[SkaredShtles]

So what are your favorites for under, say, $15 a bottle? I'm always looking for good vino at a fair price. I find that I like versatile food friendly wines, like one I found last year:

2001 Marchesi di Barolo Barbera d'Alba Ruvei

And another good food-friendly one:

2003 Tractor Shed Red

Any other favorites folks have I might try out?

-S.S.-

 

[Ridemonkey]

Red Truck is only 10 bucks a bottle and it's great. "Wine By Joe" is a nice Oregon pinot noir at 15.

 

[biggins]

i prefer Yellow Tail cabernet souvignon. Also Little Penguin is good.

 

[henrymiller]

Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joes. Only $1.99.

 

[narlus]

wolf blass shiraz green label (about 10-12)
marques de caceras rioja (usually around 12-14)
guigal cote-du-rhone (can be had for $8 a bottle!)

just some of faves...

i saw yr barbera comment in the stosh money thread. one great barbera if you can find is clerico's tre vigne bottling...not too expensive (probably about $20 now) but it's so damn good. i've got 2 or 3 of clerico's barolos in my wine fridge, in a deep sleep. i must resist the urge to open 'em for at least another decade.

 

[-BB-]

Beer

 

[arboc!]

beer you filthy wino hippy ...only joking

 

[SkaredShtles]

beer you filthy wino hippy ...only joking

Beer goes with a completely different food. Our family eats a *LOT* of pasta with pesto, tomato, and tomato-cream sauces. These beg for food-friendly red wine.

Oh - and when the steak gets tossed on the grill I'm looking for a beefy red with some tannin........

-S.S.-

 

[berkshire_rider]

i prefer Yellow Tail cabernet souvignon

You can get a 1.5L for <$15.

 

[binary visions]

I'm very partial to the Francis Coppola Rosso blend. It's mild enough to not be offensive to whatever you eat with it, but still has a good flavor.

I'm not a wine connoisseur by any means (I do try my share of wines, though), so take it with a grain of salt, but it's still one of my favorites, and can be had for around $10/bottle. I always keep a bottle of it on hand.

 

[OGRipper]

I don't really have a fave, there are bunch of wine shops near me that have a rotating selection of wines around $10. The other night I had a great inexpensive bottle of Red Bicyclette, it's a Rhone style blend imported by Gallo, about $10. Very tasty, mostly Syrah as I recall, a great everyday wine for quaffing with pasta, poultry, mushrooms, that kind of thing. Yum I think I need more tonight...

 

[Pau11y]

Parducci Shiraz ~ $14.00 (this is old info, may have gone up recently)

 

[Five]

wolf blass shiraz green label (about 10-12)
marques de caceras rioja (usually around 12-14)
guigal cote-du-rhone (can be had for $8 a bottle!)

just some of faves...

i saw yr barbera comment in the stosh money thread. one great barbera if you can find is clerico's tre vigne bottling...not too expensive (probably about $20 now) but it's so damn good. i've got 2 or 3 of clerico's barolos in my wine fridge, in a deep sleep. i must resist the urge to open 'em for at least another decade.

That E. Guigal is one of my fav's.

Also, Masciarelli Montepulciano d' Abruzzo
Rosemont Shiraz
Louis J'adot Beaujolais Villages

 

[HarryCallahan]

Randall Graham of Bonny Doon marches to his own drummer. This is almost always good, and widely available.

 

[fonseca]

Santa Ema Reserve cab $8
Santa Ema Reserve merlot $8
Los Vascos cab $7
Frontera cab/merlot blend 1.5L $7 <--dirt cheap

All Chilean, all awesome buys, with a great flavor that Cali reds can't match IMO. The Santa Ema blows away others costing 2x as much. Yellowtail cab/merlots and their blends aren't bad for the money either, and are available in a lot of supermarkets. Their Shiraz is okay too.

For a truly awesome red at a reasonable price, try Marques De Riscal's Rioja, from Spain. The Reserva '99 is fairly inexpensive, should be around $15. I have a bottle of '94 waiting for the right occasion.

Of course, I cook with wine more than I drink it. Beer me, or give me something with a kick.

 

[berkshire_rider]

Yellowtail cab/merlots and their blends aren't bad for the money either, and are available in a lot of supermarkets. Their Shiraz is okay too.

Uncorked this a few hours ago......

 

[SkaredShtles]

Resurrecting the thread before it dies! I had a really nice Spanish recently:

Borsao Red (mostly garnacha with some other stuff)

In years past their Tempranillo has been really good too, although I haven't tried their most recent releases.

-S.S.-

 

[OGRipper]

That Borsao is usally pretty good, full flavor for so few bucks.

My new favorite cheap red wine is the Three Theives Zinfandel. It comes in a one liter jug (complete with thumb hole) with a screw cap for about $10. Yes, one liter, not 750ml like a regular bottle. The wine is pretty good, not a powerhouse zinfandel by any stretch but good for an everyday or party wine.

And I don't care what anyone says, screw caps are cool, especially since I read today that 8% of all wine is tainted to some extent by a bad seal or cork.

 

[narlus]

i picked up a couple bottles of Red Knot shiraz a few weeks ago and opened one last night. pretty good stuff, and i think the price ($11 or so) qualifies for this thread.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>
And I don't care what anyone says, screw caps are cool, especially since I read today that 8% of all wine is tainted to some extent by a bad seal or cork.

Theoretically, at least, since I've not yet purchased any that have had a screw cap. Here in Colorado the dry really pushes the envelope of the corks, too.....

-S.S.-

 

[OGRipper]

Yeah there aren't that many yet but I think we'll start to see more and more screw caps. Lots of aussie and new zealand wines already come that way, and Bonny Doon and some others. People need to get over associating screw caps with crappy wine.

But I have to admit there's something about pulling a cork. Maybe the best approach is the newer artificial "corks," with those there is no cork taint and you still get to use your favorite puller.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>But I have to admit there's something about pulling a cork. Maybe the best approach is the newer artificial "corks," with those there is no cork taint and you still get to use your favorite puller.

I've had a bunch of wines with those......... look good to me.

But I suppose there's some drawback to those that we don't yet know about.

-S.S.-

 

[OGRipper]

Well one thing is that they take some of the mystery out of aging...real corks have some variation in density, etc., so two of the same bottles can age differently. I understand the "fake" corks have some breathability built in but am not sure.

 

[TreeSaw]

i prefer Yellow Tail cabernet souvignon. Also Little Penguin is good.

Black Swan and Wally's Hut are also good Aussie wines for very little $!

 

[SkaredShtles]

Had another really nice Italian red:

2002 Carpineto Dogajolo - really nice Sangiovese/Cab blend.........

Got it as a gift, but I think locally it's around $10.

-S.S.-

 

[narlus]

good one, i'll have to keep my eye out for that. i love a good cheap italian wine.

 

[SkaredShtles]

good one, i'll have to keep my eye out for that. i love a good cheap italian wine.

I think I'm going to go out and get a *case*......... neaky:

-S.S.-

 

[xy9ine]

i prefer Yellow Tail cabernet souvignon. Also Little Penguin is good.

i second the little penguin! really liked the shiraz.

 

[antm]

another vote for the Black Swan Cabernet Sauvignon. good stuff ! currently enjoying a bottle.

edit: actually anything black swan is currently at the top of my list; as well as well as Balduzzi cabernet sauvignon.