10 Wines For $10 or Less That Won’t Disappoint!
The economy may not be too rosy these days, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop drinking wine. It just means that you need to make wiser buying decisions!
I’ve assembled my current Top 10 House Wine Favorites that I guarantee will put a smile on your face and a few more greenbacks back in your wallet.
1.) 2008 Cave de Pomerols Picpoul de Pinet HB (France) – A perennial house favorite of mine. This wine retails in most parts of the world for about $8.99 a bottle. It just might be the most versatile inexpensive white wine on the planet.
2.) 2008 Domaine de Bernier Chardonnay Vin De Pays (France) – The French are truly remarkable Chardonnay makers in my opinion. How they can tame the unruly beast known as Chardonnay and bottle this delicious and elegant tasting wine for $7.99 is beyond me.
3.) 2008 Domaine Des Cassagnoles Vin De Pays (France) – There are many great wine secrets in France – Gascony, which is located in southwest France is one of them. This white wine is utterly superb for $8 a bottle.
4.) 2008 Inca Torrontes / Chardonnay (Argentina) – This white wine is not for everyone, but this interesting 80/20 blend is fresh, current, and flat out dynamite with Tex-Mex and/or spicy foods. The best part is that this adventure into the great unknown will only set you back $8 bucks – Ca-Ching!
5.) 2009 Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc (Chile) – It doesn’t seem to matter what the vintage is for this wine. The folks at Cono Sur have been making outstanding inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Riesling, for years and lots of wine drinkers are taking notice. At $7.99 a bottle, it’s a phenomenal value!
6.) 2007 Altovinum Evodia Old Vines Garnacha (Spain) – My gift to you – You will be scratching your head for days wondering how this spicy number is only priced at $9.00.
7.) 2007 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz / Cabernet (Australia) What more can I say, besides that Penfolds makes outstanding red wines whether it’s their cheap stuff like this one or their “ultra – premium” Grange. Remarkably consistent year in and year out, this $8.99 Aussie standout is a ridiculous no-brainer.
8.) 2007 McManis Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (USA) – I had to flip a coin between McManis and Columbia Crest Vineyards in Washington State. Both McManis and Columbia Crest make terrific value reds, but the McManis line-up packs a bit more punch for $10 bucks.
9.) 2007 Bianchi “Elsa” Malbec (Argentina) – I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little down on Malbec as a whole in recent years. Carmenere from Chile’s Maipo Valley has really captured my attention. However, this Malbec is just as good or better than any Chilean Carmenere that I’ve tasted in the $10-12 dollar range, but this particular Malbec will only set you back $8 bucks.
Apologies for the stock photo. I forgot to take a picture before drinking!
10.) 2007 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha (Spain) – This red wine, my friends, is one of the greatest red wines on the planet – at any price level. This has been my “go to” wine so far in 2009. It’s an amazing red that many industry insiders have known about for years. Do yourself a favor and buy a bottle and see for yourself why the so-called experts rave about it. One disclaimer however, this wine does break my $10 threshold. Unfortunately, you’ll have to ante up a whole .99 cents more to taste the brilliance of this Spaniard. But I guarantee you that the extra .99 cents that you fork over for this beauty will be far better than anything off of the McDonald’s $1.00 menu – trust me!
One final note, don’t get too hung up on the vintages that I’ve listed above; these 10 wines consistently hit it out of the park year after year!
Enjoy!
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Couldn't agree with you more on the Las Rocas, I honestly don't know if I could name a better QPR wine. Carey and I share more of this wine than any other—unbelievable consistency, and I dig the whole black and white label thing. Eric Solomon is the man!
It's been our house red as well when having guests over, and everyone loves it! Hopefully the price won't creep up as it becomes more popular and widely known.
Thanks a lot for the great list. I look forward to trying some of these out very soon. You can never have to many good $10 wine options.
Thanks for visiting Ben and let me know what you think of them. Cheers!
Drinking the Picpoul De Pinet tonight. Really enjoying it. I will definitely look to buy this one again. Great value wine.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback! It's definitely a house favorite of ours.
[...] describing the 2008 Altovinum Evodia Old Vines Garnacha. I discovered and fell in love with the 2007 Altovinum Evodia Old Vines Garnacha last year. But oh, oh, oh, oh – the 2008 edition is truly something special and just pure [...]