A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A White From Rioja (Spain)

Rioja is arguably Spain's greatest wine region. To be more precise: Rioja is arguably Spain's greatest red wine region. This region in northern Spain produces relatively little white wine and unlike the reds, Rioja whites rarely go for big bucks. Traditionally, Rioja whites were aged from 2-5 years in oak and were slightly oxidized. But tastes change and you won't find many of these coffee and caramel tasting white wines. The wine reviewed below comes from Viura, the region's major white grape. If you are ever in Rioja on June 29 put on some white clothes and visit the town of Haro which hosts an annual wine and food fight in the morning. You may want to bring your water pistols and a change of clothing. The afternoon is devoted to bull fighting where heifers substitute for the bulls.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Montecillo Blanco Osborne (Vihhos De Portugal), 2008 11.8% alcohol about $8,50

Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Very pale lemon yellow; aromas of mineral, green apple, and pear; dry, light to medium-bodied, crisp acidity, fresh flavors of citrus and pear. Serving Suggestion: Serve with appetizers or seafood salad. And now for my reactions.

At the first sips the acidity was predominant, and I tasted slightly green (unripe) apples. With schmaltz (fatty) herring packed in oil the apples in the wine seemed to ripen a bit. The initial meal consisted of boxed vegetarian lasagna covered with grated Parmesan cheese. The wine was refreshing but somewhat thin. As the meal progressed the wine did manage to regain some of its strength. With a high-quality vanilla, chocolate-coated ice cream bar the wine became lightly sweet but its fruit was almost absent.

The next meal was a hot weather don't turn on the stove, microwave meal. It centered around reheated commercially prepared sweet and sour barbecued chicken wings with a potato knish (potato and onion in fried dough), potato patties, and lots of spicy salsa. The meat brought out the wine's apple and lime notes whose acidity picked up when facing the potato preparations. The acidity intensified even more to match the spicy salsa. But all in all this wine was rather absent.

My final food pairing involved veal shanks cooked slowly with sliced potatoes and crushed tomatoes. The wine was acidic and apple was the predominant taste. There was definitely a lack of balance. One might have hoped that the wine's acidity would mesh with the acidity of the tomatoes but it didn't.

I ended the bottle with two local cheeses. When paired with a Havarti the wine was fruity with notes of pear at the finish. When paired with an Emmenthaler (Swiss) the pear taste became predominant. This was one of the better wine and cheese combinations that I have had in a long time, perhaps because the Swiss cheese was so good.

Final verdict. I wouldn't buy this wine again. Most of the food pairings came up short.


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Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but really prefers fine Italian or other wine, with good food and company. He loves teaching computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of $10 wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. His Italian travel website is www.travelitalytravel.com .