[ed. The King is back. Inspired by the recent Riesling tasting at Casa tBoW Mr. Mouse has a renewed commitment as per reporting duties on this blog with the usual wisecracks and Rodent Rating System. Since he only tastes regal wines – of minor and major regencies – this is to our benefit. This field report describes a Mosel Riesling, two Burgs and another off-the-map sweetie. (more…)

I really should tease the reader before getting to the Russian wine…but what the hey. The first wine is from the Republic of Georgia which is an ancient land with tremendous pride. I am posting the flag in case someone should get the wrong impression. (more…)

I am not finished with the recent entry about corresponding the wine to the season. The good dokker calls it wine intelligence. I agree. The immediate objective is to provide a few simple guidelines for how to know what to take to a wine dinner-slash-tasting. The longer term objective is to give some hints on how to enhance your enjoyment of wine. (more…)

As an old pal used to tell me “you know doc, it ain’t easy“. You can’t find a wine deal just based on price. You certainly can’t trust the labels, especially in the US, if they say reserve or special selection. “Oh look! Here’s a reserve Cabernet for $14″! We need help. And we need to help ourselves. Help can be found in a local premium wine store. Not BevMo. Good tequila selection, same-old ordinary wines. Not TJs. Good beer, lousy wines. Of course there are exceptions however time spent buying wine is better spent in a wine shop. And we help ourselves by trying the wines your local wine pro recommends that are from unfamiliar locations. Try a wine with a name you can’t pronounce…like from Europe. Fact is, there are a ton of Italian, Spanish and French wines that meet our call to arms criteria. Visit your local wine shop. Make friends with a smart-ass clerk who knows his shit. Here are some examples. (more…)

2006 Chateau Barbanau Cote de Provence $12: Dry mineral flavors. Everything I expect from a Provencal Rose’ which, in my experience, differs in a mineral style compared to wines from Languedoc or other SE France regions. These wines are so easily distinguishable from domestic Rose’ wines because they rarely have the big fruit found in CA wines (of which I am also fond, see Anglim out of Paso Robles). However, the real story here – as I discovered – is the importer, Charles Neal. Get thee forthwithly to charlesnealselections.com and read what these folks at Paul Marcus Importer have to say about how to start and sustain an importing business. The first thing you will find is that Mr. Neal picked the region from which to import based upon where he could buy wines below the silly pricing threshold, aka $20. He also took a liking to wines he could drink everyday and that were regional in style and blend, that is, the region has not yet been Parker-ized. The tasting notes from the Paul Marcus Imports staff that toured with Mr. Neal are fun to read and educational. Compare the Neal notes with those found in the LA Times by the Food section’s wine-tasting panel (“hint of lime, nice”). It is the difference between riding down a “technical” slope (fun and slightly dangerous) versus riding in your cul de sac (boring and only when necessary). (more…)

Please take a look at David McMillan’s youtube video that got picked up by the LA Times a couple weeks back. David is wonderfully talented and pretty dang funny. And I happen to know he likes wine and stogies. Don’t tell his grandma.
Mouse sent some wine picks under or around $20. Mouse is the King of sub-20 wines. He begged me for years to try grenache blanc. Being a pinot apostle at the time naturally I thought he was silly. Cute. And here he is again suggesting any white blend from southern France. Believe him. I have a couple photos I took in a snooty LA wine shop yesterday of their sub-$20 wines. We are a movement!! (more…)

I don’t know where to start: under $20? The list goes on and on. So, I’ll start here:
2005 Capestrano Montepulciano D’Aburzzo – between $8 and $12. Plums and leather and loads of character, better the next day.
Try Cline’s 2005 Viognier. About the same price. Peaches and spice.
Try any white blend from SoFrance.
xxoo le king

This is a blog about wine but not necessarily devoted to wine. Do not be surprised if you read about golf, healthcare, politics, media or anything else we feel like describing and weighing in on.
We knock off Victor Hugo because we are proudly literate (especially dokkerm), unbound by convention, and declaring a call to action. Molly Pitcher guards the right bank as we take on trophy wines and fashion-driven price-bloated trend-setters. If you agree with our battle cry then you will like this blog. NO WINES OVER $20. We date the beginning of our campaign to the first vintage of the Mondavi-Rothschild Opus project. We recall with a smile the Underground Wine Journal editorial titled Hokus Opus. Stand upon the ramparts of good sense. There are too many wines around priced at or below $20 to let them languish in the floor stacks of retail shops. Our raison d’etre is to approach these wanderers and let you know what they had to say about their terroir.
Given that, here is the first entry about trophy wines from our past. We are purging our cellars of the spoils from earlier collector wars. (more…)