Shingleback Sparkling Shiraz Black Bubbles

Sparkling Shiraz is a new wine to me. They don’t usually sell for less than $20 a bottle. I think I paid $19.99 for this wine at my local shop but I did find it online for just under $19. Fortunately it makes the cut for this website.

Sparkling Shiraz isn’t your traditional sparkler but it sure is fun to drink. I had this bottle along with some of my favorite Virginia BBQ from Portlow Brothers. Great combination. You can drink this wine with BBQ or pizza or any other rich casual food.

Now on to the tasting notes. This is a solid wine. It has all the deep colors and flavors of a Australian Shiraz but also has the crisp freshness of a sparkling wine. I had this wine at a slightly chilled temperature and then at a colder temperature and liked it better when it was coldest. I picked up blackberry and deep red fruits on the mouth. It was very supple and smooth.

Price: $19
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Sparkling Shiraz
Country: Australia
Cheap Wine Rating: 92

Buy it here: SandCreek Wine

Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine – 2007

I was walking around Safeway doing some grocery shopping and saw this Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine on sale. For $7 I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m hoping to get more into the bubbles so we might as well start with best known cheap wine label, Yellow Tail.

I was pleased with this purchase. I’ve read some reviews of this wine online where people stated that they tasted rotten fruit and that the wine was junk. Maybe they had a bad bottle. My opinion is much closer to Wine Spectator who scored this wine a 86.

The Yellow Tail sparkling wine is sweet, that’s the fist thing you will notice. There is a very little bit of spice and pear flavors as well. As you can see from the picture we did manage to finish the bottle. For $7 its a bottle I would buy again.

Price: $7
Vintage: 2007
Varietal: White Sparkling
Country: Australia
Cheap Wine Rating: 84

Buy it here: The Grape Tray

Cristalino Brut Cava

Such a good wine.  This Cava has proven to be my favorite of all the cheap bubbles out there.  I’ve had this wine more than 5 different times.  I think the reason I keep buying it is it’s above average quality in an $8 bottle.  You can’t go wrong with that. After doing a little research I Read more

Rosemount Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

I liked the Rosemount 2005 Shiraz and had hoped that the Cabernet Sauvignon would compare well.  I haven’t reviewed that 05 Shiraz on this site and I don’t plan to because you can’t find it anymore.  Read more

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

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.
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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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