Category Archives: Price: 10 bucks or less

Price: 10 bucks or less

Trader Joe’s Wine Find: VINTJS Carignane 2013

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VINTJS Carignane 2013 label photoSometimes you just need a good cheap bottle. At this price point, I’ll keep it short and sweet.

This was a surprisingly tasty bottle of wine for seven or eight bucks!

Juicy and tense with with cherry-red berry notes on a light-bodied frame. An almost smoky note and a dry, tannic finish brings some welcome depth and interest. Not a flabby fruit bomb. The next time I’m at Trader Joe’s, I will definitely pick up another couple of bottles of this for the “open whenever” stash.

If you have a Trader Joe’s in your town, look for this on your next visit. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

(Don’t buy their salsas though. As a naturalized Texan, I can say every one I’ve tried has been no bueno.)

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VINTJS — a terrible, terrible name — seems to be a Trader Joe’s house label as I can’t find anything online about the winery. But varietal Carignane (which you don’t see very often – Cline Cellars does one that I’ve liked over the years) from a specific AVA (Mendocino County) makes this more interesting than the usual fodder of generic, cutesy-named “California” blends you usually find at this price point.

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #29: Merum 2009

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A quick-hit #MourvedreMonday wine…

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Merum 2009 Monastrell – Jumilla

Dried cherry, raspberry, mossy earthiness and dried flowers. Rich, but with good acidity. This tasty and interesting little Jumilla is 85% Monastrell and 15% Syrah and well worth the $10.50 I paid for it. Grab a bottle if you come across it and let me know what you think.

Price: 10 bucks or less

Laya 2010

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I tasted an interesting little wine recently, the Bodegas Atalaya Laya 2010 from Spain’s D.O. Almansa, a blend of 70% Garnacha Tintorera (which is Alicante Bouschet) and 30% our good friend Monastrell. I didn’t record any tasting notes, but I quite enjoyed it and thought it had a lot going for it at around $10. Wine Enthusiast names this a Best Buy in this Stars of Southern Spain article. (They mistakenly – I think – list it as mostly Garnacha rather than Garnacha Tintorera. It is confusing because the label says Tintorera, but the website says Garnacha. I choose to trust the label.) Also, check out this post on the wine at the Excellent Everyday Wines blog.

While it’s only 30% Mouvèdre/Monastrell, let’s make it today’s Mourvèdre Monday recommendation.

 

Image is of 2011, but looks the same as 2010. (source)

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #25: Luzon 2009 Jumilla

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I posted a photo of this wine bottle recently (via my Instagram account), but never commented on the wine itself. It’s a 70/30 Monastrell/Syrah blend from the Jumilla region of Spain. It sells for around $8-10. The nose is fresh, bringing red fruit with an herbal edge. On the palate, it’s like a black cherry Jolly Rancher dropped in rock dust. It’s not going to knock your socks off, but it delivered more interestingness than I expected for $8. Try it.

And I dig the label with the overlapping L-U-Z-O-N…

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Who Couldn’t Use a Nice $10 Ugni Blanc/Colombard Blend

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This one’s been floating around in my Giant Pile O’ Tasting Notes for a while, but never popped to the top. Maybe that’s because Ugni Blanc posts don’t promise much in the way of search traffic. [Caution: Blogger navel-gazing] Third-tier grapes are one thing, but combine it with a yawn-inducing appellation like VdP des Cotes de Gascogne and a supermarket price point and you might as well be writing in invisible ink. So file this one under If You’re Reading This You’re An Honorary VINEgeek.

 

 

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Another Great Value Sauvignon Blanc from Chile

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My cellar has been running low on everyday whites, so when I saw this bottle of Montes Sauvignon Blanc at Costco recently, I grabbed it. Chilean Sauvignon Blanc has impressed me in the past and Montes is a very reliable producer up and down the price scale. This wine is from their “Limited Selection” line and at $9.99, the price was right.

I unscrewed it tonight with a Meatless Monday dinner of pasta with fresh corn, grape tomatoes, garlic, scallions and parmesan.

Lots of parmesan.

Montes Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Leyda Valley

Producer

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Leyda Valley (Chile)

Vineyards: Labeled as “Leyda Vineyard” — presumably a Montes-owned vineyard within the Leyda Valley appellation.

Vintage: 2010

Winemaking: no oak or malolactic fermentation

Alcohol: 13.5%

Price: I got it for $9.99 at Costco. Regular retail is around $15.

Tasting Notes: Crisp, lemon pith acidity cuts through the plump tropical fruit. It’s also got that green, fresh-cut grass character that I love in an SB, plus a bit of minerality at the core. It all comes together to give the sense of a wine teeming with lifeforce, like some magic elixir you could pour upon the earth in a moonlit glade and conjure an Ent. (OK, that was a weird reference).

Overall impression: I think this is a dynamite bottle of wine at $10. Great for a refreshing summer sipper to buy by the case. If you are Costco-deprived and you find it closer to $15, it’s still a good deal. VINEgeek approved. Strong B+

Free association:

Image credit: matildaben via Flickr

More info:

90 POINT ALERT: This wine was well-reviewed by the big publications, receiving a 91 from Wine & Spirits and a 90 from Wine Enthusiast.

 

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

With a Name Like Stickleback…

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Tuesday night I opened a bottle of Stickleback Red 2008 from the Aussie winery Heartland. It was a Costco grab that intrigued me with it’s mix of grapes: the back label says it’s a blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Shiraz, 5% Lagrein and 4% Dolcetto.

Tastes more like 100% Smuckers.

This is a major dark berry fruitbomb. If that’s your thing, this wine is a bargain at around $10. It delivers a lotta JAM for your HAM…ilton. (groan)

It was way too much for my Taco Tuesday dinner, but actually worked pretty well with dessert — a super-sweet s’mores-like brownie thing. If you’re into drinking red wine with chocolate (me: not so much), this might be your new favorite wine.

I really wanted to like this because of the unusual blend, not to mention the oddity of Lagrein and Dolcetto in Australia at all, but this wine just isn’t a style that appeals to me these days.

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Finca el Origen Malbec Reserva 2008

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The photo above is of the BBQ pit at Smitty’s in Lockhart, Texas, one of my absolute favorite BBQ joints. This fire sits practically in the middle of the hallway as you enter and the smell in this little room is heavenly. Put this place on your bucket list.

Image credit: jstorer via Flickr

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Tasting notes: Practically glowing red at the rim. Bright berries and plum on the nose, with a heavy aroma of wood smoke and ash, like in an old-school Texas BBQ joint. The wine is a bit simplistic on the palate, with spice-sprinkled red fruit. Medium-bodied, with dry tannins and a very satisfying sense of earth and stone on the finish.

Overall impression: At $10, this is VERY solid. B

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CORRECTION: The country of origin was originally mislabeled as Chile. It has been corrected to Argentina.