​If you watch "Real Housewives of New York", you've been introduced to Ramona Singer. This fascinating woman is best known for her crazy bug eyes, shreiky voice and ability to put away Pinot Grigio like a drunken sailor on shore leave. The only time this woman is filmed without a glass of Pinot Grigio in her hand is when she's helping market the family business of religious jewelry (yes, you read that correctly). 

It actually stands to reason that Ramona would release her own Pinot Grigio. According to the distributor's website, Ramona's Pinot Grigio is "made from 100% Pinot Grigio - grown in the hilly Veneto region of Italy, the home of Romeo & Juliet".  The $13.99 per bottle price tag makes it well priced to consume mass quantities - just like Romana does.

Video of Ramona Singer after "about 46 Pinot Grigios" after the jump.

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​With the official start of Florida lobster season on August 6 and hordes of amateur bug hunters loosed on the unsuspecting critters during the two-day lobster miniseason last week, it seemed as good a time as any to start thinking about what wines to pour with your seafaring bounty. 

Whether you catch your Panulirus argus in the waters off the coast or in the fish counter at your local market, these five wines will complement it as nicely as drawn butter. From full-bodied and fruity to crisp and racy, they are....More >>

​"OK, Mister Tight-With-a-Buck," I hear you ask. "What's the cheapest wine you know of that doesn't suck?" 

So maybe you didn't really ask. But I'll tell you anyway. 

It's the nonvintage Rene Barbier Mediterranean Red and White. I've already touted Barbier's white wine -- a blend of Xarello, Macabeo, and Parellada -- in this space before. But I can just as enthusiastically recommend the bright, tangy, surprisingly nuanced Med Red, which, like the white, can be found for as little as $4 a bottle going all the way up to the princely sum of  $6. 

It tastes like its blend of Merlot (55 percent) and Tempranillo (45 percent), with the former's ripe, accessible plum-berry fruit and the latter's tannic backbone and hints of olives, anise, and earth. And with its medium to light body and modest (nowadays, anyway) 13.5 percent alcohol, it's as pleasant a wine for sipping as it is a willing partner to foods from burgers to roasted chicken. 

It's a wine even Mister Tight-With-a-Buck would buy by the case.

​If there's a wine made for South Florida summers, it's rosé.  

With a flavor profile that encompasses light strawberry-raspberry, subtle floral-violets, and tangy lemon-orange, it plays well with food ranging from burgers to grilled fish. And its light body, relatively low alcohol, and general absence of oak make it easy drinking when summer's heat and humidity can melt the skin right off your bones. 

The French have had a lock on this style of rosé for about a million years, but I recently tasted an Italian bottling that puts its own spin on this ideal summertime wine. It's the 2008 Centine Rosé, a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot grapes that offers those smoky-dusky nuances I find characteristic of Italian wines with a hint of minerality and tart strawberry-orange fruit. 

It's quite crisp and refreshing and not at all sweet, and at around $12 a bottle, it's an affordable pleasure. It can't make the season's heat and humidity go away, but it can make them a bit more tolerable.

The Hahn family of Monterey, California, has quietly developed one of the more impressive small portfolios of wineries in the state. From the ubiquitous Cycles Gladiator brand (banned in Alabama because the label reproduces an 1895 poster of a naked woman) on the low end to Smith & Hook and Hahn SLH Estates on the high end, Hahn wines deliver a winning combination of quality and value. 

​I've bitched before about how difficult it is to find an affordable Pinot Noir that doesn't taste like cheap Merlot or a soup made from old sweat socks and discarded vine trimmings. So finding out that Hahn's 2008 Monterey Pinot Noir not only sells for a quite reasonable $12 but offers real varietal character in a very agreeable and food-friendly package. 

The cool-climate Monterey appellation doesn't let the grapes overripen, so along with the requisite bright-tasting California fruit you also get hints of cloves and anise and violets, plus just a touch of the earthy funk that's an homage to the superlative wines of Burgundy. Combined with judicious amounts of oak, silky tannins and a good acidic backbone, you've got a wine that drinks way above its price point. 

That's probably enough to get it banned in Alabama too, so I guess they'll have to stick with warm Coke.

​If you're boning up on your ABCs--Anything But Chardonnay--you might want to add the letter "V" to your lesson plan. That would be "V" for "Viognier." 

It's a grape that offers a lot of what Chardonnay lovers love: ripe tropical and stone fruit, big and bold flavors, rich and creamy mouthfeel. But it's also got something more: seductive aromas and flavors that suggest honeysuckle, orange blossom and fresh-cut flowers. Of course, those alone could be interesting for a few sips until they grew cloying, but the best Viogniers support all that richness with a backbone of citrus acidity that keeps you filling up your glass. 

Unfortunately, many of those Viogniers that definitely do not suck are just as definitely not cheap. Like Pinot Noir, Viognier is a finicky grape, relatively low-yielding and susceptible to diseases. While is why $7.99 for the very well-made and quite delightful Oak Grove 2009 Reserve Viognier is a deal good enough to make you put down that Bud and run out to your local wine shop PDQ to take advantage of. 

It delivers all of that rich, ripe floral-tropical-honey-apricot flavor of its more expensive cousins, while keeping it honest with lemon-orange acidity and the slight tang of oak. It's a particularly good match with spicy or garlicky dishes, as well as lighter meats like chicken and pork off the grill. And eight bucks! That's A-OK.

​Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing. 

For example, a million or so years ago, when I was living in the Sonoma wine country, my bimonthly trip along Westside Road in the Russian River Valley usually turned into the Zinfandel Tour. Davis Bynum, Hop Kiln, Mill Creek, Dry Creek, Lambert Bridge, all of them poured Zins that exemplified California winemaking at its best. 

They were big suckers, for sure, tasting of ripe cherries and blackberries, with spice and pepper and smoky notes, hints of earth and brambly vines. But they had balance too, and reasonable alcohol levels. Unfortunately, like American cars, they grew fat, flabby and stupid, with 15, even 16-percent alcohol, and so much thick, jammy, overripe fruit they were better suited to spreading on your breakfast toast. 

Then I found the Ravenswood 2008 Vintners Blend California Zinfandel and I was almost cruising Westside Road again. It's a helluva bargain at 10 bucks, dishing up all that spicy, peppery fruit and dusky, earthy undertones, in a finely balanced, food-friendly package that clocks in at a now-saintly 13.5-percent alcohol.  

Nostalgia  has rarely tasted this good.

​Here's a tip: The next big white wine thing will be. . . Torrontes. 

Oh, probably not. 

But it should be, because the Torrontes grape makes a quite lovely, easy to drink, affordable wine that's particularly suited to the South Florida climate and palate. Think a less complex but still engaging version of Spain's famed Albarino, with beguiling floral, honeysuckle aromas and mouth-filling flavors of peach, honeysuckle and tropical fruit. 


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​Everybody's looking for a good deal on wine nowadays, and anybody who's been paying attention to the wine market knows that some of the best deals around are coming from Latin America. Or to put it more succinctly, Chile and Argentina. 

The quality of their grapes, skill of their winemakers and overall affordability have attracted such heavy hitters as Robert Mondavi, Kendall-Jackson, and Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Also Hahn Family Wines, which produces an array of quality wines, from inexpensive Cycles Gladiator to upper-crusty Hahn SLH Estate. 

Hahn's latest entry comes from Chile, the line of Copa Del Rey wines (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). I haven't tasted my way through all of them yet, but I just popped the cork--actually, unscrewed the cap--of the Copa Del Rey 2008 Chardonnay, and got a nice, big hit of all that ripe, juicy fruit that Chile is known for. What really makes it, though, is once that lush pear-vanilla-tropical fruit flavor passes, a crisp, citrusy acidity takes over, creating a wine both rich and refreshing.  

At $12 a bottle it's a pretty good deal, especially if you like the riper style of California Chardonnays but don't want to be drinking something that tastes like mangoes soaked in grain alcohol. On the other hand, if you like that sort of thing, there's always a mango-tini.

Say "Italian white wine" and almost everyone will say "Pinot Grigio." 

Blech. 

​Most Pinot Grigio, Italian or otherwise, is to wine what Bud Lite is to beer -- watery, tasteless, insipid stuff made for people whose palates cringe at the thought of anything with, you know, flavor. So, instead, next time somebody says "Italian white wine," say "Orvieto." Or more specifically, Antinori Campogrande 2008 Orvieto.  

Orvieto is one of Italy's better known white wine-producing appellations, located in the regions of Umbria and Lazio. The Antinori is a blend of Grechetto, Procanico and Malvasia Bianca, whose pale golden color belies a seductive richness with a palate-cleansing crispness. On the nose there's green apple, lemon-lime and melon, but on the palate it's a mouth-filling mélange of tropical fruit, citrus and apple, with a fine lemony finish. 

There's a lot going on with this wine for a very reasonable $10, all the more reason to say "Orvieto" instead of "Blech."