Grocery Wine » Winners and Losers

Three Grocery Store Reds Under $15 – Two Winners and One Loser

Phil — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:04:38 +0000

With the arrival of cooler fall weather our tastes our definitely shifting towards reds. And with the holidays around the core now is a great time to flesh out the wine collection before all the guests arrive. We’ve reviewed three cabernets over the last few weeks and found two that definitely deserve your attention and one you should avoid. They’re all available at your local grocery store (ours came from Vons aka Safeway) and all are under $15.

Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon ($14)
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Geyser Peak is known for its Sauvignon Blanc, so when I saw the Cab was on sale for under $10 I thought it would be worth a shot. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. It seemed a bit lifeless without any real distinguishing characteristics. There are better options available (for example see below).

Dancing Bull Cabernet Sauvignon ($9)
The Dancing Bull cab was new to us when we picked it up for the first time a few months back, but it has become a weeknight staple. And since it can frequently be found on sale for well under the $9 list price this one is down right cheap. The flavors are of black cherry with maybe a hint of chocolate. We’ve always liked the Rancho Zabaco zinfandel’s, and Dancing Bull is Rancho Zabaco’s sub brand, made by the same team but with grapes from outside of the Sonoma area that Rancho Zabaco normally pulls from. The benefit to you is a a great wine at a bargain price.

Red Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon ($12)
Quick! If you live near a Safeway or Vons go and buy a bottle of this right now. It’s on sale for $8! Alright, now that you’re back, here’s the rest of the review: Pronounced blackberry and black cherry flavors combine with a silky texture to make this one worthy of sharing with guests or treating yourself to a little “the kids are finally in bed” celebration. We’d somehow overlooked Red Diamond until recently when the wine guy at our local grocery store mentioned he can barely keep it on the shelf. We’ve now tried it a number of times and continue to be impressed. Based in Washington, Red Diamond has put together a great wine and even at the $12 list price this one is well worth it.

Interested in some other options? Take a look at some other posts by clicking here.

Review: Barefoot Pinot Grigio – Summertime!

Phil — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:28:40 +0000

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” -James Dent

We’ve got a couple of requirements for wine on a summer afternoon: cold, refreshing, unfussy and in our glass. As the day winds down We’re not interested in seeing how a wine’s “bouquet matures”. We’re more concerned with seeing how it helps a great afternoon mature into a great evening.

Although, Barefoot Wines are fairly commonplace and have a loyal following we’d never tasted one. For whatever reason the big footprint on the label always struck us as being a bit tacky. This plus the relatively cheap price combined to convince us this wine wasn’t worth our time. Recently though We’d had a number of people independently recommend a Barefoot wine and when we saw Safeway (aka Vons) had it on sale for a super cheap $5.50 (regularly $7.50) We decided to take the plunge. The reward was a delicious glass of Pinot Grigio which embodies everything we look for in a summer wine. A light acidity cut through the summer heat, delivering cool hints of honey and lemon and perhaps some green apple. Suddenly, I found myself energized enough to leap from my chair, stride boldly across the patio, take hold of the lawnmower and fling it out of the way as I called loudly into the house for someone to refill my glass immediately!

p.s. Turns out Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, wine columnists at the Wall Street Journal, agree with our recommendation. The Barefoot Pinot Grigio was featured in a recent column. You can read it here.

Burgers and Wine – Grilling and Grapes

Phil — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:04:46 +0000

In our house the 4th of July means burgers will be hitting the grill. With that decided we can devote all of our energy to determining what wines to have with dinner. Usually, I’d stay up late for months trying to come up with the perfect pairing for our burgers (not really), tasting thousands of wines (I wish), eating hundreds of burgers (no comment). This year though my fine friends over at Wine Spectator agreed to my request to write a couple of articles on the subject (I actually never spoke with them but I was thinking about it and then the articles were there so I still say it was my idea). Included on their list of wines for the 4th are a few grocery store staples which you should have no trouble finding at the local Safeway, Kroger, Vons, Ralphs, etc. Best of all there are a number of relatively cheap wines on the list with reds ranging in price from $11-$16 and whites from $9-$12. Listed below are our picks from the Wine Spectator articles. Enjoy and happy 4th!

Cabernet Sauvignons (from “Burgers and Red Wine for July Fourth” by Laurie Woolever at Wine Spectator)

COLUMBIA CREST Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Grand Estates $11
CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley $16
RANCHO ZABACO Cabernet Sauvignon California Dancing Bull Winemaker’s Reserve $12
BOGLE Cabernet Sauvignon California $11

Two White Options (from “Cooking Up a Fourth of July Feast” by Laurie Woolever at Wine Spectator)
HOGUE Pinot Grigio Columbia Valley $9
GEYSER PEAK Sauvignon Blanc California $12

Review: Roederer Estate Brut Champagne

Phil — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:41:34 +0000

Do you usually drink Cristal Champagne but darn it the grocery store doesn’t carry it? Never fear! Both Costco and Vons currently have the excellent Roederer Estate Brut Champagne (technically, a sparkling wine) which is made by the same family that makes Cristal. And although the price of Cristal is of no concern for you and I ($300 a bottle? Well shoot, just give me the whole case!) this great California wine is a bit cheaper slipping in at $20 at Costco and on sale at Safeway (aka Vons) for $20.83. Roederer is a long time favorite of ours and we were thrilled to find it becoming more readily available. We rushed home from the store and tossed it in the freezer to quickly chill it (a little research reveals this is a terrible idea but hey it worked for us). The question then became how long do we need to leave it in there for. Amy was the first to crack, at the 40 minute mark she suggested we take it out.

“What if it’s not cold enough yet?” I asked.

She responded, “Then I’ll say: It even tastes good warm!”

Lucky for us it was plenty cold and we didn’t have to test the taste of tepid Champagne.

Review: La Crema Chardonnay – Buy It!

Phil — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:24:20 +0000

The La Crema Chardonnay is part of the problem. Here’s the funny thing, if you asked us if we prefer reds or whites we’d say “reds” without hesitation. But as I look at which wines we’re reviewing the white’s section is definitely filling out much more quickly than the reds. Awesome California Chardonnay like La Crema take a good chunk of the blame. With a price just under $16 (on sale) this wine’s not as cheap as some wines but the end result is a buttery wine with just enough sweetness to allow it to be paired with food or to enjoy on it’s own. This one can be found at most grocery stores (Vons, Ralphs, Kroger, Safeway) and at Costco. Vons currently has the La Crema Chardonnay on sale until June 24th.

Top 5 Grocery Wines for the Week

Phil — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:11:50 +0000

It’s Friday and what better way to celebrate than by swinging by the grocery store on your way home and picking up a bottle or five of wine. Listed below are our picks for the week.

Champagne – Gloria Ferrer (on sale $15.98 at Safeway / Vons until 6/10)
Chardonnay – Bogle (on sale $8.98 at Safeway / Vons until 6/24)
Sauvignon Blanc – Dry Creek Vineyard (available at Safeway / Vons)
Cabernet Sauvignon – BV (on sale $7.76 at Safeway / Vons until 6/10)
Zinfandel – Edmeades (Costco)

Review: Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc – Buy It!

Phil — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:50:11 +0000

Warning this wine could cause relationship issues! Read on for details, but first a quick tangent: A couple of years ago we were out to dinner with some friends and our waitress recommended a wine to us. Very excited about the wine, the waitress came back seconds after pouring it asking how we liked it. Someone mumbled something about it and the waitress said “It’s really friendly right? I love it!”. From then on describing a wine as “friendly” became a running joke. Who’s going to argue if you say a wine is “friendly”? It’s the perfect non-opinion! Well, we popped open Dry Creek Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (aka Fume Blanc) and after a bit Amy decreed ”I like it! This is in all seriousness a friendly wine. Very good!”. This California wine is very easy to drink and is definitely worth picking up at your local grocery store (we got it at Vons/Safeway), particularly when it’s on sale for under $13.

But then it happened. From out of nowhere Amy said “I think I like this as well as the Kim Crawford”. As well as the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc? Are you kidding me? It’s good and variety never hurt anyone but come on! Voices were raised, fingers pointed, old skeletons trotted out: “You used to drink wine coolers!”, bottles were thrown (after we drank their contents of course). The end result, sometime in the near future we’ll post a Sauvignon Blanc shootout and resolve this once and for all. Stay tuned and feel free to sound off in the comments!

Review: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Phil — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Summer is here (even if the calendar still shows it being a month away). And with summer comes warm weather, and with warm weather comes a desire to put off running the air conditioner for as long as possible, and with no a/c comes a house which is broiling by evening, and with broiling comes a need for a cool refreshing drink. Some might say water is a logical choice but those people have clearly never had a tall cool glass of Kim Crawford.

This New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc does just about everything right. At the time of this posting this is currently our favorite white (not counting Champagne of course). Currently under $15 at Costco this wine is a great deal. Amy actually got a little Wine Spectatorish on us and jotted down the following notes:

“Perfect balance of minerals, grass and fruit. Light and refreshing. Good on its own or served with mac and cheese.”

Well, maybe that last sentence wouldn’t have been in the wine spectator review…

Review: Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut Champagne – Buy It!

Phil — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:56:08 +0000

Mmmm, my taste buds are watering just thinking about Gloria Ferrer champagne. It’s one of our all time favorite grocery store finds (and occasionally makes an appearance at Costco). Always under $20 and we’ve snagged it on sale at Vons for under $15. It’s a delicious sparkling wine which is such a good deal we have no qualms breaking it out for even the most minor celebrations. Listed below are four of the reasons we’ve used to break out the bubbly:

1. We’ve survived another day in this insane economy! Let’s celebrate!

2. Prohibition has been over since 1933! Let’s celebrate!

3. Said to a significant other while serving the champagne and looking deep into his/her eyes: “What’s the occasion? The fact that you an I are here together is reason enough for me to celebrate.” Note: this is most effective the first time it’s used. I once tried it four days in a row and it seemed to have diminishing returns (although Amy never did turn down the champagne…)

4. And my all time favorite which you can feel free to use in a pinch: Hooray! We have a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge! Let’s celebrate!

And just to get this out of the way: Gloria Ferrer is technically a California “sparkling wine” not champagne. The good people of the French province of Champagne have waged a serious and expensive effort to make sure everyone is aware champagne can only come from Champagne and who am I to thumb my nose at the French and intentionally call Gloria Ferrer champagne?

(Hey Frenchies: Gloria Ferrer champagne, champagne champagne! Ha! Ha! Ha!)

Update: Turns out we’re not the only ones who love this. Wine Spectator gave this a 90 point rating back in 2006. The Gloria Ferrer site lists some of their other accolades: www.gloriaferrer.com