This week on October 10 the folks at Wines Til Sold Out are having another Cheapskate Wednesday. Be sure to check it out at winestilsoldout.com.
They did this a couple months ago and I picked up a few bottles of Casa Catelli Negroamaro that I wrote up last month. I was really pleased with the wine and I had no problems with delivery — everything was packaged well and delivered promptly.
If it’s the same as last time, Cheapskate Wednesday will be a marathon type event starting Wednesday at midnight with 48 wines for $6.99-$15.99 each.
The event starts Wednesday at midnight. From 12:00am to 9:00am there will be a new wine presented on the site each 30 minutes. The wines will not change even if they sell out. At 9:00, am the wines will be replaced when sold out, or every 30 minutes, whichever comes first. This will last until 6:00pm. The balance will stay on for 30 minutes each until 11:59 pm.
They begin with a wine for $6.99 and progressively add more expensive wines, up to $15.99 and then repeat the process until all the wines have been posted. They have purchased a good amount of each wine, so there shouldn’t be a frenzy. Every wine offered is displayed with a picture of the label and a description, as well as rating (if available).
Have fun!
In a recent issue of Wine Spectator they were reviewing Californian pinot noir and listed Castle Rock Sonoma County 2006 as one of their best values. Given that it is only $15, I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t try it as a part of my quest for good, cheap pinot noir.
Castle Rock produced pinot noir from five different regions in 2006, but the Sonoma County is the only one I’ve come across.
I found the Castle Rock Sonoma County Pinot Noirto be a decent pinot noir, but I think you can do better for the price.
It has cigar and red raspberry aromas. Blackberry, vanilla, and cherry on the palate with a nice spicy kick. Soft tannins and a smoky aftertaste. I found it a little bit acidic. Spectator gave it an 86 and my numbers came out to an 85. (what’s the difference of 1?)
Wine: Castle Rock Sonoma County
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.8%
Rating: 85
Continuing my quest for a good, cheap Pinot Noir I picked up a bottle of Italian pinot. Mezzacorona Pinot Noir comes from the Tretino region of Italy. It’s a simple Pinot Noir that I found rather boring.
There is nothing bad about this wine other than a lack of complexity and underwhelming characteristics. The nose is mostly cherry with some floral aspects. The palate is rather like cherry Kool-aid (only not quite as sweet) with a nice peppery acidity. The spice was the one thing I liked about this wine. It finishes quick-to-medium with the same lack of complexity.
I picked it up for $7.99, which is a decent price.
Wine: Mezzacorona
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 78
I would like to tell you that my quest for a good, cheap pinot noir is going great. I’d like to tell you that I’ve found so many tasty yet inexpensive pinots that you have the world to choose from. But if I told you these things, I’d be a liar.
I knew it would be a tough challenge to find good, cheap pinot noir and that is proving to be the case. I’ve found a couple decent bottles, but this is not one of them.
Tonight I check out Three Thieves Pinot Noir 2005 from Rebel Wine. And it’s another mediocre pinot. Oak, leather and black pepper are predominant on the nose with some black raspberry hiding in the brush. The leather is so strong is as if I’m holding a brand new wallet under my nose as I smell this wine. The palate brings black raspberry and strawberry to the table, but in a very subtle way. A touch of spice, but not enough. Slightly bitter finish. Lacks varietal character.
I ordered a pizza and it made a decent pizza wine, but it’s nothing I’d get again. I picked this bottle up for $9.99… which for all you non-math folks that’s equivalent to $7.50 for a normal 750ml bottle of wine.
It’s easy to spot Three Thieves wines on the shelf as they come in these cute little one-liter jugs. I’ve read a couple good reviews of some of their other wines and I want to like them, but so far no luck. I’ve tried the Three Thieves Unoaked Chardonnay for another tasting and wasn’t thrilled with that one either.
Wine: Three Thieves
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 82
A constant internal debate I have with wine choices on this site is whether to pick wines that are distributed widely enough that just about any reader can find them or just focus on those hidden gems that you should scoop up if you’re lucky enough to come across them. Ultimately I try to do a bit of both, and this is an example of a widely-distributed, easy-to-find wine. Unfortunately it is also an example of a sterile, mass produced wine that exudes no character.
The wine I’m talking about is Woodbridge Pinot Noir 2005 by Robert Mondavi. Woodbridge Pinot Noir comes from vineyards near Limoux, in France’s Languedoc. What is somewhat peculiar about this is that Limoux is really known for white wines, not Pinot Noir. In fact, Limoux claims to be the birthplace of sparkling wine.
As far as the tasting of the Woodbridge Pinot Noir goes, it’s not a bad wine. It’s just kind of lame. It has good color and a nice bouquet but the palate is seriously lacking fruit. The tannins are OK. It’s slightly too acid in my opinion, but more than anything, it’s boring… no complexity. It also has a rather low in alchohol level at 12.5%.
It only cost me $7, but I can think of several other wines that will treat me better for my seven bucks. The numbers came out to an 82, which means it’s a drinkable wine but nothing special.
Wine: Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 82
Just a few days ago I was commenting on how it amazes me that with shipping costs and all we are able to get inexpensive wines all the way from Australia. Well that may not be the case for long, but not because of shipping costs, drought is the culprit.
Australia has been suffering its worst drought in more than a century and the wine industry predicts grape production to be cut in half by the drought. This means that by the law of supply and demand, Australian wine prices will be going up.
This is a big change for Australia, where for the past few years we’ve seen a glut of wine grapes resulting in good cheap wine available worldwide.
While it’s bad news for consumers of inexpensive wines, it’s worst news for Australian wine grape growers, many of whom may be driven out of business by the drought. Read more in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Aside from driving up prices, the other side effect of the drought is that the wine that is produced is likely to taste different. The drought is creating vines with smaller grapes that have higher sugar levels and lower acidity. In some cases this could be good, in some cases bad. Read more in The Australian.
And my own two cents… even if you don’t normally drink Australian wines this could impact your pocketbook. Again, I go back to the law of supply and demand. If we see a dramatic decline in the quantity of Australian wine entering the market, that will drive up demand for wine from other regions and consequently drive up prices for wine from all regions. Yikes!
Get out your Che Guevara t-shirt, it’s time for a revolution. Pinot for the People is the latest slogan from Mark West Winery, a company that is focused on creating good, cheap Pinot Noir. I love this concept and I love this wine.
Cool Marketing
You may have noticed that I occasionally reference the marketing behind the wines I taste. Well… I do more than drink wine, I’m a marketing guy. And as such, I pay particular attention to how wine producers market their products. I have to say that in the case of Mark West, I like the product and the creative. (I know some of you non-marketing folks think I just made a typo, but I didn’t. In the marketing world we call the end result of what you see “creative.” It’s a noun in my world.)
I like the marketing that I’ve seen for Mark West, but that’s not to say I don’t have some critique of it. The whole Pinot for the People revolution-esque marketing campaign is fun and interesting, but only appears to be on their website. The theme isn’t carried out in their packaging. The packaging is very neutral, safe and more dignified than the website. Perhaps they don’t want to scare people in store with a label that’s too kitchzy.
My other complaint is that their website seems incomplete. Too much stuff isn’t working. There’s no link on the logo to get you back to the Home Page. There are several items listed under “propaganda” (bottle shots, logos, etc.) that just aren’t linked up. It’s close, but they need to spend a few days tightening things up.
Who Is Mark West?
There doesn’t seem to be a real dude named Mark West that has anything to do with this wine. Alex Cose and Derek Benham run the show there. These are also the guys behind Rock Rabbit Winery and Avalon Winery, all under parent The Purple Wine Company. Who is Mark? It’s not a who, it’s a where.
The Mark West Winery has no vineyard, they purchase grapes from various growers and have released both Californian and French versions of their Pinot Noir, so pay attention to the label to see what you’re getting. I’ve read great reviews of the California 2005, but I can’t find it anywhere in my area (Cincinnati, OH) and it seems the distributor in this region (Wine Trends) isn’t carrying it. The one I’ve been tasting is The Mark West Pinot Noir Vin De Corse 2005 (French).
The Tasting
The Mark West Pinot Noir Vin De Corse 2005 has nice complexity all around, starting with smoky, red raspberry and cherry aromas. The palate is light and fruity with complex berry flavors. A hint of pepper, but not much. It goes down velvety-smooth with an almost creamy mouth feel, but a rather short finish.
The weird thing is that it almost doesn’t taste like a Pinot Noir. It somewhat lacks varietal character, but it’s still good.
I picked this bottle up for $10.99. That’s a bit on the high end of cheap wine, but I’d say it’s worth the price. I gave it an 88.
Wine: Mark West
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Designation: Vin de Corse
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13.2%
Rating: 88
The next bottle in my quest for a good, cheap Pinot Noir comes from down under. The Rosemount Estate “Diamond Label” Pinot Noir 2004. For some reason I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure why I was suspect of this bottle, but I guess it was the packaging—which is a little ho hum. It also has a lip around the mouth of the bottle and for some reason I always expect wine in lipped bottles to be crap.
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
I know I’ve been a sucker in the past for some nasty wine wrapped in a cool label. So it’s only fair that every now and then I should get some nice wine with a lame label.
The Rosemount Estate Pinot Noir is a bit more fruity than other Pinots I’ve had. It’s mostly strawberry and cherry flavors with a bit of plum. The tannis are smooth and it has a medium finish. It’s a very drinkable wine and only $9.
It amazes me every time I get a bargain wine from Australia. How can they ship wine so far and still sell it so cheaply?
Wine: Rosemount Estate Diamond Label
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 89
Another bottle consumed as I continue searching for the best inexpensive Pinot Noir. Today it’s a bottle from Meridian Vineyards. The grapes for Meridian’s Pinot Noir come from Monterey County in the Central Coast region of California, where the cool air from Monterey Bay extends the growing season—typically about two weeks.
This Pinot Noir was aged in new French oak barrels for 6 months before bottling with some aged in American oak for spiciness.
Meridian Pinot Noir 2005is a decent, drinkable wine but it’s nothing special. It’s nicely balanced. Cherry and vanilla aromas with a bit of spice. Light fruit on the palate, cherry and raspberry. A bit of earthiness and a bit of spiciness. Medium finish. I gave it an 85.
I picked it up for $9.50. Not bad, but I think I can do better and so the quest continues.
Wine: Meridian
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13.8%
Rating: 85
The New York Times published an article on cheap wine, $10 and under to be specific. The goal of the article is to identify inexpensive wines that are not only palatable, but also have structure and personality. They tasted 25 different inexpensive wines to come up with their top 10.
Ironically, I haven’t tried any of the wines that made the NYT top 10 — despite that fact that I’ve tasted nearly 100 inexpensive wines in the past year (yes, I know not all of those are posted to the site — I’m working on it). I guess I’ll have to head to the wine shop and give these a shot.
In addition to specific recommendations, the NYT article also mentions wine regions that are most likely to produce good value wines. And no surprise Portugal and Spain topped that list. What was interesting was a mention of wine production up-and-comer Uruguay.
The part of this article that annoyed me was this: “… the issue of value — the ratio of quality to price — rarely enters into [wine selection]. Leave it to the Dining section’s wine panel to try to fill this vacuum.” Apparently these arrogant little eff’ers at the NYT’s Dining section are unfamiliar with Cheap Wine Ratings and out of touch with the blogosphere in general where several bloggers like me have already “filled this void.” Thanks for chiming in, but we’ll take it from here.
Their recommendations:
Casa Cadaval Portugal Ribatejano , $8.99, ***
Padre Pedro 2002
Smoke, earth, cherry and spice flavors in a well-structured Old World wine (Importer: HGC Imports, San Jose, Calif.).
Domaine de l’Ameillaud France , $9, ** ½
Vin de Pays de Vaucluse 2005
Mild tannins with attractive, lingering flavors of berry, cassis and olive (David Bowler Wine, New York).
Viña Gormaz Spain Ribera del Duero , $9, **
Tempranillo 2005
Fresh and juicy with a lively spiciness (Classical Wines, Seattle).
Georges Duboeuf France , $9, **
Beaujolais-Villages 2006
Juicy, fruity and floral. Decent Beaujolais best served chilled (W. J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, N.Y.).
Altas Cumbres Argentina Mendoza , $9, **
Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Lingering, jammy flavors of cherry and licorice (RV Distributors, Hoboken, N.J.).
Wyatt California Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 , $10, **
Big and almost over the top with dark fruit, oak and spice flavors.
J. Vidal-Fleury France , $10, **
Côtes-du-Ventoux 2005
Aroma of burnt rubber gives way to flavors of bitter cherry and spices (W. J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, N.Y.).
Domaine Monte de Luz , $7, **
Uruguay Tannat 2006
Rich and plummy with smoky, spicy cherry flavors (Baron Francois, New York).
Ravenswood California Vintner’s Blend , $10, **
Merlot 2004
Fruit, floral and spice flavors; straightforward and pleasant.
Paringa , $9, * ½
South Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
David Hickinbotham Individual Vineyard
Big and powerful with berry, oak and fruit flavors (Grateful Palate Imports, Oxnard, Calif.).
Read the full article
Prev