Sometimes a good cheap wine is just what you want

And tonight was one of those times. Mom is 88, and we'd been out with company and eating out because of a misunderstanding, and her back has been acting up, and it was time for a good, simple, family-traditional supper.

Farfalle with sauce Bolognese (known in the family as neckties with Mom's spaghetti sauce), green salad, San Francisco sourdough bread, and Zin.

Good cheap Zin.

It was Dry Creek Heritage Zin 2003. About $12 when I bought a case a year ago.

Ripe, smooth, mouth-filling, neither acidic nor tannic, just good wine. Not something to ooh and aaah over, just to drink and enjoy.

John
Yes, a good point.
We've tended to buy upmarket as we don't tend to drink large volumes. However I do get the feeling we need a few more quaffers to provide balance. Cheap wines can be great and can provide as much enjoyment as expensive wines. The problem I guess is that it's more hit and miss with cheaper wines and there are plenty of cheapies over here with more than a touch of residual sugar (and little acidity). Still, Puglia is proving a happy hunting ground for cheapies and by all accounts Languedoc and S. France in general is also good. Well made and interesting cheapies are possibly the most rewarding finds. They might not have the complexity, but can still be perfect for the occasion.

regards

Ian

I've moved upmarket, too. I used to think "cheap" was under about $8; nowadays it's more like $12. Strangely, though, the brands in that category are still the same. I guess it's something like blowing up the air mattress.

I especially like selecting inexpensive wines when drinking with non geek friends and relatives. I like to pick something that is not so good that it makes me cringe when my brother downs a glass in one gulp, but yet good enough so that it makes even the non geek take notice. Last week I drank my way through various bottlings of Brun's Cru Beaujolais from 2005 - I don't think any of them cost me over $15 or so, and everyone enjoyed the heck out of them - especially me!

We went a little too cheap last night. We had picked up a bottle of Jacob's Creek Shiraz/Cabernet because we thought there had been a good review on it (must have been the Reserve!). We were having burgers and would have had a Beaujolais with them, but we also had leftover Moroccan veggies. Thought the Shiraz in wine would handle the latter. The wine didn't handle anything. Pure plonk.

Ditto, good point. It’s like sometimes you miss the hungry years, before you got rich and sophisticated. I remember perusing the bottles in a corner San Francisco bodega, agonizing over whether I should plunk down a couple of dollars for an Almaden or a Christian Brothers or a Charles Krug Cab to take back to our $125 a month flat and open it for my waiting wife, stirring chili con carne in a big pot. I didn’t think it could ever get any better. Even in 1992, I thought the best wine in the world was a 1985 Gallo Cab. Nothing went better with a five-pound, 3 ½ inch thick, Pittsburgh Porterhouse steak. I still don’t remember enjoying any combo more. It put me into such a pleasure frenzy once that I bit completely through my tongue. At first I thought I was going to bleed to death, but then just pretended it was coming from the cow, and didn’t lose a beat.

Covert

I've been buying a lot of cheaper Southern Italian wines lately as I like the acidity/darkness combo a lot. I want to start drinking a glass or two a night even with my bachelor suppers-it is good for you, after all, and is a nice way to relax.

Yeah, GOOD cheap isn't always right there in front of you.

I used to get a few DNPIMs when I scoured the aisles at Liqour Barn.