Best Wines I Tasted in October 2021

December 11, 2021 0 By Alan Evans

October 2021 was a lighter drinking month for me, with me only tasting and rating 17 wines. I was still lucky enough to find 3 fantastic wines that I am delighted to share with you. The first one is an old favorite, a Santa Rita Hills pinot noir that I loved in the past, and was excited to try again. And again I was delighted to find that I still love it. The other two are fun bubbly white wines that are great values and unquestionably delicious.

I hope you heed my recommendations and seek out a few of the below wines to try for yourself and let me know what you discover!

1. Etude 2016 Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir from Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California – I think Etude is premium winemaker and does a great job of crafting high quality Pinot Noirs. Their Fiddlestix Vineyard wine is one of their best and approachable examples. This wine is superbly balanced with all the great flavors that are typical of a Pinot Noir, delicious red fruit, earthiness and a gentle oak finish. It is also a great value for such a delicious and well balanced Pinot, with you can commonly find for under $50.

My Vivino notes: 4.5 stars – A great example of Pinot noir. Smooth subtle tannins medium plus acid. Lots of red fruit flavors with some earthy notes and a well balanced oak finish. Great wine at a good value.

2. Espiral N.V. Vinho Verde White Wine from Northern Portugal – This wine is just plain delightful and fun to drink! It is also an absolute steal at $5 from Trader Joes! (I have purchased 5 cases for future drinking!) It is a beautiful wine in a gorgeous green bottle and an eye catching label. The wine inside is as good and refreshing, as it looks from the outside. It is great to take a chance on an interesting seeming and cheap wine, because every once in a while you will find a true gem like this Vinho Verde.

It is a perfect daily drinker. You can open a bottle and it can sit in your fridge for a couple days and still taste delicious. Because of its floral and citrus flavors, minerality, slight effervescence and crisp acidity, It pairs well with so many foods, including light cheeses, fresh and roasted vegetables, fish and chicken. It is truly a must try, because if you like it anywhere near as much as I do, you just found a wine you can drink any time and save some keesh as well!

My Vivino notes: 4.5 Stars – Great value wine. On the sweeter side with delicious floral, citrus and stone fruit flavors along with a nice minerality and hint of effervescence. Crisp with Medium plus acid. And a long fruity finish.

3. Vincent Caillé N.V. X Bulles from the Loire Valley in France – This was another fun bubbly that I found at Satellite Wine Bar in Santa Barbara. It has a nice flavor and mouthfeel, making it delicious as a sipper or it can pair wonderfully with a fancy salad or roasted veggie dish. I think it is as good as many other higher priced French sparkling wines, but comes in at a much better value (around $25). The X Bulles is a PetNat or methode ancestral sparkling wine, meaning the bubbles are formed by primary fermentation in the bottle. I find that this style typically produces a more complex flavor in young wines. It is also the same method that I (kinda) used to make my 2019 sparkling riesling and used to make my 2020 sparkling Viognier.

This is a great example of PetNat, with a pure, complex and delightful flavor profile, with no major faults.

My Vivino notes: 4.5 Stars – Delicious sparkling wine at a great value. Missing a bit of crispness that would take this wine to the next level. Medium acid dry wine. Stone fruit, slight citrus and honey notes.

A note to put “BEST” into context: I am judging all the wines I drink based on their quality (flavor and balance) to value ratio, which is aligned with how I rate wines on Vivino.

Each wine I score is based on a 5 star scoring system, and I take into account the wine’s quality, uniqueness and deliciousness compared to other similar wines within a similar price range.

Only wines for which I have scored 4 stars or greater, and I deem worthy of sharing with others are included in my monthly favorites.

You can find all of my other favorites wines from past months here.

Cheers!

– Alan Evans