The Silver Spring Penguin

No one wants to admit they like boxed wine. There’s just more dignity in chugging vino out of a long, slender glass bottle than an overgrown juice box.

But buying a good bottle in this economy can put a ding in one’s weekly food budget, requiring some practical thought. The average 1-liter bottle of wine can cost $20 to $30. Compare that with the average wine box, which costs just as much but holds 4 times the volume — equivalent to four bottles of wine. Do a little math, and that overgrown juice box is tough to beat.

The trick is finding a Chateau Latour brand within a Carlo Rossi budget. A good starting place is downtown Silver Spring’s county-owned liquor depot, which carries 3-liter boxes of Pinot Evil for $23 each. The cartons of French Pinot Noir — that red made made famous in the movie “Sideways” — are imprinted with a sketch of (what else?) a trio of monkeys, each covering its eyes, ears and mouth. The box’s tag line: “A guilty pleasure”.

Courtesy of Flickr user Moltron 3030

Clever name aside, there’s nothing bad about this wine. Pinot Evil is light and fruity, with the distinct flavors of cherries and plums found in most European Pinot Noirs. (By comparison, its cousins from California and Oregon have a darker, earthy taste.)

It’s an easy-to-drink red for the occasional wine drinker, with almost none of the bitter taste of tannins found in reds like Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the course of a week, one carton of Pinot Evil washed down everything from a spinach and feta pizza to leftover Chinese food. Indeed, it’s a great “pizza wine”— one that doesn’t need a fancy dinner to be enjoyed.

Sure, the alcohol tastes a little strong on the finish and overpowers the fruitiness. And fans of more fruity Pinots might find Pinot Evil’s flavor watered down. But it’d be tough to find a bottled wine that’s more durable: The box of Pinot Evil reviewed here never surrendered its freshness, despite being tapped regularly over several days.

Hands down, a great go-to wine. It’s good to be Evil.

Maggie Ardiente is The Penguin newsroom’s sommelier and writes for the blog “Wine For Your 20s”.

Photos courtesy of Flickr users Moltron 3030, Carrie Loves Puppies and Just Karen.

The wine list at Mrs K’s Wine Press is heavy reading: 12 pages, with more than 50 different wines per page. It can be overwhelming.

But if you’re totally confused, wine director Spiro Gioldasis can hook you up.

“If you’re planning to have a glass of white, I’d recommend our special tonight—a bottle for only $20,” Gioldasis offered on a recent visit to the Toll House’s million-dollar cellar. The place recently canceled a Spanish wine-themed dinner and had wine to spare.

So Gioldasis brought over a 2006 Montesinos Macabeo Jumilla, squeezed from white grapes grown on the plateaus of Rioja, Spain. The region has a reputation for putting out excellent red wines, using mostly aromatic tempranillo grapes. But as a budget-conscious blogger, the $20 bottle of white sounded like a deal.

And a good deal it was!

The wine had a distinct apple scent, strong enough to swarm through the sinuses. Its chilled, crisp taste carried smoothly through a dry, slightly acidic finish. The wine paired nicely with Mrs K’s mesclun salad, topped with crumbled blue cheese and candied walnuts ($7), and its subtle hints of pear fused nicely with the sweet pears in the salad.

Wine newbies would find the Montesinos Macabeo Jumilla very easy to drink, and it would work perfectly for outdoor parties on the deck. Or enjoy it within The Wine Press’s rustic European setting, among its brass candelabras on oak barrels, and the black-and-white photos dotting the exposed brick walls.

Can’t empty the bottle? Have it recorked and enjoy it at home.

The Wine Press at Mrs. K’s Toll House, 9201 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, (301) 589-3500

Maggie Ardiente writes wine reviews for The Penguin and for her own blog, Wine for Your 20s. She lives in downtown Silver Spring.

Lead photo courtesy of Flickr user Rob Wallace.