Monica!

capitOl hill.

jesus charles.

xom

The only wines I like are Italian chianti's -- the real things with the pink label on the neck.

They are naturally cheap, but import taxes make them unnaturally high (and also, the Italians always keep the best wines for themselves and ship the lesser quality...however, it's still the best stuff for regular drink).

The problem with cheap wine is that so much of what's in the market is crap, and you'd be better off drinking beer. That's why it's worthwhile to go to a wine bar with an extensive list; you might be paying more, but at least you know you can get something good.

Bailo,

It's not the taxes, it's the dollar/euro exchange rate that makes Chianti more expensive here. And Italian wine makers ship their best stuff to Dubai these days.

I thought it was only in politics where you couldn't grasp basic facts, but clearly you're more well-rounded in your lack of fact-grasping. Never the less, who am I to disdain Chianti so I raise a glass to you.

For you actual wine drinkers: The decent cheap every day stuff is Malbec from Argentina.

Monica Bellucci is so fucking hot.

Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill!

And no, I don't feel like letting it go.

Does it make you want to turn in your lyric titles for a ticket to a new show in Spain?

#6 damn...so true, she is...and *that* is a woman's body.

I just can't hack New World wine. Too much oak curdles my tongue, too much alcohol burns, too much extraction is like drinking Welch's. You used to be able to get great cheap wine from Spain but they've gone all New World too. It's still France for me. The most important number on the label is the alcohol percentage; if it's 13.5% or less it might still taste like wine.

You're getting old Fnarf. Give me a cab and some cheese and call it a night.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a wine snob, but I sometimes wonder if we gave any food or drink the attention and care we give wine, whether we might not derive as much pleasure from it.

Also...#3, #10: Meh! Washington has some damn yummy wine. Even if you're as particular as you claim, there's something that you'd probably like, if you'd allow yourself to admit it.

@12 Agreed on the Washington wine front. Please everyone, if you haven't checked out WA wine country, go to Prosser especially, and Walla Walla as well. I'm heading off to the Willamette Valley late this month, I love offseason travel, and I hope that the summer folks haven't taken all of the good stuff with them.

Three Buck Chuck is my salve and it runs through my vessels. Not ashamed to say it! Their Cab has been tasting musty lately, however.

America needs more Monicas!

I searched high and low for a boxed wine that had merit and I agree 100% with Fnarf and 12/13.
I found the Tefft Family Cellars in Outlook has a great one - its our house wine (notice how the "house wine" changes at restaurants, kind of like "the blue plate special"?).
Plus all of their graphics are so genuinely dorky that you can't help but be charmed. "Wine for the people" and by the people. Thanks for the mention!

--D

Isenhower is my fave from Walla Walla. I sometimes can find it at Thriftway. Van Gogh-style label. Yum! Other than that I am a fan of the $7-$15 bottle range...Isenhower is a special occasion wine at $28-$35.

Fnarf, it's all about the France. We get lucky on the Chilean here though, you pay out the nose for the bad Chilean in Mexico, $20 for what's $3 here, but worse-tasting.

How cheap are we talking, Charles?

My head is gonna explode! Three or four lucid, fun, useful posts from Mr Mudede!

Portugal is where to look for wine bargains these days. It's hardly ever oaked. It's cheap (especially wine fromt he Alentejo) and it's shipped in vast quantities.
Three Buck Chuck can be great, simply becuase they just rebottle whatever they can buy in bulk on the remainder market. If there's a glut of good wine you get good wine. If however it's a lean year, you end up with some prety damned nasty central valley plonk.
There will always be good cheap wine, because when it comes right down to it, nature does most of the work, and well, Mexicans do the rest, may Allah smile upon their labor.

@5: Dos Lomos! I'm privy to tasting quite a few wines from both ends of the spectrum, and that Malbec is just so satisfying for what you pay.

If you can't find decent table wine for less than $10 at Safeway, you're doing it wrong. Here's my super-discriminating checklist for finding good, cheap wine:

1. Is it less than $10?
2. Does it have a cool label?
3. Is it a variety I like?
4. (bonus) Is it a screw cap?

This method never fails.