Originally Posted by
hlburi
The problem I have with a lot of the really cheap wines (stuff like Little Penguin, etc) is that they add too much sugar to the wines and I think it makes them too sweet.
I don't consider myself a wine snob (although I wish I could afford to drink stuff like Opus One every day...but that would put me in the poor house). I do think there are lots of very good value wines and quite drinkable, in the $10 to $15 range and they don't add a lot of extra sugars.
Ugh, I agree! I couldn't even finish half a glass of the Yellow Tail cab that a friend forced on me. FAR too sickly sweet.
I agree that $10-15 is a good range for decent (not outstanding, but very drinkable) wine. As a native Paso Roblan, I'm partial to the Estancia Keyes Canyon Ranches cabernet sauvignon that I can find locally for $13 (and when I want to treat myself, their Bordeaux-style meritage sells for just under $20...though you can't find the very good 2002 or 2003 vintages in stores anymore). Several bottles I picked up on an Eastern Washington wine tour with a few other FTers were in that same range and have come out excellent.
I do enjoy nice wines like the Silver Oak Napa cab (not Alexander Valley), but at $95, I wouldn't say it's $80 better than a good $15 cab.
But I'm very suspicious of anything below $10. I'll have to try the Two Buck Chuck sometime, though, just to see if I'll be pleasantly surprised or grossed out. Of course, they're gonna have to open a TJ's here first...and likely they'll mark it up to Five Buck Chuck and claim "transportation expenses"...
(BTW, interestingly, Walmart doesn't sell alcoholic beverages up here, though I haven't tried the new SuperCenter out in Eagle River...)