mmmmmmmm......Bully Hill. $6 - $8 bucks a bottle. I could easily be categorized as a wine snob, but Bully Hill wines are a guilty pleasure that make me glad I live in upstate New York.

I don't know what any of you people are talking about. Manishevitz forever!

Elephantoplasty So you're one of the 'trocken' enthusiasts. I wondered who drank the stuff.

Waste of a good sweet German wine, if you ask me.

Ah, for another bottle of '76 Auslese - alas, no more....

unknown1820:

Why is australia so expensive to live in? It's kinda socialist there right? At the same time, rent, food, everything's so expensive.. so given your taxes, does that mean that most people have trouble getting enough money for even the basics?

Umm...I don't think I was talking about that?? Sorry if that's how it came off. I have no idea how expensive australia is to live in. When California wines had finished exploding (pretty much in 2000) the Australian wine bureau and many Australian producers got the idea that their wines were similar (which is yes and no) enough to california wines to drag along on their coattails. The infamous Robert Parker then spent two years hyping a select handful of wines (95 out of a 100 seemed to be Grateful Palate wines - importer wise) and the prices on the wines skyrocketed at retail and plummeted at auction. Also the limited production of each bottling because every winery/vineyard decided to cut up their productions into as many different bottlings as they thought the market would support made prices rise. Then your usual importation costs. That was what I was reffering to. All this caused a glut of wines that no one was touching with a ten foot pole, except to buy for resale at an even higher price (a practice that bugs me. A lot of retailers buy these wines at auction because their allocations are next to nothing on the wines "everybody" wants. The worse of them buy from Grey market distributors and is how we end up with so many fakes in the US. You'd be surprised at how many collectors, serious collectors have cellars loaded with fake bottlings.)

Is living in Australia expensive? Never been there.

As for German wines, not all german wines are sweet. Kabinett's are bone dry and the recently invented halbtrocken's are even drier. This came about simply to dispell the myth that all german/alsatian wines are sticky sweet. German Rieslings are harvested in a staggered manner which creates the following bottlings:

Kabinett - dry
spatlese - hints of residual sugar
Auslese - semi -sweet and thickness from sugar begins to become more notable
Beerenauslese - Sweet
Trockenbeernauslese - very sweet. very thick. Try pouring some on ice cream. mmmmmmmmmm.
eiswein - actually not as thick though ten times as fragrant and sweet as a tba an a ba.

Try a gewurtz if rieslings are too sweet.

As a former liquor store employee in oklahoma, all i can say is two buck chuck must die. when told it's not sold here, they either ask where the boones farm is, or which arbor mist tastes better. They don't care about taste or quality, Hell, if it weren't for white zinfandels they wouldn't even know how to remove a cork.

/bitterness knocking at the door

"Ah yes, but no more 1966. Lets splurge! Bring us some fresh wine! The freshest you've got - this year! No more of this old stuff."

Corporate Mofo:

Thanks for giving kudos, sorta, to Bully Hill wines. Good cheap stuff -- and bottles that reflect the best a creative drunk can produce.......

I resent the slur on Wagga Wagga wines!

And it's not expensive to live here.

To those of you wondering why you can't get cheapass California or Pacific Northwest wines in your neck of the woods, or who are annoyed that your favorite beer from back home costs an arm and a leg where you live now--try to remember that it costs money to ship wine & beer. It's fragile, it weighs a lot more than other consumables and it has to be kept in climate-controlled conditions, all of which aren't cheap.

I sell wine & beer for a living and it always irks me when people complain about how much imported beer costs stateside, or how much less expensive such-and-such wine was when they were on their European or Californian vacation. Well, duh! You have to pay for service and in these cases, the service is shipping to your corner store. If getting things from point A to point B was so easy and/or cheap, Two Buck Chuck would be two bucks everywhere.

/off rant

Sorry. This is a pet peeve of mine.

Boone's Farm called. They want to know how you're undercutting them by 50 cents.

What about Spanish wines. My local grocery chain is selling bottles of this Manyana Spanish wine for about $6 or so a bottle. I'm interested in it. Has anyone tried it?

Charles Shaw isn't quite good, but Trader Joe's sells several other wines for $3/bottle here. There is a $3 cabernet from Italy that has become our house table wine. It doesn't have all the velvety character of a $50 bottle, but it could pass for a $25 bottle. There is a Chilean winery that makes a pretty good Cabernet and a better Chardonnay. I don't like sweet wines, so I can't comment on any of those varietals, but TJ's has plenty to choose from.

The good thing about imported wine is that it seems to have less sulfates in it, which is what gives some people head-aches when they drink wine. I'd rather buy American on priciple, but not for a head-ache.

And yes, Boones is nasty. I chugged a fifth once, and couldn't even get a buzz out of it.

Wow! 2 bucks for a bottle of wine. By following this winemakers efficient methods, and with perserverence, I feel confident that bottled water companies should be able to get a 1 litre bottle of water down to at least $4.99. Perhaps in time even $4.50 would be possible but lets be realistic here, those people are not miracle workers. I mean it's not like you can just pump that stuff out of the ground and sell it haha!

You can get jugs of bottled water for a buck at Walgreens. $.58 At Wal-Mart.

What about Spanish wines. My local grocery chain is selling bottles of this Manyana Spanish wine for about $6 or so a bottle. I'm interested in it. Has anyone tried it?
haven't tried that one, but imo there are alot of great, inexpensive spanish wines- try castano for e.g.

I love two-buck chuck. It may not be as good as a thirty-dollar bottle of wine - but it is as good or better than most of the $10-$12 bottles I get. It is definitely the best wine for the price.

greenB:

Small world, I was stationed at Nellingen Kaserne back when it was an airfield (and still open!).

Thanks to the volksmarches through the Neckar River valley vineyards, I developed a healthy appreciation for German whites - but sadly have never found a single bottle of that region's wine for sale over here (SE U.S.) since I came back.

It might amuse you that Dinkel Acker is sold over here as a "high-premium true German beer." IIRC, it was the local cheap-stuff-to-get-a-buzz, but their brewpub was pretty good (and right down the street from the hospital my girlfriend's worked & lived at).

I would kill for another liter of Stuttgarter Hofbrau though....

I_farked_yo_mama:


Spanish wine is almost across the board good. Much less formality than the french crap. The only problem is that there really isn't a lot of good export of the Spanish stuff. Try it, if you like it, go with it. I personally love the stuff.

The spanish are like the french, except the wine is better, the people are frendlier, and the men aren't queer.

New label change & marketing strategy:

2 Buck Chuck Suck'N F*ck

The wine that hooks you up.

phriedom
The good thing about imported wine is that it seems to have less sulfates in it, which is what gives some people head-aches when they drink wine. I'd rather buy American on priciple, but not for a head-ache.

You mean sulfite, sulfates are something else, I can't recall right now (too much ontario chardonnay*) but I think the whole "alergic to sulfite" thing is a bit psychosomatic... folks will put back a bottle or two and blame it on the sulfites... that's definetly the cause of the headache, the sulfites.

*if I could buy decent $2-7 wine in Ontario, I'd be much happier.

umm...yes ..forgive me father ...for I have consumed the 2-Buck Chuck.
For I have 3 Trader Joes near me....LOL
Well..it's palatable well-marketed table wine.
Beats anything out there for 2 bucks.
Probably could sell for 5 bucks.
The Merlot is probably the best of the lot..however... recently it seems... not quite as good.
Glad to see more Americans getting used to...and enjoying the concept of table wines.
Good for the economy too.
3 miles before you turn the tractor... indeed!

....btw...Whenever you have a glut of premium wine..as we have had the last few years here in California ..as well as world-wide....what are ya gonna do with all of it??
Hence the origin of 2-Buck Chuck.

A good cheap wine is Robert Mondavi's Cabernet Sauvignon that goes for less than $9/bottle at Costco. Immensely drinkable, and it doesn't leave me with the headaches that I get from cheap Aussie reds like Rosemont Estate Shiraz.

I work at Trader Joe's, and we are making millions from you drunks.

http://www.guglielmowinery.com/BYOB.htm

Yes, the Spanish wines are the best.

If you can find a bottle of Bendejo, grab it.

LordZorch

you don't have Whole Foods there for that?

Oh, and at Muncie Liquors by my friend's off Ball State campus house sells Boone's Farm bottles for $1.79.

Oh, and for those that are going to spain, hit your local Hypermercado, Hippecor, or Consum for good, cheap stuff.

This is not a correct use of the term "sour grapes". The term does not refer to jealousy; it refers to the rationalization of failure. In Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes", a fox attempts to get over a fence to get to the grapes on the other side. When he fails, he figures they'd probably have been sour anyway.

/end rant

This is not a correct use of the term "sour grapes". The term does not refer to jealousy; it refers to the rationalization of failure. In Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes", a fox attempts to get over a fence to get to the grapes on the other side. When he fails, he figures they'd probably have been sour anyway.

Fark equivalent = "I submitted this earlier with a much funnier headline"

Take note, some very good wines under $20:

J Lohr Seven Oaks Cab - ~$16

Estancia Merlot (Cab is good as well) - ~$13

Blackstone Merlot - ~$8

Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Zinfandel - ~$10

Ravenswood Vineyard Zinfandel - ~$8

Rodney Strong Merlot - ~$13

I second rawsta's list (esp. Dancing Bull) and move to add Big House Red from Bonny Doon ($8).

I am by no means a wine conisour(sic) but I have tried a far amount and brew my own so have somewhat of a clue at least of what I like.

I tried this stuff back a few weeks ago, some friend had flown in from California and were raving about it. So I figured what the hell, I make good wine myself for about 2 bucks a bottle. Honestly, I don't see what everyone is raving about. Sure it seems like a great table wine, but it is by no means the be all end all.

greenB: No need to totally rethink your cliches of Munich people. Just know that this is probably one of the most "sophisticated" spots in Europe, and when the old folks aren't wearing lederhosen and tracht, guzzling liter upon liter of golden goodness, they are appreciating the fine snobbery life has to offer. Such as wine. And fur, and antiques, etc.

fireteacher:
Heh, I know that pub. My school was some 50 meters away from it. (Good location for a school, hmm?) But DInkelacker being "Premium"? Hard to believe. It's not bad for its price, but there are better beers.
Their Weizen is really good, it's named Sanwald. But you are right, the best Stuttgart Bier is Hofbru.

Elephantoplasty:
Thanks for the update. :D
I have been to Munich only once. Back in school. we visited some museum there, so I don't know anything about the city or the people themselves.

Heres the deal:
2 Buck Chuck started when they had a bunch of leftover wine one year. Like any other winery, they simply blended it and bottled it up, and sold it as a cheap red. people discovered that it was really good, mainly because the left over wine that was blended together was actually good, more expensive wine. People found out, and they started selling like crazy.
As soon as the stock ran out, what did they do? Rather than let the fluke go down in history, they rode the "Charles Shaw" name, and kept on bottling stuff. Problem is, the stuff now isn't nearly as good as the original batch. And probably never will be again.
You want a good cheap wine? Bonny Doon has great wines, especially their Big House Red, about $8/bottle.

interesting- last year I got a case of two-buck cab, and
it was darn good stuff...I got a few of this year's and it
wasn't nearly as good as last year's. BTW, if you have
a trader joe's , try some Barefoot wines- consistently good
stuff at about six bucks a bottle.

Nowadays all the winos have luck
To get fine wine for just two bucks
They slurp it and scarf it---
Then throw up and barf it---
And that's why they call it "Up-Chuck".

V'Sattui
http://www.vsattui.com/

nuff said

Despite ts detractors, 3 buck Chuck as it's known here in Phoenix, sells a helluva lotta units. I buy it by the case. Quality does vary some. However, IMO, the Cabernet Savignon and the Cabernet Savignon Blanc are usually pretty decent.One can buy better, of course, but not consistently until one is in the $8-10 dollar a bottle range. I don't care for teh Merlot or the Chardonnay, but what the heck. At least they are putting the brake on the prices of the loweer and mid range wines, eh? There is a reason why the other wineries are biatching, and it has to do with dollars lost to competition. This stuff beats the hell outta the similarly priced crap I used to get in college many years ago.

Despite ts detractors, 3 buck Chuck as it's known here in Phoenix, sells a helluva lotta units. I buy it by the case. Quality does vary some. However, IMO, the Cabernet Savignon and the Cabernet Savignon Blanc are usually pretty decent.One can buy better, of course, but not consistently until one is in the $8-10 dollar a bottle range. I don't care for teh Merlot or the Chardonnay, but what the heck. At least they are putting the brake on the prices of the loweer and mid range wines, eh? There is a reason why the other wineries are biatching, and it has to do with dollars lost to competition. This stuff beats the hell outta the similarly priced crap I used to get in college many years ago.

RockIsDead:
Fark equivalent = "I submitted this earlier with a much funnier headline"

lol... No, but I don't blame you. I'd probably assume the same thing. I was actually channeling George Carlin there... Your explanation is actually another situation in which someone might incorrectly use the term "sour grapes".