Cheap wine thread....

[cami89]

I LOVE Almaden Red Sangria - it's in the $10'ish range for a box. It's a red wine and is sweet.

 

[deide71]

Ravenswood Red Zinfandel - $12- my favorite

I second that vote. Also, Guigal Cotes du Rhone, around $10-$12.

 

[castlehappy]

I love Beringer White Zin.................
can anyone tell me what is "icewine"??

 

[java]

Icewine is a sweeter wine. I think it is a dessert wine. Never had it, but I might have to try it.
And thanks to everyone for the great ideas!!

 

[gottaluvdis]

Icewine is a sweeter wine. I think it is a dessert wine. Never had it, but I might have to try it.
And thanks to everyone for the great ideas!!

You are correct - it's a very sweet dessert type wine. It's excellent and tastes a lot like honey. Canada has several varieties available in my area for decent prices. It's the type of wine you sip in small amounts after dinner. I have a bottle in the fridge right now. I believe ice wine originated in Scandinavia, but I'm not 100% sure. They make it from frozen grapes to my knowledge.

 

[BensMom]

First of all, white zin--YUK! (sorry, I just don't do pink wines, at least since high school).

Red zin, okay!

Sin Zin or anything by Chateau St. Michelle, the cab is great (except it is over $10 a bottle), but outstanding for the price. Columbia Crest blends are very drinkable and well priced.

 

[tlbwriter]

You are correct - it's a very sweet dessert type wine. It's excellent and tastes a lot like honey. Canada has several varieties available in my area for decent prices. It's the type of wine you sip in small amounts after dinner. I have a bottle in the fridge right now. I believe ice wine originated in Scandinavia, but I'm not 100% sure. They make it from frozen grapes to my knowledge.

This is what I learned in my beverage industry class, but of course the grad assistant who taught it could have been full of crap. "Ice wine" (eiswein) is a German wine made after the first frost, when the grapes have been frozen. It is very sweet, and more expensve than other styles. If you like sweet wines, German wines are a good bet. One rule of thumb is, the longer the classification name, the sweeter the wine. For example, Spätlese would be sweet, Beerenauslese is sweeter, and Trockenbeerenauslese is sweetest. Again, this could all be a bunch of hooey, so if anyone can correct me I'd appreciate it.

Hi, I love wine, but I know nothing about it at all, lol. I don't buy it, its usually when we go to friends house for dinner and I have a glass. I know I like a sweet wine, fruity maybe. I've tried red wine and I don't really care for that. So....I'm sorry if I'm sounding like an idiot, but what is the difference? Can you give a recommendation of what I should purchase? We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner so I need a good (inexpensive) wine that is sweet and fruity If that makes sense. Lol, I'm just so confused!

A white zinfandel would probably be your best bet; they tend to be sweet and fruity. I'm kind of a peasant when it comes to wine. In fact, my favorite wine of all is Riunite Lambrusco. You'd probably like it - it's red, but it's *very* sweet (I've been told they add corn syrup to it! ). If your guests are more into wine than you are, stay away from the Lambrusco and serve a white zinfandel instead. Berringer is a good one for non-afficionados like you and I, and it's very reasonably priced.

 

[molly2004]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but it has the be Charles Shaw (two buck chuck from Trader Joes). You can't beat a $2.99 bottle of wine ($1.99 in some parts of the country). Another fabulous one is believe it or not, Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot 2002. A 90 point wine! $9.99!

 

[liamandcaili]

For a cheaper Chianti...Rocco delle Macie. It's around $10 and tastes almost as good as the ones I've had for $20.

For sparklers...Spanish Cava is a great deal. I haven't had a bad one yet and some I would swear were decent champagne. Even the widely available Freixenet (around $7) is good.

For white...gruner veltliner from Austria, sauvignon blanc from South Africa and Antinori white table wine from Italy, and Trimbach pinot blanc from France are all usually under $10 and are tasty.

For red...my parents like Red Truck, I had a blend from Abundance Vineyard that was good, Cotes du Rhone and beaujolais are great for summer. I also really enjoyed rose this summer...Chateau Flaugernes makes a good one and it's around $8.

I have the WSJ wine column to thank for a lot of these...I never would have tried Cava or South African wine without their recommendations.

 

[BCVOwner2002]

My favorite wine is Beringer White Zinfandel, about $8.00 a bottle. LOVE it!!

Have you ever tried Copperidge? It's really good. Annmarie

 

[tyurachek]

We live near a store called "dirt cheap cigarettes and beer" . They sell a variety nicknamed 30 dime wine. Thats right 3 bucks a bottle! Kind of tastes like welches grape juice after a week or two in the sun. Its cheap and it gets the job done.

 

[leight]

Just came back from Publix they have a sale on wine- got Covey Run Syrah for 7.99- and 1.50 off of chopmeat! And my fav cheap chardonnay- (it tastes like a blend of Chard and Chenin Blanc) Talus Lodi Collection on sale for 6.99 with a coupon for $2 off! Bought myself 2 bottles. A local wine store COrk & Olive has wine tastings all day and the 3 times I was there I always chose the same Chardonnay- but it was a boutique wine from Washington, I think and it tastes like the Talus Lodi CHard- but it's more like $15 a bottle. So I am happy!

 

[JodyTG]

One of my and DH's favorite wines is Riuniti Lambrusco and it's really cheap. It's a slightly sparkling soft red wine that you serve chilled. You can also usually find a pretty cheap German Riesling, which is a type that we also like. We usually drink more expensive German wines though with a few Italians thrown in here and there. We don't drink American wines, especially not Californian, so I can't really help you with those.

 

[barbeml]

We live near a store called "dirt cheap cigarettes and beer" . They sell a variety nicknamed 30 dime wine. Thats right 3 bucks a bottle! Kind of tastes like welches grape juice after a week or two in the sun. Its cheap and it gets the job done.

Love your description!

 

[PrincessKitty1]

What a great thread!!

DH's current favorite relatively-cheap red wine is Coppola Merlot for $14/bottle (yeah, not cheap, but relatively cheap--great taste for the price). The other grocery-store merlots we like, all for $10-$15/bottle, are Sterling, Chateau Ste Michelle, Lohrs. One or two others I can't recall.

For chardonnay, I like Sterling (around $10).

DH and I are taking a wine tasting class (we take one every few years to get out of whatever wine rut we are in --we have been in a chardonnay-and-merlot rut for the last few years), so last night we splurged a little on a couple of bottles of Italian wine--San Angelo Pinot Grigio, and Ruffino Chianti Classico Reserva.

My guilty pleasure is drinking cheap white zinfandel by the glass at Don Pablos! Besides the Manichevitz I had at a college roommate's Passover Seder, white zinfandel was one of the first wines I ever liked.

 

[Forever a Princess]

This is a great thread.

Here's another vote for the Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay. We had this with our Turkey Dinner today. Yum.

 

[Breakfast@Tiffany's]

Trader Joe's, Trader Joe's, Trader Joe's! It's about a 40 minute drive for me, so when I go, I stock up. I'm not a wine snob, I just want good tasting wine and have never been disappointed with the selection at Joe's. And they usually have a wine person there who can answer questions if you don't want to take a risk.

 

[Jsme]

We need to bump this thread up a little

 

[bop28]

I agree, let's see if we can attract some new responses.

 

[PatriciaH]

All under $10 a bottle here:

Rosemount Shiraz
Rosemount Grenache/Shiraz
Guenoc Petite Sirah
Guenoc Unfiltered Chardonay
Ravenswood (love the reds)