The Gentle Giants, as it translates to English, is just that. While this wine is from Tuscany and it tastes very Italian, it is interesting that it is comprised of zero sangiovese grapes. It is actually a Cab-Merlot blend with thirty percent Alicante Bouschet mixed in. What is that? Well, it is a grape that is a cross of Petit Bouschet and Grenache. 1 The Alicante Bouschet lends a deep red hardiness to the blend. In a similar fashion to…
God bless Trader Joe’s! This wine is the best wine you can buy for $5.99 a bottle! In fact, this would be a really solid wine at $15.99 a bottle. I honestly don’t know how they make this for what you can buy it at TJ’s but this is the go-to house-wine for our place. I like just drinking this by itself at 65-68˚F, but is also pairs very well with stews, duck, steak and hard cheeses. The biggest contributor…
We all know that Costco blesses oenophiles with great values at any price point. While The Cheap Wino is focused on value wines at $20 and below, I’ve been to a Costco selling each of the 5 first growths from Bordeaux – Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. Amazing! But still waaaaayyyyy beyond The Cheap Wino’s budget. For this remarkable wine, we are migrating south to Spain to Rioja, a very proud wine growing region…