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The Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 is a $5 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in California. Aldi owns the trademark for the brand name, but E & J Gallo made the wine. Neither Aldi nor Gallo offers any production information concerning this wine.
I suspect if they told us the production details, we would not be overly impressed. It is a five-dollar wine; there is a limit to how complicated the production can be. That is ok as long as the wine is enjoyable to drink, and I have come to expect very inexpensive wine to be far better than expected. We reviewed the Hwy 5 Chardonnay and it was a very good White wine.
Inexpensive White wine seems to be easier to pull off than cheap Red wine; with Red wine, you expect more body and some oak influence which will add to production costs. But E & J Gallo is a master at producing value-priced wine that gives you more than expected.
Gallo has extensive vineyard holding, including some of the most respected vineyards in California. While we do not expect the Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 to be sourced from high-end properties, Gallo has plenty of good grapes at its disposal.
In Europe, most folks who drink wine with the daily meal drink wine that sells for a couple of Euros, which is right in the Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 price range. This $5 wine is likely closer to an $8 or $9 wine. Plus, an Aldi wine sells approximately 40% less than a comparable wine from a retail wine shop. So, when you think a wine may be too cheap, it is probably not.
You get four glasses of wine from a bottle of wine, so a glass of Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 is $1.25 each. Not bad for a party wine, five bottles and 20 glasses full for $25. For a White party wine, I would recommend the Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay; it is the king of the value-priced wines and has been around for over 35 years.
So on to the tasting portion to see how Hwy 5 matches up. The alcohol content is 13%.
The Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 Tasting Notes
The color is a see-thru cherry red. The nose is subtle; cherry, soft herbs, a little spice, vanilla (can a five buck Pinot Noir have some oak aging?), and black pepper. The Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 is smooth and silky, not complex or layered, but the flavor it has is delicate.
This Aldi $5 Pinot tastes like black cherry, spice, vanilla, plum, and licorice; the flavors are a stew, no single flavor stands out. The mid-palate brings some tart cranberry, a salty sensation, and plum. The tannins are sweet, and the acidity does its job but otherwise stays out of the way.
The Summary
- The Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 is a solid 5 buck wine.
- Not the wine I would grab if I had a taste for California Pinot Noir, but as a good, cheap red wine it does well.
- If you are looking for a Red party wine that will not blow the budget the Hwy 5 Pinot Noir 2020 will be a good pick.
