of Moulin de la Roquille is FOUR BOTTLES OF WINE! Four bottles of Roquille would have cost $68 (4×17=68), but because of savings on packing and shipping, these same four bottles put into a box cost only $39.99. A formerly $17 “weekend-only” wine becomes a $10/Tuesday night/drink however much you like wine.

The best part is that, since it’s vacuum-sealed, it stays fresh up to two months after opening.

I love that now everyone gets to drink top-notch French wine any time they like. This is very much how the wine world should work!

Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines | No Comments

Javier Castro, our wine-loving friend from Madrid, shows us his recipe for Sangria… using his favorite cheap, summer white- South African Sauvignon Blanc!

Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Reviews, Wine Videos | No Comments