Estancia Cabernet 2016|Paso Robles California F or goodness-sake. It’s February 24th and it’s 80 degrees. We have azaleas starting to pop, the bradford pear is littering my driveway. I just finished mowing the grass and fertilizing the weeds. I can’t decide what hurts worse, my feet or my back. Mrs. Dan made some sweet potato chips and a $5 rotisserie chicken and a $6.99 bottle of wine from Costco. It was a perfect dinner to recover from a day of yard work. She bought two wines at $6.99. I recognized one as a fairly bad wine we received in a Christmas package. So I selected the Estancia Cab. I popped it open and as usual took a quick sip without giving it a chance to open up. Yuck. A bit tart. A funny sense of sweetness on the tip of the tongue but every other part of my mouth was…

Belle Ambiance Cabernet Sauvignon 2015|California I was checking out the on-sale stuff at Publix on senior discount day. (Unfortunately alcohol doesn’t quality for the old fart discount). I haven’t done a cheap wine bastard review in a while so I sought out something under $10 I haven’t tried. Then I saw a $9.99 bottle marked down to $7.99. Right up my alley. Belle Ambiance Cabernet Sauvignon was the pick of the evening. I wanted something I could sip as I walked around the backyard checking out the tomatoes and peppers in our garden. We have started to pick quite a few, much earlier than last year. I think its from that Global Warming that the Democrats caused. As I sipped I thought that this was a nice little cab. Not over-the-top extruded fruit. Nothing fancy but for $7.99 it beats expectations. Back in side I cheated and cut up a…

Cusumano Nero d’Avola 2014|Sicily I have no clue as to where I got this wine or how it came to be my wine rack. It could have been in a box of birthday wines Mrs. Dan received last April. I could have found it on sale. I did a quick search in my wine database and found I tried this back in 2010 when it was featured at a wine tasting at Ninth Street. I wish I could figure it out because I would like to buy some more. There was an “Easter egg” I found with this wine. It has a glass cork or rather a glass stopper. I’ve never seen a wine come with a glass stopper. Pretty cool. I like the Nero d’Avola grape. It is an indigenous to Sicily. Wikipedia says it is Italian for “Black of Avola” and is named Avola for the far southern…

Cutler Creek Cabernet Sauvignon |California I t’s been a while since I visited my cheap wine bastard roots. I was in Bi-Lo last week sniffing out bargains in the meat aisle when I saw the display right there between the hamburger and the steaks. Cutler Creek for $3 with the Bi-Lo card. I said heck yes. When reviewing really cheap wine I always start with a label’s cabernet especially if it’s out of California. If they mess up a cab then I doubt they’ll get any other varietals right. Bi-Lo also had Suddenly Salad, the pasta salad kit at 10 for $10. I’m on a cheap bastard roll. So while making up a cheap and quick dinner with the caesar flavored Suddenly Salad I broke open the Cutler Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. I was also making some sourdough bread tomato crumpets. My beloved mother called bread topped with tomato and cheese…

It was $6 at Kroger. I couldn’t resist. A limited release as well. Hot dog! Now I’m glad it’s warm outside and too warm to be drinking winter blends. Nah, the temperature outside seldom influences what I drink unless it’s 100 degrees. I’m just glad this is a limited release because this is worth about what I paid for it. Now Barefoot is a wine that jumps around in price. I’ve seen it for $10.99 and on sale for $4 depending on the varietal and most likely depending on how many cases the store sprung for. This is almost syrupy wine. Sweet. I was trying to find a flavor to describe it and it was Robotussin. Cherry-flavored Robotussin. I’ve bought Barefoot before liked it but it’s usually the Merlot or the Cab. This wine isn’t one of the 33 flavors they feature on their website. They don’t list this one…

B eing a cheap wine bastard I buy a lot of boxed wine. Some are bad (Vin Vault) and some are good. Botabox (except for their 1.5 liter box). I saw Rockys Block on the shelf at Vineyard Wine Market and said gotta try it. 3 liters of wine will last a while. I hope it’s good. They have a Pinot, a Cab, a Zin and a Chard. I went for the Zin. The box says “Deliciously smooth, jammy, complex, blackberry, robust, dark fruit, full, bold flavors.” The label is a very neat ransom note. I added the apostrophes. Basically these words are all over the place. I’m not sure if they link together or not. According to the side label Rocky is “Robert Reynolds” and he says “From my block to yours.” The label goes on to say “Here is what defines Rocky… Growing grapes from family-owned vineyards for…

Dreaming Tree Crush Red Blend 2012 | North Coast, California I have had Red Crush before at several areas tastings. I’ve always liked it because it was a nice blend that tastes different every year. But I had an ulterior motive in selecting this week. It has a tree on the label. And it didn’t hurt that I’ve always liked what Dave Matthews (yeah, that Dave Matthews) and the vintners at Dreaming Tree do with their wines-in the bottle and with their appreciation of the environment (check their website for all of the sustainability practices they follow). I wanted a “tree” wine to help promote Trees for Augusta photo contest. The deadline to enter is this week, May 8th. You can enter 2 different categories and in the process help Trees for Augusta in their work with helping restore trees along many roadways. (The promo photo of the old 5×7…