Good Cheap Wine Guide

Red Belly Black Australian Shiraz 2006 $7.99

 

 RANKING: SERVE TO GUESTS

This couldn’t work.  To kill bugs you have to crush them or spray them.  The pheromone baited trap for Japanese beetles just didn’t seem…well…lethal enough.  But the hummingbirds and bees (bees are disappearing from what I read?)were on the same trees and plants that the beetles were feasting on so a poison spray attack just didn’t seem like a great idea.  So I bought four traps and put them up around the trees that these bonzai beetles were treating as if they were at a  leafy buffet.

While I was baiting the traps, I accidentally got a little of the stink-bait on my hands, thus  as I’m walking towards the trees…it begins.  Almost out of nowhere these lousy navigators strafed me bouncing off of my neck, my head and mostly my hands!  I hung up the first trap and it was amazing!  It looked like a new singles bar had opened in beetle-town.  They swarmed all over the bag trap and the branches closest to it.  I finished putting up the rest of the traps and went to wash my hands (quickly so as not to be confused with a potential beetle mama).  Job well done…I opened a nice little Shiraz named after a poisonous Eastern Australian snake, the red belly black.  To my readers sorry, I couldn’t find a wine named after a beetle.    Just the same I really liked this Shiraz.

The next day I went out to check the traps. (Readers discretion advised on this next part) The bags were FULL!  Needing to swap out the bags I grabbed the side of the first one to unhook it and…yikes…it was alive!  The bag was moving and buzzing and pulsating and well..it was like a beetle rave!  How often was I going to have to do this??  Literally every day for a week.  That’s a lot of dead beetles.  Just the same, I am convinced.  Beetle traps are far more deadly than poisonous sprays.  Isn’t it amazing how sexdrive can make a beetle fall into a trap?  OR, is that only beetles? hmmm 

What Others Say: Tasting Notes
From Angoves’s website: “Deep purple with brooding red hues, this rich, full bodied wine shows ripe plum, cherry, and licorice fruit on the nose. This wine is ideal with your favourite red meat or hearty pasta dishes.”

What  I Thought: I enjoyed this wine quest…great little wine (why do people say that…this wine is the same size as the others.)surprisingly rich and fruity flavor.  I let this one air out a bit as I finished working in the yard and being assaulted by horny beetles.  Had this good cheap wine along with a hot dog right off the grill.  (I am such a gourmet chef right.)  Nice lasting finish with a good appearance in the glass.  Use full-mouthed stemware or a cool tumbler and serve this good cheap wine to guests.  Make sure and wash the beetle bringing pheromone off of your hands first..or not…that could be interesting.
Cheers from the Wine Oaf

According to an article on Yahoo News today, Drug Dealers buy Washington Vineyards to Hide Pot, “…their vineyards are producing tens of thousands of illegal marijuana plants — a crop that could easily surpass grapes in value this year.”

Now I’ve only reviewed a couple of good cheap wines in my wine quests from Washington vineyards so I guess I have been missing out. Neither Hogue Family Cellars or Columbia Winery offered anything in their tasting notes regarding marijuana. Let’s see, how would a vinter write those tasting notes.

Tasting Notes for Wine made with Grapes Grown with Pot:

“Complicated aromatics of cabernet; earthy, leafy fruit (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries) with a sleepy touch of oak and hemp. Surprisingly light weight palate making the tongue feel naked and longer with good fruit depth and notes of grasses yet… somehow smoky. The finish is long with cravings for Snickerdoodles, M&Ms mixed with peanuts or anything else chocolate in the house. Best enjoyed while listening to loud music, playing Halo or watching any movie with Will Ferrell. Guests will show their appreciation for this special grape variety by laughing loudly about nothing and a propensity to say “Dude, you know what?” a lot and then forgetting what they were going to tell you. They also stumble.”

Seems like a unique niche for a wine club as well. Labels maybe like “Bodacious Buds Beaujolais”, Zoned Out Zinfandel”, “Rasta Rufino”, “Stoner Cellar Syrah”, “Maryjane’s Mountain Merlot”…. shipping of course is at your own risk. So anyone up there in Yakima Valley, turn us onto any good cheap wine quests we should perform, under controlled conditions of course, in the name of culture that involve this very unique offering. Unfortunately I will not be participating in the test…but I have plenty of friends who will oblige us. I promise to get it on video. Now where did I put that Grateful Dead LP?

Cheers

Red Knot Wine Australian Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

  

Ranking:  Serve Proudly to Guests

I will admit I don’t know much about Australian wines.  Heck just trying to keep up with good cheap wines from California is a full time job.  (Wait, don’t you get paid for a job? hmmm)    But still I picked up this little red at at a local store without any great expectation except a new Wine Quest.  I ran into two surprises.  First…I got zorked!  I did not expect to get zorked.  I didn’t even know one could get zorked, but as I stood over the wine, corkscrew in hand…voila…  the ZORK!  (they wouldn’t really say “voila” in Australia, not rugged enough, they would say something like ” ‘Ere ya go mate!”)  Zorks are great!  They act like a cork but come out but unzipping the wrap that holds the zork in place.  They also go right back in to preserve the rest of the bottle for another day.  The second surprise was the wine itself.  Another good thing imported from Australia just like the… uh, the uh…Oh I don’t know, but I’m sure there is something else from Australia that we enjoy!

What Other Say:Deep red with purple hues. Blackberry and dark chocolate aromas, with hints of eucalypt and vanillan French and American Oak. A medium bodied wine, filled with ripe berry and dark cherry flavours, subtly enhanced with toasty oak. Fresh acidity complements the long, sweet fruit finish, resulting in a wine with immediate appear and varietal presence. http://www.redknotwine.com/wines/Cabernet07.php

 What I Thought: Very pleasant wine that delivers more than the ten dollar price would indicate.  Good full tongue Cabernet flavor.  Bold enough to serve with a nice thick cut of meat or a red-sauced pasta.  Definitely serve it to guests and let them open it.  Watch the look of surprise on their face as they get zorked!

Cheers from the Wine Oaf! 

 Miguel Torres Tormenta 2007 Cabernet Chile

RATING: Good Enough for Uncle Dave

Amazing how small things can really complicate your plans.  The cork, a Chilean cork. Tough cork!  Frustrating cork!  I will burn it when I get it out.

Chile looks like a rugged place.  The country runs 2700 miles down the western coast of South America.  Defined by it’s Andean mountainous border on the east, sloping into the cold Pacific on the west, an astonishing 150 miles wide at it’s fullest point running from dessert to glaciers (like in Patagonia  - the wilderness not the fleece jacket), Chile is a mystical place with fog, mist, sunshine and, much to our joy, vineyards. 

Is it any surprise then that my first encounter with a wine from the rugged part of the hemisphere began with a struggle?  Just as the native to Chile Araucanians stubbornly fought off the Incas and the Spanish in defense of their land, this cork did not want to let me into the wine.  I was moments away from taking an electric saw to the bottle neck (I know that would have ruined the wine but I would have tasted victory!) when just then the cork, exhausted from the struggle, surrendered.  Finally! The battle won, I began my Wine Quest.

What Others Say: Wineflorida.com

Ruby red with fiery glints. Exquisite varietal aroma on a rich base of leather and licorice with typically silky tannins on the palate and an elegant finish.   

What I Thought: Really enjoyable organically grown grapes wine but probably enjoyed it too young.  (I’m just so impatient!)  A little too acidic but a thoroughly top-of-the-tongue Cab taste.  I so totally dig the description from WineFlorida, “leather and licorice”  wasn’t that a Stevie song??  What the heck does that mean!  Anyway.  I’d go back Jack and do it again.  A Steely song?  Maybe hold onto the bottle for more than a weekend next time. 

Cheers from the Wine Oaf!

Cycles Gladiator Central Coast 2006 Merlot $9.50

RANKING: Share with Friends

I was watching highlights of the Tour de Drugs, sorry… Tour de France action for the day late at night, I was also working on a presentation that had to be ready in the morning. After seeing a picture of some spectator ringing a cowbell (I thought they just did this for downhill skiers!) I remembered… I have a new wine to review! (much better than working on a PowerPoint, thank you Pavlov) This one even had a great artistic rendition of a naked blond sprite barely holding onto the handlebars of a speeding, run-a-way bike. How very fortunate!

I had just bought this cheap merlot wine strictly because of the label (again). I know, a fatal flaw. I am a sucker for a cool label. (see The Show) Yet, just like always falling for blonds in my younger days (single days darling), I carry this flaw with little burden. Though most times, looks alone do not make a compatible dating relationship for your heart or your palate, sometimes..you get lucky and you find that you are just right for each other! Same here, everyone may not like my choice of Cycles Gladiator but I love her. I plan to introduce her to my family. At least to brother Dave. Oh heck, I’d share her with everyone. (another fatal flaw!) This was a good cheap wine worthy of the Wine Quest! (and ten bucks.)

W hat Others Say: Jericho Wines

Supple and elegant, with a decidedly spicy nose of black cherry, cassis and cedar. Mouth-filling flavors of plums, cherries and wild red berries exhibit excellent richness and concentration. A good seam of acidity complements the soft tannins.
What I Thought: A surprisingly rich tasting wine for the price. Great nose, great look and good balanced flavor. (Also the very uninhibited lady on the label will add to the conversation.) We’ll have a second date together.

Cheers from the Wine Oaf

PS: Cycles Gladiator is really into cycling. They also have a wine club and some very cool racing jerseys. Check this out! All Posters - Wine Art sells this poster of Cycles Gladiator!