Those of us who love cheap wine were devastated last year when when Randall Grahm sold his Big House brand. Big House red, white and pink were some of the best $10 wines in the history of $10 wine.
How would Grahm replace Big House? And would the new wine be any good? Yes, and quite emphatically so. (And I’m officially embarrassed to have doubted one of the most interesting winemakers in the history of American wine.)
Grahm has released three wines under the Ca del Solo label –- a sangiovese, a muscat, and an albarino, each for about $15. In fact, these may be better than Big House (even allowing for the higher price). The sangiovese, with lots of dark fruit and a touch of Italian style not often found in California, is one of the best sangioveses made in this country, regardless of price. The albarino, made with the Spanish grape, is cleaner and more interesting than many Spanish albarinos I’ve tasted, while the muscat has a wonderful balance between sweetness and acid, with very bright orange fruit.
Though each wine has national distribution, it’s not in Dallas yet, and the distributor isn’t sure when the five cases allocated for this area will arrive. Your options? Check with your local retailer at the end of the month or order on-line. Grahm made just 8,000 cases total, only 1/50th of the old Big House production, so there isn’t a lot to go around.
