There are some decent German wines out there as well – as long as you are looking for whites. The German reds we tried on a recent wine tasting were “deeply colored, rich, and sour” and “thin in color, weak in flavor, but tolerable.” I’m no oenophile – my descriptions are technically lacking, for sure.

Honestly, the German strawberry wine and, are you ready, asparagus wine, tasted better than either of those reds. I did buy half a dozen bottles of a nice white but left four of them for my other daughter (Army spouse living in Germany) because that stuff is heavy when you try to drag it home in your carry on luggage.

“2003 Hallgartener Mehrholtzchen Riesling Spatlese” if anyone cares. Umlauts omitted, because I’m lazy.

From Friday’s “Tastings” column:

Concha y Toro ‘Casillero del Diablo’
2005 (Central Valley) $7.49 Very Good
Best value. Some flowers on the nose. Lovely, clean and classy. A hint of varietal grassiness, but a great deal of restraint. Real finesse.

Their regular “Frontera” jugs of this grape are an outstanding bargain at about $6 per 1.5 liter. Not their best stuff, but better than 95% of the stuff available for under $10 per bottle. The article mentions New Zealand and South Africa as other places where this wine is done right; I would add Washington to that, and throw in the milder, more floral “fum√© blanc” (same grape, different style) from California, and the excellent Sancerre and its relatives from France.

When our first child was born, we went from wine with a vintage year to wine with an expiration date. It’s not that way now, but I can still find a very good $10 bottle. Finding a mediocre $50 bottle is a lot easier.