Budget Vino

Consider spending some time in the Big House- 2004 Red Table Wine

A couple weeks ago, a Budget Wino reader asked me to review Big House red. This was not the first time someone had mentioned this wine. It seems to be a pretty popular red table wine. It also is a great example of how different people’s palettes can influence wine impressions. Some people love this wine- I mean truly adore it. Me? Not so much.

The day I tried this wine I was definitely on a mission. I was going to cook myself dinner. My recipe of choice? -Chicken Picatta. You need to understand that it’s a rare occasion that I get the impulse to cook. As the impulse arose, I decided to run with it. I went to my local grocery store and bought my ingredients. While there, I passed the wine section. The first wine that caught my eye was The Big House.  Remembering the reader request, I bought a bottle and went on my way.

I got home and started cooking. I was going to hold off on the wine until dinner, but I couldn’t resist the urge to give the Big House a try. I poured a glass, and as I sipped away I found myself disappointed. It was okay, but not the great wine I had hoped it would be. This wine seemed to have so much hype, but there I was- unimpressed. I found the Big House to be a little too thin and a bit too fruity.  I hoped that my so-so opinion would change as my palette adjusted, but that didn’t happen. I tried drinking a glass with dinner, but combining it with food didn’t improve my opinion. In the end, this wine reminded me of a movie that is totally overrated. You go see it, and even though the movie is good, it never lives up to the expectations. Maybe if I had discovered this wine without any outside influence I would have enjoyed it more. I guess we’ll never know.

Recommendation: Consider buying it

A faster way to buy a better wine

When you don't have time, and you just need to find the right wine, searching through a blog is not the ideal solution. I created The Budget Vino Top Choices with this in mind. However, the Top Choices are limited to 3 selections. So, in order to prevent some great wines from getting lost in the shuffle, I've created an online comprehensive spreadsheet that tracks each wine I've reviewed, and it's associated rating. The Budget Vino wine ratings spreadsheet can be found at this link. I'll be updating this spreadsheet each time I review a new wine, and I'll make sure to highlight my top choices.

Let me know what you think. Hopefully this resource will help you to make some good wine buying decisions in less time.

Take a stroll through Pepperwood Grove- 2004 Merlot

Today, I announced the introduction of the "Budget Wino Top Choices" recommendation quick list.   I have pondered this concept for a few weeks, and now just seemed to be the right time for the introduction. Arriving at a top choices list forced me to revisit wines I have happily (or unhappily) consumed. As I sifted through the list of wines past, I realized that I was yet to review an old reliable- Pepperwood Grove 2004 Merlot.

This wine is smooth and very tasty. It has a little bit of a kick to it, but it works to the wines advantage. Most importantly, this one stands really nicely on its own. You don't need to combine it with any food to enjoy a glass (or more). So, if you're at home relaxing, or hanging out with a bunch of friends/family, it's a great option to consider.

Final Recommendation: Definitely buy it.

Introducing "Budget Wino Top Choices"

When in a rush, we just don't have time to sift through a catalog of wine reviews. That is why the I have gone ahead and created the "Budget Wino Top Choices" section. This section is located at the top left corner of the site. In it, I present 3 excellent and reliable wine choices (all under $10 of course). You can click on any of the wines to read their review, or simply take my word on it.

The top choices will be updated every couple weeks, or whenever a new wine tops my list.  If you have a chance, I encourage you to give each top choice a try. They are definitely worth your time!

Want a free wine guide?

Have you ever gone to the store to buy wine and found yourself completely overwhelmed? Even considering all the wine I buy, I often need help wading through the huge number of wines stacked on my grocery store shelves. That's why I always carry my "Easy Guide to Wine Vintages" in my wallet. It's a great resource, and as a thank you for supporting The Budget Wino, I'm happy to send you a guide at no cost.

If you're interested in this great resource, simply click on the ad on the left side of The Budget Wino site. Clicking the ad will redirect you to a form to submit your information. Alternatively, you can just click on this link, which will take you to the form page. Once I get your info, the guide will be in the mail and on its way. Just to allay any concerns before they may arise, you can rest assured that your information will be used by me only, and I will NEVER share it with anyone.

If you have any issues with the form, you can also just send me an email with your name and mailing address to budgetwino@yahoo.com.

See a rodeo? Ride a bull- Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull 2003 Zin

This past Monday, as I was taking a broken down van ride to the airport in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, I saw what appeared to be a makeshift rodeo grounds. In my broken Spanish, I asked the driver what we had just passed, and he confirmed that it was a Mexican bull-riding arena. Immediately, I swore to myself that should I ever go back to Cabo, going to a Mexican bull-riding show would be a priority. I've never seen such an event, but I imagine that it would be an experience I would not soon forget.

The thought of bulls and bull-riding must have entered my subconscious and stayed there for the rest of the day, for when I landed back home that night and went to my local convenience store for a bottle of wine, I went straight for the Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull 2003 Zinfandel.

Unsure of how this wine would taste, I followed my 3 tips to make a $10 bottle of wine taste better, unpacked my clothes, and prepared to jump into the Dancing Bull. I'm glad I did. This wine was really good. It had a strong smell to it, which made me think it would be heavy. Turns out, it was nice and light- a perfect wine to drink in large quantities while hanging with friends, or when hanging out alone catching up on last week's episode of 24.

So whether or not seeing a Mexican bull riding arena excites you, I'd still encourage you to give this bull a try.

Recommendation: Definitely buy it.

The Budget Wino selected as Typepad's featured blog!

I just returned from a 5 day trip to Mexico (where I drank wine that makes even awful airline wine seem drinkable) to find that The Budget Wino was selected as Typepad's featured blog on February 12th. This is truly humbling for me, and I thank the people at Typepad for the incredible honor.

If you'd like to read this generous writeup, please visit Typepad's featured blog page.

To all of you who might be reading this blog for the first time, I ask you to stick with me. I post at least every Thursday, and am usually able to drink enough wine to churn out a Tuesday review. In the next few weeks, ill be taking the budget journey to the world of Organic budget wines and the world of inexpensive Ports. So keep reading, keep drinking budget wines, and make sure to leave me a comment from time to time.

Thanks again to Typepad for the incredible honor!

Humbly,
The Budget Wino

Budget Wino Heaven in Napa -- Seriously

This post is contributed by Jen Benz. Enjoy.

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On a recent trip to Napa Valley, I discovered what could be the retail incarnation of Budget Wino heaven: Wine Garage in Calistoga. An entire store devoted to hand-picked, highly exclusive, hard-to-find, limited production wines. And, not a bottle in the store over $25! Minimalist design, good tunes and ridiculously knowledgeable staff add to the shopping experience.

http://www.winegarage.net/

I picked up a few bottles, including a Karly Grand Cuvee Chateau Blanc. This wine was nothing less than fantastic -- perfect with bruschetta and pasta at a dinner party. At Wine Garage, the bottle was only $9.99 and everywhere else online its going for $20+.

Most bottles were around $20 and admittedly only two out of the dozens and dozens fell into Budget Wino's under-$10 price point. But, I'm pretty confident that there's not a sub-par bottle in the store.

For those not within driving distance to Calistoga, Wine Garage has a really reasonably priced wine club. Six bottles for $100-$140 depending on the selection you want.

If you live in Northern California, it's an easy one to find. It's right by the intersection of Highway 29 and Lincoln, just before you turn to go into downtown Calistoga.

How to survive Extreme Home Makeover? Drink wine!- Mirassou 2005 Sauvignon Blanc

Football season is over. Gone are the days of drinking wine while watching the Monday night game. It's sad...I know.

Last night, two of the usual Monday night crew came over to watch a totally different type of TV show. There is a story behind this, so please indulge me for a moment. Weeks ago, I received a frantic call from my friend Jared. He and his girlfriend Sarah were out of town, and were totally distruaght that they were going to miss one of their favorite TV shows- Extreme Home Makeover. Personally, I've avoided this show like the plague, but as a favor, I agreed to record it for them. Jump forward 3 weeks, and the show was yet to be watched. So, in keeping with my self-imposed statute of limitations on the maximum amount of time I let a show sit on my recorder, I warned them that their precious show was about to be erased in a matter of days. Panic set in! They proposed a plan- Sarah would cook a Mexican style dinner in exchange for us watching the Noyola family get a new home. Having no other plans on the calendar, and always loving a fresh cooked meal, I gave a thumbs up to the plan. However, I made it clear that the only way I was going to get through this show was with wine- a lot of wine.

Sarah and Jared came by with a bunch of food and a couple bottles of white wine. I'm not a fan of white wine, but given there were no other options, I put my feelings aside and poured myself a glass from our first bottle- Mirassou 2005 Sauvignon Blanc.

At first pass, the Mirassou was a little too tangy for my liking. It's intense infussion of citrus caused me to take a big step back. I was sure I was only going to have negative things to say about this wine. I took another sip, which didn't do much to change my opinion. I decided my best course of action was to stop drinking and wait for dinner. After about 30 minutes, dinner was served, and I picked up my glass of Mirassou. It was when I started to drink this wine with dinner that it really started to payoff. The intense citrus I had resented just minutes before turned out to pair perfectly with the Mexican meal. Who would have thought? The fresh lime juice in the guacamole and on the tacos worked so well with this Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was a great compliment to the meal. Extreme Home Makeover was not...

As Jared and Sarah teared up on my couch watching the Noyola family move into the house they'd always dreamed of, I kept pouring myself wine- praying the agony of this TV show would end.

Recommendation- Consider buying it. Not a good sipping wine, but a great wine with Mexican food.

Decent, not Dynamite- Dynamite Vineyards 2004 Zinfandel

In keeping with my new found appreciation of Zindfandel wines and funky labels, this week I thought I'd throw out my opinion of Dynamite Vineyards 2004 Zinfandel.

First off, let me say that I did not enjoy this wine as much as the Blue Monkey Zinfandel I reviewed last week. This is contrary to the opinions of Wilford Wong, who scored this wine higher than the Blue Monkey. Seems he and I are in disagreement yet again.

The Dynamite Zinfandel was decent, but it left a lot to be desired. It lacked the smooth texture and taste I had hoped for, and I found the aftertaste a little too harsh. With no money available to go out and buy a new bottle of wine, I forced myself to keep with it. This was a good move on my part. My second glass was a definite improvement over the first, which makes me think that this wine should be decanted for an hour or so before drinking. Straight out of the bottle, it's just not my top Zinfandel choice. After it's had a chance to breathe, it just might be worth your $10.

Recommendation: Consider buying it (if you've got an hour of decanting time)