Filed under: Uncategorized
Nothing flashy here, but I’d call this a solid Chianti to go with any Italian food. If it has tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and cheese, this wine will pair up nicely. It’s essentially a punched-up version of the house wine from any Luigi’s or Dom’s or Whoever owns the Italian restaurant in your home town. When you ordered that 500 ml carafe of house wine, this is what you wanted–not that cardboardy grapejuice throatburner your waiter dropped off. Upfront, this wine is big and juicy, but it fades pretty quickly–however, sip it quickly and who cares.
Rating: 74
From:Probably any large grocery store
Price: $9
Filed under: Red Wine
To borrow a word from the marketing departments of large US breweries–this wine embodies ‘drinkability’. It’s packed with intense dark fruits, but has a rather light body. Each sip goes down easy and lingers. It has the mouthfeel of a summery wine, but the intensity to pair with winter stews and pot roasts. It’s long-lived too–we had this bottle open for 3 days and it continued to open up without a taint of vinegary or oxidized flavors.
Rating: 78
From: Trader Joe’s
Price: $6
Filed under: Red Wine | Tags: Cabernet Suavignon, Grenache, Spain, Syrah, Tempranillo, Wine House
A light-medium bodied wine with the clean mouthfeel and taste of cranberry juice. It is nicely spiced and herbaceous with rosemary dominating the bouquet. The finish is lengthy and has the tingle and wonderful bitterness of grapefruit. I am really getting into these Spanish wines–the blending is fantastic. It is hard to beat 35% Garnacha, 30% Tempranillo, 25% Syrah, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Rating: 80
From: Wine House (Westwood, CA)
Price: $9.99
Sickly sweet with notes of something volatile like paint thinner or solvent. This offensive flavor eased after being uncorked for a couple days, but still rather undrinkable. Leathery finish as the winemaker writes on the back of the bottle, but he lied about the rewarding part.
Price: $5.99
From: BevMo
Rating: 56
Filed under: Red Wine | Tags: Cabernet Suavignon, California, Grocery Store
Many people have praised this wine as good ‘bang-for-the-buck’–I was honestly not too impressed. I thought it was too thin and never developed a satisfactory mouth-feel. The sweetness that dominates the beginning of the sip never gives way to more interesting flavors. This is the red wine that would be served at a local bar–something simple and with a critter on the label.
Price: $9
From: Grocery store
Rating: 62
Filed under: Red Wine
I got the Garnacha/Grenache gene from my dad and I predict this wine will get his approval too. It hits with the boldness of espresso and finishes slow and spicy. For me, the well structured tannins really make this wine. I bought this bottle during a nice sale at zachys.com–my new favorite wine store. Although shipping wine can get pretty expensive, they sometimes have free shipping. I would definitely take advantage of an oppurtunity to get some great wines from this store.
Price: $10-14
From: Zachys (but widely available at wine stores)
Rating: 76
I tried this bottle at Border Grill in Santa Monica and loved it—turns out it’s a great deal. This blend of Tempranillo and Grenache rings of tart cherries, but doesn’t wear out your mouth with puckering. It lets up at the right moment and soothes with soft tannins. Rioja is usually a good bang for your buck and I definitely recommend this one.
Price: $9.99
From: Available at BevMo
Rating: 78
