Budget Vino

Top 5 Budget Vino Wine Tips and Facts posts

As readers have come and gone, I thought it would be nice to post links to my Budget Vino top 5 wine tips and facts posts. Here they are:

1. Three tips to make a $10 bottle of red wine taste that much better
2. At what temperature should you drink each type of wine?
3. Wine gone bad? How do you know?
4. Food and Wine pairing tips from the experts
5. The guide you can't afford to live without

Just as an added bonus, here's a link to my most popular blog posting to date-

The story behind Charles Shaw wine (in case you've never heard it)

Enjoy!

An update on Coppola's Rosso Classic

Months ago, I reviewed Coppola vineyards Rosso Classic. Click here to read the original review. In that review, I suggested you definitely buy this wine. This past Saturday, this recommendation was taken to a whole new level.

My friends Meg and Christian invited me over to their place to help them choose wines to serve at their wedding this summer. In total, we blindly tasted 11 wines. 4 were red. Of the red wines, 1 was terrible, 2 were good, and 1 we unanimously agreed was perfect for their nuptials. This wine (#5 I recall) was super tasty, and we could all envision it being served with just about any food- dark fishes, steak, pasta, you name it. It was the ideal choice. The brown bags came off all the bottles, and to our surprise, the big winner of the night was Coppola's Rosso Classic. At less than half the price of every other red we tried, this classic came through once again (again proving the most expensive wine isn't always the best one).

The Rosso Classic has adopted a new label, but the taste is better than ever!

Recommendation: Definitely buy it (with greater emphasis than ever before)

A Top 10 wine list like you've never seen before!

I decided it would be fun to put together a Top 10 Budget Vino wine list using my favorite photo tool on the web- PhotoShow. If you've never made a PhotoShow, I encourage you to go to photoshow.com. It's super easy, and makes even the most creatively inept look talented.

To view the PhotoShow, click here.

Drop me a comment to let me know what you think.

It's reliable, it's Ravenswood Cabernet '04

I've reviewed a lot of wines at Budget Vino, and have generally shied away from the large winery offerings. Today I make an exception.

The Ravenswood 2004 Vintners Cabernet is one of the large production wines that I appreciate and consistently enjoy (unlike Robert Mondavi's Private Selection Cabernet). The wine is pretty smooth, has a nice aftertaste to it, and it isn't overly fruity. It's a good sipping wine- versatile enough that you can have a glass while watching TV (my favorite), or when having some people over for some casual hang-out time. It's also available pretty much everywhere, so you can easily pick it up when you're stressed for time and need to grab a bottle of red.

I think what I like best about the Ravenswood Cabernet is that it's a reliable wine. I liken it to grabbing dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It's not the best food, but as my step-mother often says, you know what you're getting for your money, and it tastes pretty good.

Recommendation: Definitely buy it (it's reliable)

The fridge is your friend (or how to make an opened bottle of red wine last longer)

Sometimes I get home from work and feel like a glass or two of red wine- not a whole bottle. This puts me in a great predicament. I know that if I open a bottle of wine, but don't drink the whole thing that night or the next one, it will surely go bad. Re-corked red wines rarely, if ever, last more than 48 hours after they've been opened- even when a wine vacuum has been used.

Faced with this predicament on many occasions, I've done some research, and found out something rather surprising. When it comes to extending the life of a red wine (especially a young budget one), the fridge is your friend!! In fact, it's your best friend. It can add an extra 3-5 days to the life of your bottle.  The cold temperature slows down the oxidation process and keeps that bottle fresh long enough for you to find the time to finish it.

There is a process you need to follow. It's simple.

1. Re-cork the bottle of red wine. If possible, use a wine vacuum to remove any air from the bottle.
2. Put the red wine in the fridge for no more than 5 days. It doesn't matter if the bottle is lying down or standing up.
3. Remove the bottle of red wine from the fridge approximately 30 minutes before you want to serve it. This will give the bottle the necessary time to warm up to just below room temperature. This step is key.
4. Drink the wine and congratulate yourself for preventing unnecessary waste!

I have a theory, and I need your help!

Since I started this blog in August, I've consumed a lot of wine. I've spent countless hours in wine stores, grocery marts, and online scouring websites to find the best wines under $10. During this time, I've also gone to a significant number of restaurants- both expensive and budget (as i mention in my About section, I'd rather get a meal cooked for me than have to prepare it myself).

Nearly every time I go out for a meal I order a glass of wine. I've always been shocked at the sticker price, but I used to accept it. Previous to writing this blog, I had no knowledge of wine prices. Now that I've had almost 9 months experience in the world of $10 or less wines, I feel I have a pretty good idea of how much a bottle goes for at retail. This has led me to a theory which I need your help to prove.

My hypothesis is that the cost per glass of wine at a nicer restaurant is actually the same cost as a bottle of that wine at a retail location (within a $3 range). So, if a glass of wine at a restaurant is $9, my theory is that one could buy a bottle of that wine at the store or online for between $9 and $12. I want to prove this theory using data not only from my town (San Francisco), but also from all over the US.

Here's how you can help, and be part of the study...

The next time you go to a restaurant, jot down the names and costs of a few wines offered by the glass. Post the information as a comment in this post. Ill take the data, research the retail prices of the wines you post, and publish the results in a few weeks- once I have enough data to make this a little more scientific.

This is a fun little experiment for which I encourage you to participate. Let's find out how badly restaurants are ripping us off!

What to do after a massage? Le Jaja de jau

Back in late January, I was in a car accident. Actually, let me rephrase that- a taxi cab decided to accelerate into the back of my car while I was stopped at a stoplight. My neck and back were thrown out pretty bad, and I was suddenly plunged into the world of doctor visits and chiropractic care. To supplement my rehabilitation regime, I decided to go for a massage. The woman I went to worked for my chiropractor. She was 8 months pregnant, and I swear she threw all of her baby weight into the massage. I can't recall a moment of pain more excruciating then when she went to work on my left shoulder! When the massage finished, I lifted my crippled corpse off the massage table and headed home.

On the way back to my apartment, my buddy Jared (of Extreme Home Makeover fame) called and convinced me to stop by his place. He had visited the local corner store, and found a cool looking Syrah-Grenache mix for under $10. After being tenderized for 60 minutes, a glass of wine sounded awesome.

The wine Jared picked up was a French wine called Le Jaja de Jau- a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache. According to Poppingcorks.com, ""Jaja" is French slang for inexpensive, easy-to-drink wine, the sort you might find by the carafe at a bistro, or at a party."

This wine was great. The first sip was excellent, and it just got better. It was full, tasty, and was a killer wine to dive into after an hour of being pulverized! If you can find it, definitely give it a try.

Recommendation: Definitely try it

The guide you can't afford to live without

It's happened to us all- we go to the store to buy a wine under $10, but for the life of us, we can't remember the names of those that have been recommended. That all changes today!

For over a month now, I've posted Budget Vino top choices on the site, with links to the related reviews. A large number of you have clicked on these top choices to learn more, but unless you wrote them down, there was no way to take them with you. That is why I've prepared a wallet sized and printable Vino To Go guide. This guide lists a number of the Budget Vino top choices (always costing less than $10), segregated by wine type. I'll be updating the guide as my top choices evolve, but one thing that will never change is your ability to print  the Vino To Go guide and take it with you to your favorite wine shop or supermarket. All you have to do is click this link, print the guide, put it in your wallet, and be on your way. Now all you have to worry about is finding $10.

If it's good, it's got to be EOS 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

I haven't reviewed a Cabernet in quite some time, so I figured a review was due.

This past Sunday, I spent the day scouring the shops of Chinatown, San Francisco. It was an experience to say the least. I set out to pick up a couple choice items (no, not fireworks), and was totally successful. To celebrate, I went to BevMo and picked up a bottle of one of my favorite Cabernet Sauvignon's- EOS' 2004 offering.

This wine is awesome. It's smooth, has an excellent aftertaste, and matches perfectly with just about anything. I can enjoy this wine whether I'm chilling in front of the TV, eating a nice meat dinner, or even preparing my taxes. It's just that good.

This wine also provides a classic example of how the "experts" and I don't always see eye-to-eye. Wilfred Wong, who gives so many wines ratings of 88 or above, gives this wine a shockingly low rating of 86. I've tried many of his 88 point wines, and they don't taste nearly as good. In this case Wilfred, I think you're just plain wrong. 

Recommendation: Definitely Buy It