People always ask: “How do you pick wines to review?” I have a couple of criteria. First, it has to be an interesting, well-made bottle of wine. What’s the point of wasting my time telling you what not to drink? Second, it has to be available. What’s the point of wasting your time by telling you about a wine you can’t buy?
In this, it doesn’t much matter whether the wine comes from a struggling artisan producer whose fingernails are dirty or a huge multi-national whose idea of terroir is a country-specific marketing campaign. In the end, wine is about what is in the bottle.
And what’s in the de Caceras ($9, purchased) is worth writing about. It’s a Spanish rose, made with garnacha, and you can find it almost anywhere wine is sold. I took this to a barbecue a couple of weeks ago, where there several people who like wine but who were intimidated by it. They’re the kind of people who never want to tell me what they like, because they’re afraid I’ll belittle their choice. “You’re the expert,” they say. “You tell us what to drink.”
Which makes me crazy, because everyone should drink what they want to drink. So I bring pink wine like the de Caceres in situations like this, because no one believes I drink white zinfandel. And pink wine still means white zinfandel to too many Americans.
Then, they taste the wine, and discover that it’s full of strawberry fruit, is bone dry, offers great value, and is barbecue friendly on a 100-degree Dallas afternoon. So I’ve accomplished two things: First, they’ve learned something about a new style of wine. Second, they’ve learned not to judge the wine before they drink it. What more could I ask for?
