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The wine snobs tend to put wine on a pedestal, pontificating on one vintage versus another, spouting about soil quality, studying a wine's color, and making frightening beached whale-like sounds as they sniff and snort and swish. For many, this is essential to the enjoyment of wine and routine when a legendary bottle has been poured. However, no one should hold every wine with such high regard, nor should wine drinking always be that encumbering.

Once in a while, even the geekiest of geeks should be able to just sit back and enjoy a glass of inexpensive, unimportant wine without a thought of whether the vineyards had northeast exposure, or grew in fossil-rich soil, or went through a malolactic fermentation, or was aged in twice-used, toasted oak barrels from the Allier forest. In other words, a wine to drink without thinking about it.

One such wine is Borsao, a delightful red wine that retails for about six bucks a bottle and will match with almost anything. Sure, it comes from a region in Spain that no doubt has an interesting history. Certainly, the soil may include trace minerals dating to the Jurassic period. Maybe T-Rex once took a leak where the vineyards now reside. The point is, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Borsao is a good wine at a great price, and there isn’t much to contemplate.

Immediately after pouring Borsao into the glass, your nose is entertained with bright aromas of fresh red berries (raspberry), a chunk of vanilla oak spice, some black fruits and a hint of violet. But don’t waste too much time sniffing it and trying to figure out whether you smell the same things; drink it down! You’ll be rewarded with a soft and smooth, velvety texture, and flavors of rich vanilla oak spice and ripe red raspberry. If you care to pay attention to the finish, it will be quick, with chalky acidity and very mild tannins in the tail end. Bottom line: this is a very nice, spicy red wine that has a flavor profile that many people will find appealing. It also has just enough structure to match with a number of foods, without being the attention-grabber at the table (sometimes it’s nice if the food, or the company, is the center of attention). Enjoy it by itself, or try it with simple meat dishes: stews, meatloaf, burgers, sausage, meat-lover’s pizza, chili, tacos. A wine that won’t hurt your wallet, nor your head.


Send any questions, comments or wine stories to vinojoe@bullz-eye.com.