Let me first start with a disclaimer, this list is very mine. Your taste may differ. In this article I am going to talk about 5 cheap wines that I like most. These are easily available at your local grocery store. They are well known, good and they don’t cost a fortune.
Having wine is not exactly frugal behavior, still wine is now part of the lifestyle for many. I think, we must consume alcohol in moderation, not to lose the soberness and not to spend too much money on it.
Saying that, SMB (my wife) and I are both party drinkers and week end drinkers. We don’t always have alcohol while dining out, its occasional. Lately I started going over the wine list at restaurants we dined in. Slowly I developed a subtle taste and fondness towards particular wines. For example I like Cabernet more than Merlot. Similarly I like Riesling more than Pinot Grigio.
Wine was long regarded as luxurious and made only for riches whose wallets are walloping with extra cash to spend. Anyway, when it comes to wine, being expensive doesn’t mean a better wine and that’s the reason why winemakers have opted to manufacture a number of cheap wines to meet everyone`s needs and desires.
These wines are easy to find, drink and goes down well with any kind of food; something most wine lovers appreciate a lot. In the market today, there are up to $5 wine that go beyond competent and simply variant; they are desirable, delicious and acceptable wines worth drinking.
Honestly, I like $5 Yellow tail Pinot (Australian) better than Robert Mondavi, which cost $12. But, that’s me, every one’s taste varies. Below is the list of 5 wines that I want to spend my money on, any given day. Six Low-cost Wines I like are below:
Simi Sonoma County Chardonnay
If you have been looking for chardonnay made in a great style then the wine manufacture is as important as what you are looking for than where the grapes were grown. Sonoma County Chardonnay contains an alcoholic content of 13.5%. There are a lot of chardonnay variables in the market today but Simi Sonoma County Chardonnay stands out among the wine hardcore drinkers not only because of its affordable price but because of its fine culmination quality of approximately 140 years in wine making experience.
Glistening extra virgin olive oil yellow is its standard color with a taste of apple, orange blossom honey melon, a touch of spice vanilla nose and a soft floral edge. Surely, this kind of chardonnay possesses an excellent balance, length and the oak brings out unbeatable interesting flavor than any other wine.
My Publix store sells it for $12.99, you may get even cheaper price at Walmart.
Chateau St Jean California Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine is aged in American oak of about 8 months having an alcoholic content of 13.9%. It is crimson red in color with numerous highlights of blacks. Its nose is blackberry, brand mown lawn, dark chocolate, oak spice, and plum and spearmint chewing gum.
The Chateau St Jean California Cabernet Sauvignon is fully bodied, well made, firm but not overpowering tannin’s, tasty, dry with pleasant flavor of a fruit with the oak, fruits tannin and other flavors nicely proportioned.
This wine works so well as a chatting with buddies in a deep and touchy conversation as you get coals fired up on the steak grill type of a wine. You need drink it now wine? Then cheap and affordable California Cabernet Sauvignon, the Chateau St Jean is exactly right for your money. At $9.99 this is great value for money.
Woop Woop Shiraz
The wine has long time been balanced, bargained, big and bold but still far more redefined and exotic. Its color is deep ruby red with a strawberry halo. The inclusion of mid plate adds sour cherry, a brush of muted hot spice and a late hit of vanilla cream.
The acidity though hidden in the mix is brought about by the tannins and it helps in bringing the last finish. It is aged for nine to twelve months in American oak barrels. It contains an alcoholic content of 14.5% with an online price of $8-$12 and that’s an awesome big whoop; American slang for big deal.
The Sequin Pinot Grigio Bubbly
The Sequin Pinot Grigio Bubbly is one kind of wine that information on technicality is not all that is essential. What matters is that you have to ensure your bottle is well chilled and if possible you`ll be forced to stick the glass on a freezer for some minutes before popping the top.
The wine is amongst those get the party started sort of, very crispy and refreshing with a low alcoholic content of 9.5% to catalyze the talk. There is a little fizz in the wine that allows the bubble to dance playfully on your tongue and a touch of sweetness which doesn’t dominate and change its flavor.
It’s tasty, balanced and a bit classy aimed at female wine drinkers with guys sitting around can easily enjoy too. It has a taste of lemon and a little pear, golden delicious apple with a bit of mineral water element added on the mid plate combined together with a slight pink grapefruit. Its acidity level is kept in check and the finish is long and strong.
The 2012 Snoqualmie Winemaker’s Select Riesling
The Riesling wine is tasty and easy to like more so if you like your Riesling on the sweet side but keenly balanced so never to be overs weet. Its taste is of pear and peach, lemon/lime, dried apricot and pineapple. The mid plate brings a slight brush of mineral water together with a touch of spices.
Te acidity is carefully taken care of and its finish lasts longer. It has a shinny color with clear butter yellow. Its nose is pretty delicate, honey peach, apricot, pear grapefruit and a whole bouquet of delicious aroma. The Snoqualmie Riesling wine suits well novice wine drinkers. Price ranges from $6.95 – $8 as per my research.
The 2011 VINTJS Lodi Zinfandel
This wine is solid, tasty with a complete bodied $7.9. The VINTJS Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel is a little bit jammy than any other kind of old vine Zinfandel but displays a nice spice of tastes and textures.
It is subtle and delicate in a way it’s not recommended to mix it with BBQ though it will go down well but its better suited for Cajun or Carrebian foods, or can just be drunk that way, after all it is Zinfandel.
A ripe, spicy, juicy but balanced VINTJS Lodi Zinfandel has a dark berry and spice oak with a bit of plum and spearmint gum. Its general color is cherry red, pink halo with black highlights. It contains an alcoholic value of 14.5%.
As I hinted earlier, wine is an avoidable item in case you’re struggling to com out of financial hardship. If you are not in that bad shape and still want to save money on expensive wines, this list is worth checking, I believe.
Readers, whats your favorite wine? And, how much those costing you?
The way you describe those wines makes me want to try them. Hope I can spot one of those in our local store.
$10 for a cab sounds great. I’ll see if I can find one for my dad. He is a big wine drinker. I only drink wine occasionally.
I adore wine. Thankfully, they all taste pretty good to me. So I just buy the $3 bottles from Trader Joe’s or big bottles of Yellowtail when they go on sale.
Living in the San Francisco area, I’m lucky to be surrounded by some of the best vineyards and wineries in the world. We go wine tasting at least once a year to stock up our wine rack, but most of these wines aren’t found in your local BevMo, unfortunately.
Tip for fellow oenophiles – if you like wine, you probably like food, and perhaps cooking. If so, start making your own red wine vinegar from the leftover bits of wine after a dinner party. It’s a slow process, but the results are spectacular, and an order of magnitude better than what you buy in the store.
If I lived in a warmer climate I wouldn’t hesitate to have my own vines and grow my own.
Drinking your own wine must be one of the best things ever.
Snoqualmie has some GREAT wines, not all of them cheap though! I’m a Pinot Noir man myself, and Shiraz is the night is right. Argentinean Malbec is a great one as well, but hard to find cheaper.
We are SUPER thrift, and just aerate the Trader Joes 2 buck chuck 😉
Being frugal doesn’t mean giving up everything, so it is great when you find a great wine at a low price! I always go by the taste anyway,so if it is nice then Iam not embarrassed that it is cheap.