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do you know there are some excellent boxed wines out there. No, I don't mean Franzia at $10 for 5 liters, but try some of the 3 liter boxes that run closer to $20 or $25?
If it's going to take you a while to drink a bottle of wine, you should either be buying boxed wine, invest in a wine saver or buy half-bottles.
There are so many good wines out there at every price range. I recommend finding a store with knowledgeable staff members and asking for suggestions. There is no shame in saying you don't want to spend more than $10 on a bottle, in fact I would guess most of the employees drink cheap (but good) wine themselves most of the time.
For an every day go to wine, I like Rex Goliath Pinot Noir ($6/btl). I also like Alamos Malbec, and Ravenswood Zin. A bit more expensive, but still affordable Duckhorn "Decoy" cab, Hall Cab, Angeline Pinot Noir.
I'd suggest looking for Austrialian, Spanish and Chilean wines for bargains.
You may consider one of the wines of Tuscany? Brunello di Montalcino is often listed among the world's best wines, but I actually prefer Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It's similar to the Brunello, but generally contains small amounts of varietals other than sangiovese (Brunello is 100% sangiovese) and isn't aged for quite as long. The Vino Nobile is also considerably less expensive than the Brunello (you can probably find a decent bottle for $25).
Each of these wines also have a little counsin: Rosso di Montalcino and Rosso di Montepulciano. I've enjoyed many Rosso di Montepulcianos, but have generally found the Rosso di Montalcino to be overly sour and tart. You can probably purchase Rosso di Montepulciano for as little as $12-15 and it's a wonderfully balanced dry red wine.
There was one month we spent about $3,000 on alcohol.
I once had some customers (a mother and daughter) that brought dozens of small cosmetic items through my checkout line. I don't remember what the final total came to, but there was some kind of problem, and the mother (who, as I recall, just screamed "trailer trash") got all upset, because "we spent two hours picking this stuff out!"
As for my favorite red, well, wine is a very occasional drink for me. It's the "hardest" stuff that I drink, and I mostly stick to the "lighter-than-beer" flavored malt beverages (Seagram's Escapes, B&J, Smirnoff Ice, etc., which I get only once per week).
I guess my favorite red wine is a Merlot (I forget the brand), but I've had only a few sips of it. I'd have to drink more of it to be sure.
As for other wines, I've bought some very small bottles to try out, and...they're okay. I'm not a huge wine fan. I also once bought a cheap bottle of...strawberry-flavored (I think) wine from a convenience store and drank it all in one sitting, er, standing (some of it by itself, some of it mixed with whatever was in the fridge). It was pretty good.
I'd like to try some more wines in the new year, such as Yellow Tail and Coppola.
I've spent the better part of the last decade focusing on wine value as we can no longer afford to support keeping a cellar of better Calis (used to have a decent collection when we both had good jobs). Had our minds blown on a trip to Oz a decade ago. Paying pennies for solid wines that would cost 4x-5x as much here (PA). So I went to a wine merchant in Sydney, spent $20 on a tasting, created a palate profile, then bought something like 54 bottles for US $700, spent $300 to ship them here and probably saved $2000 in the process.
I've also brought in wine from trips to Italy and Bulgaria that blow away US domestics in terms of price/value. Unfortunately you can't buy most of those in the US as they're from small producers.
So I don't buy California wines much these days. Lately I've focused on find some pretty good wines coming from South Africa. For an everyday wine, I find Stormhoek to be a better value than Yellowtail. I've also had very good premium wines from Ernie Els (yeah, him), Tokara and Stark-Conde.
Living in PA means we don't have access to actual wine merchants. We have to deal with what the state offers for distribution - there are no wine experts here who can sell direct. But when I'm visiting family in NY/CT, I do visit merchants and just take recommendations on what they've got for 'value' wines. For instance Zachy's in Scarsdale bottles a house 'vin du pays' red for under $10 that is really good for most applications. Back when I lived in CT/MA I also belonged to a wine club that offered some really nice wines at fair prices from mostly French vineyards that didn't have distribution deals in the US. Found a lot of delicious wines that way at not much cost. Unfortunately clubs are illegal in PA.
I guess the ultimate point of this post is that is a) you can find a lot of good stuff exploring non-traditional varietals and origins, and b) if you like wine, don't live in PA, lol.
If it's going to take you a while to drink a bottle of wine, you should either be buying boxed wine, invest in a wine saver or buy half-bottles.
There are so many good wines out there at every price range. I recommend finding a store with knowledgeable staff members and asking for suggestions. There is no shame in saying you don't want to spend more than $10 on a bottle, in fact I would guess most of the employees drink cheap (but good) wine themselves most of the time.
For an every day go to wine, I like Rex Goliath Pinot Noir ($6/btl). I also like Alamos Malbec, and Ravenswood Zin. A bit more expensive, but still affordable Duckhorn "Decoy" cab, Hall Cab, Angeline Pinot Noir.
I'd suggest looking for Austrialian, Spanish and Chilean wines for bargains.
Rex Goaiath is one of our favs as well, but it is closer to $7 here; I have never had Alomas Malbec. And yes, wines from Augtrailtan, New Zealand and Chili are great quality for just a few $$s.
... Back when I lived in CT/MA I also belonged to a wine club that offered some really nice wines at fair prices from mostly French vineyards that didn't have distribution deals in the US. Found a lot of delicious wines that way at not much cost. Unfortunately clubs are illegal in PA.
I guess the ultimate point of this post is that is a) you can find a lot of good stuff exploring non-traditional varietals and origins, and b) if you like wine, don't live in PA, lol.
I was astonished at the list of states that do not allow direct importation of wines through clubs. Some, I understand. Utah, for one, and where I now live (Oklahoma) plus where I used to live (Arkansas). But Pennsylvania and Massachusetts surprise me, maybe they're trying to save their own industry. (BTW, PA has some decent wineries [Lehigh Valley and Brandywine trail, among others] that offer good wines at an affordable price. Not Russian River or Carneros or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but not swill, either.)
An appellation worth exploring for affordable, unpretentious good-quality reds (aside from Chile) is Temecula/ South Coast (California); the tempranillos there are excellent and affordable. South Coast, Hart, Callaway, Ponte all have very worthwhile tempranillos if you can find them, as well as cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon's "father".
As mentioned, Argentina and Chile produce high-quality, low-cost reds (Malbec and Carmenere are what they're better known for, respectively).
The major varietals (cab, zin, merlot, pinot noir) are all well-represented in any mega-mart, but I like to sample those other varietals as well, such as petit sirah, carmenere, aglianico, and mourvedre. They can be quite the nice surprise.
I was astonished at the list of states that do not allow direct importation of wines through clubs. Some, I understand. Utah, for one, and where I now live (Oklahoma) plus where I used to live (Arkansas). But Pennsylvania and Massachusetts surprise me, maybe they're trying to save their own industry. (BTW, PA has some decent wineries [Lehigh Valley and Brandywine trail, among others] that offer good wines at an affordable price. Not Russian River or Carneros or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but not swill, either.)
An appellation worth exploring for affordable, unpretentious good-quality reds (aside from Chile) is Temecula/ South Coast (California); the tempranillos there are excellent and affordable. South Coast, Hart, Callaway, Ponte all have very worthwhile tempranillos if you can find them, as well as cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon's "father".
As mentioned, Argentina and Chile produce high-quality, low-cost reds (Malbec and Carmenere are what they're better known for, respectively).
The major varietals (cab, zin, merlot, pinot noir) are all well-represented in any mega-mart, but I like to sample those other varietals as well, such as petit sirah, carmenere, aglianico, and mourvedre. They can be quite the nice surprise.
One company was finding a way to get around this, here in AR, but we stopped the club for awhile, so I don't know if they will now say; sorry, can't do it. The good news, this may change, when we first moved to Texas in 1988 they had the same outdated laws, but no longer...
Had my first Malbec with dinner last night and I really liked it. It was probably a lower end line as the full bottle was only $32 . I believe it was The Gambler, anyway thanks for the recommendation. Ill be trying many of the other rec's very soon.
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It was probably a lower end line as the full bottle was only $32 . I believe it was The Gambler, anyway thanks for the recommendation. Ill be trying many of the other rec's very soon.
