Grilling season is fast approaching and even though the closest thing to a grill that I have is a small plastic electric thing that's big enough for 1 burger at a time and is made by a former boxer, I am always looking for some big spicy reds to compliment food from the grill. Luckily, I enjoyed a really fantastic red recently which was under $20. Needless to say that the winewallet was quite happy.
Montes Alpha Syrah '04 ($15.99)
This is a big red from a well know Chilean producer and is, from what I gather, in it's prime for drinking. A friend of mine picked up a bottle for me after a recommendation from a store clerk at a random wine store on Long Island (NY). Not one to just throw caution into the wind, I figured it couldn't be a total disaster at only $16 so I said, "sure, pick up a bottle for me." It took several weeks before either of us remembered that he actually had this bottle and then it was still a few weeks more before I even remembered it was hiding on my wine rack. I wasn't expecting much from this bottle but was pleasantly surprised upon the first sip.
It definitely has that all encompassing black cherry taste that you would expect from a syrah but since I'm not that familiar with Chilean syrahs, I was pleasantly surprised to also find a good deal of spice and body to this wine that reminded me of some of my favorite California Zins. If the Foreman could actually make room for a nice hangar steak, I'd definitely want to wash it down with this wine. In the meantime, I'll just stick to a veggie burger and a bottle of Rolling Rock.
