Red Wines You Should Try

What are the top-selling red wines? Following are descriptions and a few examples of the most popular reds in America. There are plenty of wines available besides the few I've mentioned below.

This post is about the reds. The previous post dated Jan 9, 2024 was about white wines.

Red wine winner from the Judgement of Paris in 1976
Putting France on notice that California was coming
image from stagsleapwinecellars.com

 

   Cabernet Sauvignon

The king of red wines. Cab and Chardonnay are America's top sellers. Cabernet is from Bordeaux, France. It's big and bold and most are made to age a few years to a few decades. Much is discussed about what the correct style should be, how many years a Cab should age, and where the best ones come from. All you have to know is a style you like at a price you can afford, as you can spend ten bucks on one or thousands.

Common descriptors are blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, tobacco, pepper, licorice, cedar, and black currant/cassis. Don't worry about that last one because it's apparently only known to Europeans as that's where black currants grow.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the biggest of the Big Five Bordeaux grapes. The others are Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.

Besides France, it's grown in sizeable quantities in Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia, China, Chile, and the U.S. (primarily California and Washington). Bordeaux and Napa are the most famous regions for Cabernet, and the most expensive. Some of the famous Napa Valley Cabs are from Heitz, Mondavi, Opus One, Silver Oak, Stag's Leap. Prices for these examples run from $50 to $350. 

There are many Sonoma County wineries making Cabernet. Some of the better-known ones that you may find on your local store shelves or on a restaurant wine list are Alexander Valley Vineyards, Arrowood, Dry Creek Vineyards, Francis Ford Coppola, Jordon, Rodney Strong, and Simi.  Another way to look for a good Sonoma County Cab is by growing region (appellation), with many of the best ones coming from Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Knights Valley, Moon Mountain, and Rockpile.

 

   Malbec

From Bordeaux, but Malbec found its sweet spot in Argentina where 75% of it is grown. There's not much in Sonoma County or nearby. Sonoma has 400 acres, about two-thirds of a percent of the total crop. It mostly goes into Cabernet blends. I remember a winemaker in Napa growing a small amount for blending saying, "It's a pain in the ass" so maybe it doesn't do that well here. Anyway, it loves Argentina and wine drinkers love Argentinian Malbec. 

The wine is full-bodied, black fruit flavors, smoky, earthy, peppery. It's a robust wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, but a bit lighter and fruitier; and it's probably more similar to Syrah than Cab.

A few of the bigger Sonoma County wineries making Malbec are Chateau St. Jean, Kunde, and Imagery.

 

   Merlot

Look at Merlot as a smoother, softer, more approachable version of Cabernet Sauvignon. Easy drinking and a wine that will please almost anybody at a gathering. Flavors are about black. That is, plums, black cherries, and chocolate. You often find Merlot blended with the big, burly Cab Sauv to soften it up, making the wine more drinkable when young.

California Merlot was a big seller from the '70s through the '90s, then fell out of favor. If you find Cab Sauv just too tannic or too big for you or Pinot Noir too expensive, then you may find Merlot as your best alternative.

A few Sonoma County wineries known for Merlot are Benziger, Matanzas Creek, Mill Creek, Roth, and St. Francis. St. Francis Winery actually grew to fame in the '70s for its Merlot, though with the changing times they are more about Cabernet and Zinfandel now.

 

   Pinot Noir

Funny story: Fifteen-ish years ago, our son was visiting grandparents in Pittsburgh. They took him out to a nice restaurant with a good wine list. He ordered a glass of Pinot. He got a white wine, a Pinot Gris. He was shocked and confused. In these parts Pinot means Noir.

Pinot Noir came almost out of nowhere 20–25 years ago to be the darling of many consumers, and it's Sonoma's most famous wine. It's from Burgundy and is also grown in the coastal California and Oregon, and is fairly new to Germany and New Zealand. A notoriously difficult grape to work with, but when you find the right climate and know how to make the wine, it can be a fabulous display of terroir, or place.

Pinot can have varied aromatics of strawberry, cherry cola, earth, mushroom, and dried herbs. Very approachable to drink young or with some age. All grapes have clones, or mutations. Pinot Noir seems to mutate easily, and many clones show quite a variation in flavors. So along with terroir, the different clones used are responsible for much of the fascination the wine consumer has with Pinot Noir.

In Sonoma County it's mostly grown in the Russian River Valley and the adjacent Sonoma Coast area plus Carneros. There are many good producers. A few of the best-known are Dutton-Goldfield, Gary Farrell, Flowers, Hanzell, Joseph Swan, Lynmar, Merry Edwards, Rochioli, and Williams Selyem. Some of these might be too small to distribute near you. If you should ever visit the Russian River area of Sonoma, you won't run out of great Pinot to sample.

 

   Syrah / Shiraz

Syrah, from the Rhone of France, is very popular in Australia where they call it Shiraz. They did this to differentiate the Rhone's leaner, lighter style vs. the heavier, riper, richer style from the warmer climate of Australia. You will sometimes find these names being used by winemakers based on the style they made. That is, you will find wines labeled as Syrah in Australia or Shiraz in France to denote the style. In the U.S. both names are used, though most is called Syrah.

Paso Robles on the California Central Coast and Washington state are known for Syrah. In California, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Counties also grow quite a bit. Like Pinot Noir, Syrah is sensitive to the place it's grown. Syrah is fifth in red wine grape acreage in Sonoma County, so while it's not a huge deal it does very well in the cooler areas with coastal influence, such as the Russian River Valley, the same places where Pinot Noir does well.

I'm not sure which Sonoma County wineries are large enough to distribute their Syrah near you, but a few of the producers are Anthill Farms, Balletto, Cline, Kunde, Martinelli, Ramey, and Red Car.

 

   Zinfandel / Primitivo 

Grape varieties have multiple clones, or mutations, and it turns out Zinfandel is a clone of Italy's Primitivo. Italy's version will taste different from California's. With the many regions and growers of Zinfandel there are differing styles from more restrained, drier, and relatively less alcohol content to the big, jammy, higher booze content ones.

The ever-popular White Zinfandel is a style, not a grape variety. It is a rosé of Zinfandel.

Zinfandel characteristics can be bold, fruit forward with raspberry and blackberry, they can be elegant, complex, and ageable, they can be made from 100+ year old vines. The wine is often wonderful and underappreciated. Sonoma County, especially Dry Creek Valley, plus Lodi and Amador County's Shenandoah Valley are great spots for Zin. Also in Sonoma County, Rockpile and Moon Mountain Zins are great, though the areas are small, so production is limited.

Some of the best-known Sonoma County Zinfandel producers are Dry Creek Vineyards, Martinelli, Mauritson, Rafanelli (very small, good luck finding it), Ridge/Lytton Springs, St. Francis, Seghesio, and Wilson.

A very old Zinfandel vine in Lodi, CA

   Others Red Wines to Discover

• Barbera - A lighter weight Italian, drinks young, great with many foods.
• Cabernet Franc - A lighter weight Bordeaux, fruity with green undertones sometimes.
• Gamay - A lighter weight, simpler, French grape. Good with lighter meats and even seafood.
• Grenache - Intense fruit flavors, can be higher alcohol. Lots of it planted in southern France and Spain.
• Nebbiolo - A full-bodied, hearty red from Piedmont, Italy. Usually requires aging.
  
• Sangiovese - The predominant grape in Chianti. An excellent food wine.
• Tempranillo - From Spain. Usually cherries, earthy flavors. It's somewhere between a Cab Sauv and a Sangiovese.

Amador County in California's
Sierra Foothills is becoming
a big region for Barbera