Back to basic, lessons from the last year

It is time to come back home. I have traveled the world and sampled its bounty of terriors and varietals. I'll admit I cheated in my travels since I mostly went to local wine shops and headed to the foreign aisles. The main insight was European wines are largely miss with a few hits. I can stop buying these randomly, eager to discover how a wonderful famous region or varietal tastes.

1. France. It maybe the wine capital of the world, but except for the Rhones and Languedocs, I don't need to buy these. I'll admit, the Loire is still an open case. But, are you listening Bordeaux and Borgounone (Burgundy)? And most of my wine heathen peers feel even less generous toward French wines, not caring for them much at all.
2. Italy. I've tried numerous fine Sangioveses and sadly found I don't care for it. There are some Italian Cab or Merlot blends which are fine but Italian wines are not bargains, so I will stop actively looking. Too many Italian wines taste dusty or barnyard/leathery to me. The wines of Piedmont (barolo, barbera, nebbiolo) are too expensive for me and I'm not that fond of them to boot. The one good exception has been Primitivo (zinfandel) which is less ripe and more floral than the California counterpart.
   
3. Spain. Unpredictably hit or miss. Sometimes corked, sometimes too funky and sometimes amazing. Spain is the real conundrum, since even knowing the varietal I cannot predict if I'm likely to like the wine. I've had lovely Monastrell and Garnache; and some I didn't care for at all. Some of my favorite producers are Juan Gil, Luzon and Can Blau. Albarino is a white I've liked, but it is hard to find for under $10.
4. Portugal. Despite what everybody says about great red bargains coming from here, I have not tasted it, over 5 or 6 inexpensive reds, including a few 90+ pointers.
5. Isreal and maybe Lebanon. This was a surprise as the few reds (cabs, merlot) I've tried have been good. A bottle of the Golan Heights ($16?) I bought was quite good.
   
6. Greece, Turkey, other small countries. Nothing sticks out.
7. Argentina. This is mostly a miss. Perhaps 1 in 6 bottles is great. I still don't know what Malbec is supposed to taste like, since it seems to taste different everytime. Torrontes is the one find I like.
8. Chile. This was my next great white hope. Actually red hope, since the whites are not that special. For a bit, I had found some wonderful reds (an $8 Carmenere, the $16 Santa Rita Cabernet Reserva, some Santa Ema Merlots and Cabs, Montes Alpha Syrah). I even proclaimed Chile as perhaps my favorite new wine region. And as I am want to do, I bought them. By the partial case. And I've been drinking them. There not bad, but they just don't thrill me too often, as I had hoped. With the Montes Alpha Syrah 05, 06 and 07 as exceptions. Perhaps my expectations are too high. But I'm cutting back. A little bit. And it is not the savior I had perhaps thought it would be.
   

So what is a gal, who is actually a guy, to do? Back to the basics. Back to the fruit-forward new-world wines of old. (Notice how I worked in "back", "forward", "old" and "new"?) Back to Washington state, Australia, not-too-pricey California and some Oregon.

My wife loves this style, too, particularly Washington and Australian. These days, when I try to find an inexpensive bottle to open, I struggle a bit as all I have is higher-end stuff she'll like, and European wines she won't necessarly like. So embarrasing. I expect to load up on tried and true sub-$13 favorites including Columbia Crest, Jacobs Creek, Lehmanns, Jim Barry, Marquis Philips, Leasingham, Penfolds, Razor's Edge, and maybe even some Rosemount.

They say your wine tastes evolve toward more elegant old-world wines as you get older. Mine are; just not that fast.