Wines $20 to $40

Rainy Day Wines

BY Ray Isle | POSTED NOVEMBER 5, 2008 AT 9:35PM EST

Well, here in NYC it's a rainy fall day, which always brings to mind (my mind, at least) dishes like the venison chili I made the other night, and wines like the 2005 Hendry Block 28 Zinfandel ($30, click to find it) that I opened to go along with it. The Hendry is a big, boisterous red, with lots of rich berry fruit, but a firm framework of tannins to support it. Not a small wine, but not a monster, either.

I don't know how much of the 2006 Chateau Blanc Un Autre Rouge Côtes de Ventoux (price a mystery) makes it to the US, since wine-searcher seems never to have heard of it, but if you like lively Rhône reds and you spot a bottle, go for it. Purple berries, a scent of violets, prickly tannins, rustic spice—couldn't be more Rhônish in nature. I suspect it's affordable, and write this in hopes that a wave of the stuff will soon appear on wine store shelves.

Another good wet weather wine, ideal with something like my ex-colleague Nick Fauchald's Beef and Lamb Burgers with Cheddar and Caper Remoulade—mighty tasty burgers that he concocted this summer for a story on wine vs. beer pairing—would be the 2005 Vallado Tinto ($25, click to find it) from Portugal's Douro river valley. A blend of various local grapes, it's deep garnet in color, dark, rich and dense with lightly baked Douro black cherry fruit—another red very evocative of the place it comes from.

Rainy Day Wines

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