Value Wine Experiment – 3 Reds under $15.00
As an experiment, 2 friends and I decided to head down to a neighborhood liquor market at around 9:00 pm to pick up some value wine (nothing over $20), rate it and see what kind of service one can expect on a Friday night in the city of Calgary.
Our travels took us to 4th Street Liquor, which is your run of the mill liquor store, providing the everyday consumer with all the basics pertaining to offerings of wine, beer and spirits. I am often asked, and was this night by my fellow experiment observers as to what I look for when I am shopping for wine, which quite frankly, is an excellent question that I find myself now pondering an answer to. I think one of the first things that I am interested in is finding a price barometer, in the sense that I look for a wine that is available at my local store and use that to see what kind of values the store is offering. I am not sure why I do this, probably because I want to know if the store is trying to rip consumers off but nevertheless, it is one of my first goals. From there, I usually I spend at least an hour, going from section to section, evaluating all of their product and attempting to make some decisions about what I am looking for. (cellar dwellers, never before sampled, wine to pair with food, easy drinkers, stunning values etc.)
Most stores worth anything will queue a cashier or attendant of some kind to query about how one is doing and if help is needed. I always, always will try to talk with this person to see what kinds of questions they ask and what they recommend. My assistance came in the form of a 50 something year old clerk named Dave, who asked me what I was looking for (I answered value red) and whisked me immediately to some sub 10 dollar red that he admittedly didn’t enjoy himself but liked the price of and wanted me to buy. After I asked what else he had, he pulled me over to an Australian blend which seemed interesting as a 2005 at 11 dollars, so I made it my choice.
Going back to what my crew had chosen….Ian grabbed a 2007 Chilean Cabernet and David jumped on an 2006 Argentine Malbec, with none of our selections coming in over 15 bones.
The three choices were:
Bleasdale Langhorne Crossing
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: $10.99
Coming in as the biggest value with the highest alcohol content (14.5%), this Aussie red blend was a thin, Kool – Aidish looking effort giving off slight hints of oak and some berry fruits on the nose. On the palate, it was slightly one dimensional with lots of biting tannins and tons of residual sugar. Drinkable, but not by very much.
65 points
Concha Y Toro Casillero Del Diablo
Vintage: 2007
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Price: $13.99
Next up was this Chilean Cabernet, which loosely translates to Square of the Devil, which presented a dark burgundy color, with some toasted oak and heat on the nose. This wine was super dry and tannic with some cherries up front but was hot and hollow on the mid and finished thin. This wine would do well by some additional bottle time and decanting and it would not hurt it to pair with some red meat or buttery cheese.
70 points
Bodegas Escorihuela Don Miguel Gascon
Vintage: 2006
Varietal: Malbec
Price: $14.99
Finally, the most expensive selection in our experiment, this Argentine Malbec displayed a deep, rich purple tone to it. Slow to open up, the nose gave off hints of subtle oak and had such a delectable perfume to it that I couldn’t help continuing to smell it. On the palate, it was very fruit forward with full, chewy tannins. This was a unique example that is very new world in its total presentation, and I would have expected it to be around double its price.
83 points
Overall, the evening provided an excellent, inexpensive adventure from the visit to the store to the sampling of the wine. It was a great way to try new wines and enjoy our choices with friends with a variety of levels of expertise and made us think more about the complex nuances and characteristics of fermented grape juice all while having a lot of fun.
- Value Wine Experiment – 3 Reds under $15.00
- by Adrian Bryksa
- Published on October 15th, 2008
More from Adrian Bryksa:
-
Annie’s Lane Riesling
I love the versatility that Riesling offers from its potential presentation as a sticky sweet late harvest or as mouth-puckering dry example and all of the spots that it can occupy in between.
-
2008 Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival
For the third straight year, editors from Reading for New Times attended the Calgary stop of the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival. The festival brings Calgarians a taste of some of the finest wines, beers and spirits being offered in the city……
-
Book Review: Simple Truths
It’s not a new book or one that is burning down the best seller lists. Put simply, it is a guide to life written by an individual with a PHd in Theology and Art.
-
Terre da vino Barolo Poderi Scaronne D.O.C.G.
I recently spotted a lonely bottle of 2005 Amon-Ra for a bargain basement price that I left on the shelf. When I went back to buy it, it was gone and I swore that I would never leave another deal like that on the table.
-
Super Bowl Beer Sampling
After nearly choking over a thirteen dollar six pack, I decided that my sampling would be done based off of 500 mL cans of 4 various import beers coming in at an average of $2.45 per unit. Not cheap, but not unreasonable for 2 liters of the nectar of the gods.
-
Rhone Gang Hold Up #6
The appeal for this wine is going to be for consumers looking for flexibility and finesse in a red.
Other recent features:
-
Sónar 2010 – Barcelona, Spain
The festival attracts a lot of outsiders, but the Mediterranean, Spanish and more specifically Catalan nature of the people makes the festival what it is. Catalan people are passionate and this passion is infectious. The atmosphere is electric in Barcelona as a city and heightened by music and intoxicants at Sónar.
-
Summer Party Naval Styles at Seven RestoLounge
Oysters, like wine are affected by terroir and these Miyagi’s flavor profiles ranged with one showing a cleaner, almost tropical profile and the other being more salty, marine driven. As I was devouring the seemingly endless plates put in front of us, I sipped on a glass of fine sauvignon blanc.
-
R4NT Radio March 2010
R4NT Radio March 2010 um wow it’s been far too long since the last edition edition, featuring: Hector Hernandez, The Infesticons, Blockhead, Gramatik, Emika, Thunderheist, Parov Stelar, Eddy Meets Yannah, Anti-Pop Consortium, The Slew, Lighterthief, Andreya Triana, Parasyte Woman, Mathon, Venetian Snares, and Funki Porcini.
-
O Restaurant & Lounge revisited
Calgary has a diverse set of urban communities, most of which have the ubiquitous strip mall watering hole. In the South West community of Marda Loop, a reinvention of this paradigm has been established.
-
Predictions 2010.. and beyond!
So 2010 eh? Almost but not quite (no year zero they say) another decade? It seems like just yesterday that the world was waiting for Y2K. R4NT started publishing in March 2001, so we’re not quite 10 years old yet, but in internet years we are already a senior citizen.
-
Invictus
No matter what, the reality of Nelson Mandela is something that deserves screen time. Should this film even remotely intrigue the masses to take interest in this figure, the world would likely benefit greatly from it.
Click these things:
