Three Rivers Cabernet – 2004

Three Rivers Winery has a history of getting great ratings from wine spectator. This wine came in at a spectator rating of 87 which made me hope it would be a decent wine. You can read more about this winery here: Three Rivers Winery.

It looks like they produce a lot of great wines, but this 2004 Cabernet didn’t meet my expectations. On the nose I picked up cedar and some cherry fruit. Maybe even some bug spray? Not sure exactly but it wasn’t good. On the taste I got more cedar with sour cherry and very bitter tannins. Not much good to say about this wine today.

Price: $18
Vintage: 2004
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: USA – WA
Cheap Wine Rating: 77

Buy it here: Cheap Wine Store

Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

The Sebastiani vineyard and winery is located in Sonoma, CA. Samuele Sabastiani bought the vineyard in 1904 and it has been in the family ever since. This is one of the few winerys in Sonoma that has a blog so you can keep up with them throughout the year. You can find their wines online and at your local grocery stores.

I recently got to try their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. It had a very nice inky plum color to it. On the nose I got plum and cherry with some pepper. In the mouth the taste was much more subtle but I was very surprised by the balance and structure of the wine. The only thing missing from making this a great wine is complexity. The cherry and plum flavors were light but the finish lasted and lasted. I really liked the tannins on this wine.

Price: $15
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: USA – CA
Cheap Wine Rating: 90

Buy it here: Central Avenue Wines

2007 Castle Rock Pinot Noir – $9

Cheap Pinot Noir is hard to come by.  Its rare that you will find a Pinot from California for under $10.  When you do you just cross your fingers, close your eyes and hope it’s not junk.  This cheap Pinot will put a smile on your face.

Castle Rock Winery was started in 1994 and is located on the Sonoma Coast in California.  They focus on producing high quality wines at cheap prices.  Their 2007 Pinot Noir fits the mold perfectly.

This wine has a nice nose mostly dominated by black cherry.  You will also find a little spice and smoke.  In the mouth I found black cherry that was rounded off by juicy plum.  It was very well balanced with nice tannins.  Its not very complex but the fruit is very solid making this a great value wine.

Tissot Cremant Du Jura – Sparkling Wine

This was a fun wine to try. It comes from the little known Jura mountains in Eastern France. Jura produces a few grapes that are rarely found anywhere else in the world which enables the region to create some very unique wines. Each year tourist flock to the winter wine festival where that years wines are released for the first time. You can read more about the events here: NY Times Travel.

I found this sparkling wine to be very complex. I tasted it straight out of the fridge and got a little soapy lemon flavor. It was very dry with a long finish full of bitter apple and zippy citris. As I let it warm up I started to find more in the nose and mouth. Once it was at about room temperature I also picked up creamy apple stone on the nose and finish. In the mouth I got some of the stone apple with some honey sickle spray if there is such a thing. Overall I thought it was pretty good.

Price: $18
Vintage: NV
Varietal: Sparkling Wine
Country: France
Cheap Wine Rating: 86

Buy it here: Cheap Wine Store

Wine Tasting Clubs

Wine tasting clubs can be a lot of fun. If you join a club you pay an upfront fee and you get shipped a few bottles of wine to taste at home. Its a great way to expand your wine experience and interact with other people. So which club should you join? Well that depends on what you are looking for. I’ve reviewed a couple wine tasting clubs below. Read more

Columbia Crest Merlot 2005

Do you miss Christmas? Doesn’t this bottle look like a Christmas tree wine bottle? I’m trying to do better about taking pictures before all the wine is gone but I obviously failed to do so this time.

I’m not usually a big fan of Merlot but this wine was very enjoyable. For those Merlot fans out there, maybe I just need to spend more time looking for good Merlot, who knows. This one makes me have hope. The Columbia Crest Merlot was very well balanced with cherry and herbal notes. The fruit flavors were very ripe. I also picked up a little bit of spice on the nose and the taste.

Price: $12
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Merlot
Country: USA – WA
Cheap Wine Rating: 90

Buy it here: Wine.com

Yellow Tail Chardonnay 2007

Pay attention to this Chardonnay post. This is probably why you are at this website. I bought this wine from Safeway for $4.40 (along with three other Yellow Tale wines). This one though, I really liked. Its not a wine I would pay over $10 for but at $4.40 its an incredible value. If you have a Safeway grocery store close by go look for this wine. (On sale in November of 2008).

On the nose of this wine I got a very clean sharp aroma of melon, mango and vanilla. In the mouth this wine was creamy and balanced. The only thing holding this wine back is something that I notice in a lot of yellow tail wines… it was a little watery. I can’t say for sure but do you ever drink a yellow tail wine and get the feeling that they added a little water to it? Sometimes I do and I noticed it here again. But whatever it is, its very small and doesn’t interfere with the taste that much. The finish of this wine had just a slight tough of butter, just enough to let you know its a chardonnay. I really like this wine for the price. Anytime you see it for less than $10 is worth buying.

Price: $6
Vintage: 2007
Varietal: Chardonnay
Country: Australia
Cheap Wine Rating: 89

Buy it here: Wine Chateau

Hyatt Wine – Canvas

Canvas is the wine label for the in house wines you will find at any Hyatt hotel. The Michael Mondavi family developed the Canvas wines for Hyatt. I’m a frequent guest at the Hyatt and I’ve had the privilege of tasting their wines on a few different occasions.
Read more

Erath Pinot Gris 2006

Another solid wine from the Erath winery. The Erath winery is located in Dundee, Oregon. They have produced a lot of great wines in the last couple of years. They are most popular for the high quality Pinot Noir wines. Their best Pinots go for $30-$40 a bottle.

But here we have the 2006 Erath Pinot Gris for less than $20. I thought this was a very good wine for the price. On the nose I got tangerine, peach and vanilla. In the mouth this wine was very light and clean. It feels and tastes similar to its clear bright color. I tasted melon and pineapple in the mouth and on the finish.

Overall I liked this wine quite a bit and would be willing to buy it again. Nice bottle label too.

Price: $15
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Pinot Gris
Country: USA – Oregon
Cheap Wine Rating: 90

Buy it here: Mid Valley Wine

Wynns Chardonnay 2005

John Riddoch founded the Coonawarra Estate and planted the first vines in 1891. It was later purchased by where he eventually planted the vines in 1891. David Wynn purchased the vineyard in 1951 and the Wynns family has been producing the wine ever since. You can read more about the vineyard and its history here.

This was a fairly decent chardonnay. I expected a little more out of it given the excellent 05 vintage. The nose has aromas of peach and lime. On the taste I got what seemed like an average chardonnay to me. Just a little citrus and buttery oak. There was a small hint of caramel as well.

Price: $13
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Chardonnay
Country: Australia
Cheap Wine Rating: 87

Buy it here: winerz

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