Sommelier Tries 20 White Wines Under $15 | Bon Appétit

i always tell people the wines that you're most excited about trying like you try them at the beginning of the night where you're conscious and you're aware and like you can appreciate them this wine is not bad maybe this is the last bottle of the night that you have i mean it'll still get you there you know what i mean i'm andre mack aka mouton noir aka the black sheep at the world's finest restaurants i've poured some of the most elite wines money can buy but that's not what's happening today i have 20 wines behind me all 15 and less and i'm gonna show you how to walk into a store and pick out a great one [Music] i guess the biggest thing that i like about white wine is that it's refreshing there's something about it it's uplifting it's bright it's singy you know wine is is this thing of like exploration expanding in broad near horizons so with this worldwide adventure of white wine we definitely can't leave out new zealand they make some of the most recognizable most beautiful sauvignon blancs this is from marlboro new zealand this is called the koha and this is 20 20. what you'll find in these wines is like just this uncomparable like grassy notes they also describe it as this thing that they call cat pee right that doesn't sound real desirable but it's it's really a big distinguishing note i think they also call it gooseberry nothing in wine when we talk about descriptions or are literal you know when we talk about cherries stone fruit peaches all of those things there's none of those elements that exist in the wine it's just you know aromas that that you smell i believe that senses trigger a memory and so when you smell this wine it does kind of smell like cat pee which i know is not good doesn't sound good nor do you want to put it in your mouth but trust me these wines are immaculate and these are great it's refreshing it's just like bright grassy herbaceous grapefruit if you're looking for new zealand sauvignon blanc this is one you should try all right now we're off to italy and we have a little prosecco here this is called figo prosecco is sparkling white wine from italy from the prosecco region it's kind of gained a whole bunch of popularity i think all of you out there bawling on a budget we've had this before you know sparkling wine to me is is festive it's always a sign of a party a celebration flutes even though they look cool and all this other kind of stuff they kind of don't really let you enjoy it the way that you're supposed to enjoy wine or be able to evaluate it the fact that it has a very small top i can't put my nose in it uh this to me is a better way to to enjoy sparkling wine is just a standard white glass smells lovely lemon lime peaches slight hint of mint this is not sweet definitely ripe fruit you know it's got good acid so if you're looking for a celebratory white wine you know you can't really go wrong with any type of prosecco i think most people there are for you know the popping of the champagne the celebration and nine times out of ten they're just gonna pour orange juice in it let's give it a lemon for citrus i'd give it a sparkle yeah that's about it our next stop in italy is gavi so this is called masera and this is gavi from the gavi grape this is 2019. look at this thing so this is a twist off better known in the industry it's called a stealth enclosure these actually cost more than natural cork but they are more environmentally safe it feels very wonderful get like white flowers green apple there's definitely a citrus component there this is a beautiful delightful wine so if you like pinot grigio or any of those type of light style white wines you know i think the next step for you agave is a good place to go and any of those coastal towns in italy that make these really great white wines that's probably another step in the right direction in branching out and getting wines that over deliver so we're still in italy we have a little palo scoffino this is called ceriso this is 2019. this is from lange a region within italy and this is a little bit of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc and violet before we taste this one you know a lot of people shop front label it's always turning on the back to see who the importer is that's a kind of a surefire way to shop back label so you could do skurnik another one is no rosenthal a really huge famous one is kermit lynch and those guys go out in the world and they have you know their own ethos for the people they want to work with and you know they have a standard of quality so shopping back label is also an option as well so right off the top you know i'm smelling herbaceous grassy notes you know that would be the sauvignon blanc violets very floral and generally that would be from vioni it's got pretty decent mouth feel very rich that would come from the chardonnay the chardonnay gives the wine structure that's a great wine you know it's like if you like chardonnay with a little something else extra to it i feel like at 15 and under they could easily sell this wine for 30 or 40 bucks it's really top-notch it's incredible incredible i don't know just say three unicorns so we have the 2018 this is pinot grigio from the cupcake vineyards what's interesting about this i think we all kind of know cupcake at least you know to my best of my knowledge i associate it with it being an american wine brand but this pinot grigio is actually from italy smells slightly oxidized and when i say that it smells like cooked apples seems reduced slightly not at all what i was expecting it's really rich and round sweet it tastes like there's some residual sugar in the wine this is like kind of like a heavy-handed pinot grigio is there a smiley face with the like with the like wavy mouth just do that and give let's give it a cupcake so next up we're back in the good old united states of america this is pinot grigio from washington state and it's from the bueller family this is called daisy 2019. the world famous pinot grigio i think it's something that we've all encountered is probably some of our first wines that we've ever tasted [Music] first thing i smell here is like fresh cut grass i do smell like honey do melon melon and as i look at the back of the bottle here this wine is labeled as pinot grigio and by law it only has to have 75 of pinot grigio in it in order for it to be labeled whatever the main grape is in the front there's also a smattering other grapes in here there's some sauvignon blanc hence that's probably where i'm getting all that those grassy notes from and then riesling and riesling is known to smell like petroleum and that's where i'm picking up this petroleum jelly so it's not a bad thing it's just something that's in the wine [Music] it's pleasant but it's a totally different take on pinot grigio it's like herbaceous like it's like eating like a herb salad with you know lemon lime dressing like with a little bit of vinaigrette i think this is a great wine i think it's a great variation and gives you something different emoji for this wine there's melon herb a smiley heart face is that what they call it you know one of the hearts in the eyes yeah yeah moving right along our next lineup is blue quail this is savion blanc 2019 from mendocino county so this is from california it's got a wonderful screw cap so we can just get the party started [Music] wow definitely herbaceous green pepper there's a little bit of cantaloupe at the end if i'm thinking about looking for a great sauvignon blanc it should be crisp it should have acid i know when i say acid people kind of cringe and you know they don't know what to think if the wine tastes like vinegar then you know it's too acidic right then it's then it's gone bad this one has great acid i don't think it's out of balance with anything else it's pretty perfect there is some minerality in this wine do they have a rock emoji maybe rock emoji if not we you know we always use the easter island guy all right so we are now on to the next wine and this is actually from new york this is from the finger lakes this is herman weimer vineyard and this is their field blend so it's a blend of a couple different grapes but what they're listening here is riesling which the finger and eggs are known for and chardonnay which i feel is kind of a weird mashup but intriguing nonetheless weird color almost kind of looks neon as a little bit has like this glow to it the wine has a lot more body than i would expect from a riesling and so i think the chardonnay is kicking in chardonnay being a bigger bigger style grape i feel like this a lot of the structure from the wine comes from chardonnay it does have some pretty beautiful aromatics this wine's a stunner i'm pleasantly surprised chardonnay and riesling i wouldn't have thunk it and this one's kind of out of this world i'm buying all of you the swine for christmas all right moving right along next wine oh look at this it's the recipient of the gold medal from the denver international wine competition this is barefoot pinot grigio and so you know my take on all of this is like anything that has a gold medal or metal sticker on it kind of not cool i'm already that makes me skeptical i'm looking at the back of the bottle there's no vintage you know so this wine can be a mixture or blend from different places and then also it says pinot grigio american on the back so it doesn't give any designation it that it came from a pacific state there's lots of different things that a label can tell you just not like a little cute image of a foot here it tells you where the wine is made so the simple fact that this just labels this wine as american leads me to believe that the quality is suspect right if it said california then that gives you a little bit a better clue but the more specific they can get about where the particular grape comes from the better quality that you have in the bottle so i'm smelling it i smell grassy notes i smell lemon lime i do smell a little bit of like cotton candy that's sweet it's not as sweet as i thought it would be a little too sweet for my liking you know it reminds me of just being a kid and after you ate your fruit cup you know that fruit cocktail there was the juice left in it and you would drink it that's what it tastes like to me i mean i like that stuff for what it was but this is a i don't know if i want that quality in my wine it's not bad i've had worse if i'm already drunk you know maybe emoji what's the the is the person that does that what's that man holding hand out and maybe a lollipop so next up we have kendall jackson this is the vietnamese reserve chardonnay this is from california 2018. this is the name that we all know it's one of the big players in the wine industry first off lots of tropical fruit pineapple papaya a little bit of green mango get lots of like kind of luscious vanilla and that's due to the yolk it's not over the top buttery and rich in that style this kind of just kind of just like just swap it's like hits you right in the mouth you know i think at 11 i think you can find some other great interesting wines at that price point but if this is your jam this is your jam and eleven dollars you know it works and now we're off to france so this is a little pick pull pine try to say that fast 2019 and this is from domatia my take on french white wines they're they're lovely and some of the best ones are from the most obscure regions that you've never heard of or a mouthful to say green apple there's a little bit of pear peaches violet the wine is flinty almost slightly smoky great acid that's a nice little banger right there this this wine is like smoking if there's one thing that you will hear me say over and over again is make sure you cultivate a great relationship with a wine store they're always going to bring you to something that they're personally excited about and this is kind of a little known region and people in the industry they kind of like the coveted champion those things they would lead you right to this one all right so we're going to go ahead and continue our tour through france with some of the regions that you might not be familiar with this is from the eastern part of france this is from domain lobby and this is abby's bees something like that if you're not familiar with those words i mean neither was i 10 seconds ago right so you know what i mean like there's always new stuff and things that you don't know in the wine business to be a master is to forever be a student is that corny just want to give it a whiff i always just whiff it's out of habit working in restaurants you always give it a quick sniff to see if you smell any off odors wet cardboard wet dog things that are faults in wine all right we're going to swirl oh wow this is uh really got like this chalky minerality to it uh peach it's definitely some citrus lemon lime oh man that is like electric lemonade really bright really vibrant the chalkiness of the minerality kind of gives off like this oxidative kind of quality to it but the wine's not oxidized minerality is a desirable trait in a wine a lot of people when we talk about terroir and the sense of place a lot of that's tied back into the mineralities that are found in the ground the elements you know whether this wine was grown on you know chalky soil or volcanic soil those all impart different minerality and flavors into the wine all right this is muscade sorle and this is from jerome chablae i've never heard of the producer but i'm very familiar with the region these are one of my favorite dry white wines from france this is everybody's oyster wine green apple fingernail polish remover which is not a good thing it's not a good thing at all so the good news is that i don't taste it on the palette this is pretty solid this is pretty decent if you look on the label it says sorley and that means that the wine has been aged on its leaves and this is the process that they've done in this area for a long time that you know produces these really kind of like not rich style wines but they definitely have this really beautiful mid palette backed by like you know acid and mineral i wouldn't be mad at anybody if they bought that to the oyster party it's good stuff all right so we're switching to gears here we're going to the land down under so now we're in australia this is 2019 yellowtail chardonnay this wine is readily available everywhere and inexpensive too i think wow this is like lots of vanilla lots and lots of lots of vanilla almost kind of smells sweet it's peach that is like a fruit cocktail it is really big really rich it's sweet it's ripe i can be honest i can see why people like that or tastes like kind of a soft drink ish in that in that realm lollipops don't they have a can of candy emoji you know i don't know if they have a cream soda but this is exactly what it tastes like all right so now we're off to portugal and this is called the las livas and this is vino verde so green wine from portugal so vino verde is a unique wine region located in the northern part of portugal that makes these very delicious high acid white wines that are exported all over the world and i'm anticipating here something light airy great acid something to not think a lot about it smells very fresh like the ocean clam shells this tastes great you know i'm thinking like oyster shells pear apple just a little bit of lemon and lime so not that this is the most complex wine in the world and that's not what you pay for here you know this is a wine that you just open the top pour it's delicious it's refreshing it's not much to think about um and sometimes that's a great thing all right so now we're off to germany we have this beautiful riesling this is sloss laser this is riesling 2016 from tomas hogg so we got the fluted bottle that germany is famous for riesling is interesting right because it used to be german riesling used to be some of the most expensive wine in the world more than protruce and all those wines that are talented today german wine recently in particular generally you're looking for it's going to be off dry off dry means i mean sweet classic on the nose german riesling is kerosene petrol so you're going to get kind of like this gas smell yep smell it right away that's a good thing that's great it's like unripe pear green apple petro just a little bit of like lemon zest it does have some residual sugar it's sweet but it's not chlorine it's got really great acid to kind of offset the sweetness of the wine so it finishes dry to eat french fries and old german riesling or young german riesling gives me much joy much joy i won't even front mcdonald's french fries like you know and riesling it's like emoji a big big smiley face showing teeth all right so now we're going all the way to south africa this is the eusteinberg shinen blanc and this is from pearl so that's a region within south africa you know i think on your wine adventure it could take you all over the world white wine from south africa why not right it's something that they do great it's another expression of of a world famous grape you know these are what the cool kids are drinking shin blanc oh yeah you can definitely smell it right on the nose a little bit of ginger uh there's honey grapefruit [Music] pretty full body i wouldn't expect it to be this full but it is from south africa so it's a little warmer definitely a kind of a style i like it's not all the way say some of the shin and blanc that's being made in california which is a lot warmer but this is kind of a nice medium in between all right next up is spain this is a spanish white wine called altos de olivier 2019 and this is a blend of a grape called aryan and savion blanc looks interesting see the clear bottle here baked apple straight off the back lemon this has this crazy aromatics you know i when i talk about savion blanc we're talking about herbaceousness but this has this also has like this kind of crazy floral note to it [Music] it tastes like muscat gummies from like pearl river this wine is not bad you know it's got a creamy texture it's ripe you're strapped for cash just trying to have a good time maybe this is the last bottle of the night that you have all right continuing on with spain here we have the castillo del san diego this is a palomino fino this is 2019. this is some of the grapes that are used to make sherry i think you know this i'm attracted to this particular one because i'm a wine geek there's no other way to put it knowing something about this particular region and this grape you know sherry is you know an oxidized wine and you definitely get this on the on the nose right at the beginning when i talk about oxidized it just means that the wine has been like exposed to air a little bit over a long time and it kind of has like this matted kind of taste to it and smell almost kind of not burnt somewhere between burnt and caramelized [Music] this has more body than i thought it's full it's rich it's got decent acid kind of finishes with like this kind of caramel popcorn taste at the end this is just you know pure joy from expiration like just exploring wine like but like i said it probably needs a little bit of hand holding but i'm stoked but this is this is really great i'll give this let's give it the horns right which is this this is a rock star like this rock on it's a rocker all right so we are at the final stop of this journey and that's going to be in austria this is setzer this is gruner veltliner 2019. dry white wine great acid it became the darling of the sommelier set because it was kind of one of the first wines that you could pair with asparagus generally like white wines kind of fold like a cheap chair when uh when paired with asparagus there's something about them that make the wine taste tinny and gruner veltliner was the savior of asparagus and wine it's kind of a signature call or hallmark with a grape oh man great acid this is beautiful it's refreshing it's pretty spot on when you think about you know textbook gruner veltliner it was great all right so here's some key takeaways for shopping for white wine you know i think the most important thing is be adventurous step outside of your comfort zone drink lots of different wines things off the beaten path things that you don't think you like that's just going to make you have a better palette that's just going to make sure that you're tasting wines and really enjoying the wines that you like next don't be afraid to shop back label build a rapport with the importer turn the bottle around follow an importer drink their portfolio let them do all the hard work for you and lastly look for great varietals that you know you know that's a great way to kind of shift uh your perspective you know i you know that you like chardonnay but maybe you know choose chardonnay from south africa or from some other place just to give you a different perspective a lot of producers have gone through the trouble of listing the great varietals on the back just to clarify and to have some type of transparency all right so 20 white wines under 15 in the books some of them great some of them not so great but i did have a favorite and my number one pick was from italy this is the paulo scovino this is the cerriso this wine is great actually it's awesome it's one of the best white wines i've had all year not only today what makes it unique i mean it just has texture it has body it has soul a lot of those qualities just don't come in a bottle of wine under 15 bucks that's what makes it you know amazing you know it makes it stand out right there's there's nothing like it just from the first sip i could tell you that it was going to be better than all the other wines all right that's 20 white wines down 20 red wines down looking forward to the next 20. ideally i'd like to take you through the whole tasting just with emojis i'm working on it you're like are you drunk

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Keywords: andre mack, wine tasting, sommelier, sommeliers, sommelier andre mack, tasting wine, wine, white wine, andré mack, andré mack 2021, tasting white wine, white wine tasting, andré mack interview, andré mack bon appetit, bon appetit andré mack, andré mack wine, andré mack tries, andré mack tastes, sommelier andré mack, andré mack sommelier, taste wine, cheap wine, cheap wine tasting, tasting cheap wine, expensive wine tasting, how to taste wine, food, bon appetit

Id: SC4BXKsVEsw

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 10 2021