Carlo Rossi Burgundy California Table Wine

[Chinon00]

On a budget in this economy I bought a 1.5 liter of this to splash around with my pasta dinner tonight not expecting much. Surprisingly it did exactly what I often want wine to do; plainly compliment the food. It tasted nothing like "Burgundy" but it was much drier and simpler than I thought it would be. Not that I thought it would be complex or anything but I figured it would have a general "off flavor" taste and/ or a weird finish which it simply didn't have.
Wine doesn't have to be "art" to be serve purpose does it? By that I mean the wine didn't amaze me by any stretch it simply served a purpose and quite well, like comfortable shoe.

[monkeyrotica]

I do prefer Carlo Rossi's Burgundy to Paul Masson's, but my favorite is the "White Grenache" which makes an excellent spritzer. I've also taken up Lancers and Mateus; cheap, simple, with a good clean taste and no nasty bumwine finish.

[RicRios]

Fooling around, I tried the Guru's notes on Carlo Rossi, expecting zippo.
But lo and behold!

NV Carlo Rossi Burgundy (4 Liter Jug)
A Medium Dry Red Table wine from
California, USA


Source : Wine Advocate # 117 Jun 1998
Reviewer : Robert Parker
Rating : 81
Maturity : Drink: N/A
Current (Release) Cost : $8 (8)

Surprise, surprise! This light ruby-colored wine is off-dry, with surprisingly good fruit, an agreeable cherry, Beaujolais-like nose, light to medium body, and a clean finish without excessive quantities of cloying residual sugar. There is vibrancy and liveliness to this "Burgundy." This wine offers considerable value, but purchasers are advised to serve it in more handsome carafes than its original packaging.

(Reviewed because it is one of "America's Best Selling Wines" - according to retailers and/or the trade magazine Impact. )


posted with permission of eRobertParker.com
Copyright © The Wine Advocate, Inc.

[Gussie Finknottle]

No reason why a cheap wine can't be an honest, clean and enjoyable drink.

But why call it 'burgundy'? That's not honest.

[PolarBear]

E&J Gallo started that decades ago here in the San Joaquin Valley. I understand that their gallon jugs of "Hearty Burgundy" in the early days actually were Pinot. It was a very decent drinking and cooking wine at a great price.

[Scott M]

I expected it was called 'burgundy' due to the color rather than the varietal

[rickdeutsch]

Chinon, I'm late on reply but you are right on...a simple pasta and Rossi Burgundy for a quick match is like salt and pepper. But it is really great for cooking when you don't feel like using $$$

[comestible]

I'm glad you found a drinkable jug. There's a local guy who hosts concerts and afterwards serves jug wines that literally make me ill from the first sip or two.

[Chinon00]

I wasn’t expecting such an insightful response to my post. To be clear the thrust of my post wasn’t a celebration of jug wines per se but rather a desire to highlight a simpler functionality of wine generally. I think too often wine is given an honorific position on the table; when maybe at times it should be allowed to have the same significance as the salt and pepper.

Thank you

[triggs73]

well said well put