Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The Parxet Cuvée 21 Cava Brut is 33% Macabeo, 33% Parellada and 33% Pansa Blanca (a cousin and similar to the Xarello grape traditionally used in Cava) grapes grown in certified organic vineyards near the town of Alella, just outside Barcelona, Spain. The Parxet winery was built in 1920 and the parent company had been…
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The Barone Fini Valdadige Pinot Grigio 2013 is a DOC wine sourced from the Valdadige district of the Trentno-Alto Adige region of northern Italy. A rough translation of Valdadige is the valley of Adige and Alto Adige is the heights of Adige, The Barone and the Fini families founded the winery in 1497 and their…
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The Josh Cellars Legacy Red 2012 is a blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards thru-out California, but mainly in the Central Coast, Lodi, Sonoma and Napa. Josh Cellars is the second line of wines from Joseph Carr Wines and is named in tribute to Joseph Carr’s dad, also a Joseph,…
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The Ca’ di Rajo Raboso Del Piave 2007 Notti di Luna Piena (translates to Full Moon, is 100% Raboso Del Piave grown in an estate vineyard by the Piave River near the city of Treviso in Veneto, Italy. Raboso Del Piave is indigenous to the eastern Veneto region and is a grape that exhibits strong tannins and acidity….
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The Bird Big Barrel Pinot Noir 2012 is sourced from the Dayvinleigh Vineyard on the Wairau River in Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. Steve Bird is the winemaker and he is the first to produce Pinot Noir with Vernou roll fermentation. He uses huge 238 gallon oak barrels (Tonnellerie Vernou is a French cooperage who make the…
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The Sophora Sparkling Cuvée is 52% Chardonnay and 48% Pinot Noir sourced from vineyards in the Gisbourne and Hawke’s Bay districts of New Zealand’s North Island. Most of the reasonably priced New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc you see on store shelves come from Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. Sophora is the Sparkling wine brand from Distinguished…
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The Gia Pinot Grigio 2013 is sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. The Gia on the label is Gia Coppola, the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and Gia wine is one of the Coppola family of wines. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same grape, the difference is Pinot…
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The Ca’ di Rajo Prosecco Millesimato Extra Dry DOCG is a Sparkling wine produced from the Glera grape grown in an estate vineyard in the Valdobbiadene region near the town of Treviso in the Veneto region of Italy. Valdobbiadene Prosecco and DOCG Prosecco are the highest quality area and rating for Prosecco wine. Millesimato indicates that this…
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The Fire Road Pinot Noir 2013 is sourced from several vineyards located in the Marlborough region, which is in the northeast corner of New Zealand’s South Island. Marlborough is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, just check the NZ Sauv Blanc section of your local wine shop and you will see Marlborough on virtually every bottle. Marlborough…
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The Michael David Inkblot Tannat 2012 is sourced from a single vineyard located in the southeastern edge of the Lodi AVA in northern California. Michael and David Phillips are brothers and 5th generation grape growers (their family has been farming in Lodi since the 1850s) who started their winery in 1984. Lodi is in the…
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The Ca’ Di Rajo Prosecco Brut is a Sparkling wine produced from the Glera grape near the town of Treviso (DOC), along the Piave River in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The winery is located on the site of an ancient convent ( founded 1507) and the property was converted to vineyards in 1960. This Prosecco…
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The Murrieta’s Well The Spur 2011 is a blend of 31% Petite Sirah, 29% Petit Verdot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Franc sourced from estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA near San Francisco Bay. Murrieta’s Well was first planted in 1883 and in the 1930s was purchased by Wente Vineyards (they…
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The Murrieta’s Well The Whip 2013 is a blend of 28% Semillion, 24% Chardonnay, 14% Sauvignon Blanc, 11% Orange Muscat, 11% Viognier, 11% Gewürztraminer and 1% White Riesling all grown on Murrieta’s Well estate vineyards located in the Livermore Valley AVA near the San Francisco Bay. Murrieta’s Well was originally planted in 1884 and was…
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The Ceraudo Imyr Bianco 2012 is 100% Chardonnay grown in family owned estate vineyards near Calabria in Stongoli (the toe of the boot) in southern Italy. The family farm produces wine, olive oil, citrus and includes a Michelin Star restaurant. The Chardonnay grapes were sourced from 20 year old vines and this wine was aged in…
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The Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2014 is sourced from vineyards located in the Wairau Valley and the Awatere Valley inside the Marlborough region on the northeast corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The harvest took place in February of 2014 (this post was written October 2014), so this Sauv Blanc went from grapes on the vine to bottles…
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The Birthday Cake Vineyards Cheesecake Wine is a flavored wine from France that tastes, well, like New York cheesecake. Birthday Cake Vineyards, along with Ice Cream Cellars is a joint project from the man behind Hpnotiq and the co-creator of Skinnygirl. The Birthday Cake flavors are Cake Batter and Strawberry Shortcake (along with Cheesecake) for White wine and…
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The Columbia Crest Grand Estates Red Blend 2011 is 61% Merlot, 27% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% “other” sourced from vineyards in the Wahluke Slope AVA, the Horse Heaven Hills AVA (both inside the Columbia Valley AVA) and the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Columbia Crest is owned by Chateau…
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Antxiola (pronounced ahn-cho-la) comes to us from the Errasti brothers, owners of Bodegas Zudugarai in Spain. It’s a Txakoli, a very dry, slightly-sparkling, hard-to-pronounce white wine (it’s pronounced chock-o-lee) made with the Hondarrabi grape. Antxiola Hondarrabi 2012 is made with both types of Hondarrabi – 90% Zuri (Basque for white) and 10% Beltza (Basque for…
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I had a meeting at one of my favorite Chicago wine bars recently – BIN36 – and I wanted something “outside the box” – not my usual reds or whites or sparklings or rosés. I said “bring me something weird”! Enoch Shully, BIN36’s beverage guru, did not disappoint. He brought me something from his native…
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Yes, another celebrity wine! Everyone from Lady Gaga and Fergie to Drew Barrymore and AC/DC has their own wine these days. Most wine drinkers are a little skeptical of wines that are produced with a celebrity’s name attached to them. And rightfully so when the association is just that – name only. Now it’s Brad…
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The Fortant Hills Reserve Viognier 2012 is sourced from hillside vineyards in the Languedoc comprising three different soil conditions. The Languedoc is located in Southwest France and is the leading wine-producing region in the world, in terms of production. The temperature is hot during the day in the summer, but cool at night. The grape lots…
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The Skinnygirl Sweet’arita is made from blue agave silver Tequila, Triple Sec, natural flavors and a dash of agave nectar for sweetness. There are two basic types of Tequila, Blue Agave and Mixto, the Blue Agave is derived 100% from the blue agave plant and Mixto (the label will just say Tequila with no reference…
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The Skinnygirl Sparkling Margarita made with Blue Agave Silver Tequila (when you see Blue Agave on the label that indicates that it is 100% Blue Agave and not mixed with cane sugar and Silver means this is non-aged, young, natural Tequila), along with Triple Sec, flavors, sweeteners and some carbonation. The carbonation feels more like soda or…
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The Renwood Amador County Old Vine Zinfandel 2011 is 90% Zinfandel, 5% Primitivo (an Italian twin of the Zinfandel grape), 3% Syrah and 2% Barbera sourced from Renwood Estate vineyards and other old vine vineyards in Amador County. Amador County is located east of the Lodi AVA in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern California. Amador…
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The Coppola Director’s Sonoma County Chardonnay 2012 is sourced from vineyards located in several of Sonoma’s 16 sub-AVA’s. There are two Director’s Chardonnay, this one, sourced from all over Sonoma County and another sourced from a single AVA, the Sonoma Coast. The Sonoma County Chard lists for $17 (and is often discounted) the single AVA Sonoma…
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