In this edition of RoN, I am pleased to present a total banger of an Alvarinho that I paid $16 for at a local shop. Aveleda Solos de Xisto Alvarinho 2022 is just phenomenal! NOT ROT!

I used to avoid white wine, thinking of it as what one would end up with if you took all of the good stuff out of red wine. Then I began my formal training in viticulture and enology and was tasting a TON of wine. I never thought I could get tired of trying new wines, but it happened really quickly! It got even worse when I worked in a wine shop as part of the externship requirement and was tasting a dozen or more specimens from distributors a few times a week. Even when we would spit out 99% of what we tasted, we’d still end up half lit before 1pm, dying for some other taste, anything other than alcohol, to flood our palates.

I was also watching a lot of wine programming: The Wine Show, Corked, and Somm. Bottle Shock (crush on Alan Rickman: well intact but what the hell was that wig on Chris Pine), Sour Grapes, A Year in Champagne. Burgundy, et al, too. One thing I kept noticing was what the professionals drank when they weren’t tasting to study for the MS pin: mostly white wines. Somm in particular talked about palate fatigue, and how one of the few varieties that retained its elegance and freshness was bone-dry Riesling from Alsace.

So I started seeking out those same wines, falling in love with Willm and Trimbach Rieslings first, then branching out to other full bodied whites based mostly on what I could afford. Wines from Portugal, Corsica, Greece, Georgia (in Europe, not the American south), and NY state are consistently excellent value for money. Now, I mostly drink white wine and save reds for pairing with food and special occasions.

Something I learned quickly: the world of wine can be intimidating, seemingly revolving around prestige and people paying half a million dollars for a bottle of rare DRC or magnum of Petrus. And that does describe a very small part of wine culture. But the main body of wine aficionados are normal folks who have financial constraints and revel in a good bargain. I remember drinking with a winemaker whose yearly production was prolific and incredibly well respected. The property boasted a large chateau and I know they were doing a brisk business. Every wine we drank together was $25-30. There is a little triumph in finding a wine that tastes like three figures when in fact you only paid twenty dollars and change for it.

All of this is to say that you’re not doing wine wrong by not wanting to spend a fortune on your next bottle.

Tasting notes: this is a light, smooth, bright wine. Lots of minerality (probably my favorite quality in a white wine) and structure—none of the components are competing for dominance or working against the others.

Score out of 5: 🎻 🎻 🎻 🎻 🎻 crazy good, maybe the best Portuguese wine I’ve ever had at any price.

For an explainer of the rating system, go here!

Cheers, friends. To your health, to peace, to art and kindness and good things. 🥂