WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Wines under $10’

The label alone on this bottle of wine should have been a clear indicator that the 2008 Fat Cat Cabernet Sauvignon was one tune worth overlooking in the catalogue of hot licks in the California Cabernet aisle.  However, I’m a lover of all jazz music and if you tell me that you’re one ‘Fat Cat’, then you better Blow Daddy!  You dig?

The 2008 Fat Cat Cabernet Sauvignon had a cornball taste:  like that old-fashioned, cherry-vanilla syrup soda pop I used to get on the boardwalk as a kid. 

2 Stars out of 4.  A lot less noodlin’ and more variation in its chording is needed for this cat to really wail.

Price: $9.99

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I’m generally a happy person and appreciate the little things in life, but recently I’ve been in a wine rut of sorts.  My wife and I have hit a rocky patch of late with lots of “iffy” and “marginally acceptable” Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the under $15 category.  In hopes of finding a cure for what’s been ailing us, I decided to pull the WineLife365 bus into California to find salvation in two youthful Cali Cabs:  the 2008 Grayson Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon ($10.99) and the 2008 Butterfield Station Cabernet Sauvignon ($9.99). 

Unfortunately, on this night, the 2008 Grayson Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon ($10.99) and the 2008 Butterfield Station Cabernet Sauvignon ($9.99) were not meant to be our rescuers from this rut.

Both Cabs possessed only a moderately pleasurable, single dimensional red cherry focus with very little of anything else displayed.  In all fairness though, the 2008 Grayson Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon ($10.99) was a tad more complex:  it did showcase some milk chocolate notes that actually paired nicely with my Poor Man’s Chef dessert of sliced strawberries over top of a chewy chocolate chip cookie, drizzled with Hersey’s chocolate syrup. 

Sadly, the 2008 Butterfield Station Cabernet Sauvignon (I hate to say it) narrowly escaped banishment to the WineLife365 basement.

2 Stars out of 4.  My quest to quench continues.  If you have any recommendations for a Cabernet Sauvignon, under $15, that will rock my world and make my taste buds holler – I’d love to hear about it!

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As I was drinking the 2004 Oriel Setena, the 2007 Vina Gormaz Tempranillo and the 2007 El Jamon Tempranillo, one word that came to mind:  Kryptonite.

All three of these red wines are products of Spain and all three tasted like minerals and rocks to me – more specifically, wet metallic stone.  Not that I’ve spent much time with rocks in my mouth, but there was an almost flinty kind of thing stirring around that completely overpowered any fruit and spice components that these wines might have possessed.  Although I embrace the infinite tastes and qualities offered by different types of wine, I have to admit that I’m a bit challenged by this characteristic.  For now I’ll keep an open mind, but in the case of the 2004 Oriel Setena  (MSRP $18.50*), the 2007 Vina Gormaz Tempranillo ($9.99) and the 2007 El Jamon Tempranillo ($9.99), the metallic quality was acting more like kryptonite robbing these wines of their ‘super powers’.

2 Stars out of 4.
* Sample

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The 4th of July Holiday happens to fall on a Sunday this year, which for many means a much deserved 3-day break (Woo Hoo!).  This long Independence Day Weekend also means heaps of charcoal, an avalanche of meat being charred on the grill, ice-cold beer, smoking funny things and drinking copious amounts of cheap wine in the backyard with your favorite people in the whole wide world!

When it comes to cheap wine these days, the choices are endless:  One can choose from boxes, jugs, magnums – heck, there’s even wine that comes in a one-gallon paint can!?  And it’s all right there in aisle 10, waiting to be picked for one long and twisted weekend with some good friends.

One of my most recent and pleasant discoveries in this aisle of broken dreams was the 2007 Ampakama Syrah from San Juan, Argentina.  For those who wouldn’t dare drink wine from a box or touch a wine bottle with a screw cap, fear not, it comes packaged in a 1.5L glass bottle with a real cork closure!  It sells in most parts of the US for less than 10 bucks, and the best part – it actually tastes pretty darn good!

The 2007 Ampakama Syrah is a bottle rocket of juicy red-berry flavors fueled with a respectable amount of black pepper and herbal spices.  My only complaint is that it comes up a tad short before the expected big finish.  Nonetheless, the 2007 Ampakama Syrah is far from being a dud and should rise to the occasion with anything off the grill, or whatever else you’ve got cooking in your backyard this weekend.

3 Stars out 4.  For what works out to be less than $5 per 750ml, this juice ain’t half bad!  BTW – the 2008 is also a safe bet.

So…What inexpensive wines are you bringing to the BBQ this 4th of July weekend?

Cheers!

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