This is a series of weekly bargain wine picks by the members of the Vintage Wine Tasting Club. We meet every other month for a formal tasting session but in between we communicate with each other whenever we discover a great wine bargain. We love the sport of bargain wine hunting. Here are our bargain wine picks from the past week.
Pennywise Pinot Noir 2009 Pinot Noir – $7.89 Cost Plus, $9.99 K&L Wines (Bruce’s Pick)
This one is a real charmer. It is definitely on the lighter side but a real “Wow!” I drank this wine not expecting much but it was very satisfying. It has loads of spices particularly cinnamon. The Wine Enthusiast gave it 90 Points and has included it on its top 100 Bargain Wines for 2011. Joe gave it an 85 on his review of the Cost Plus Red Wine Sale. I am a big fan of Pinot and I think this is a great everyday wine bargain.
Delas “St-Esprit” Côtes du Rhône 2009 – $8.69 Cost Plus, $9.99 K&L Wines (Joe’s Pick)
This Côtes du Rhône is 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, with Carignan and Mourvedre rounding out this enjoyable wine. It has very delicious aromas characteristic of Syrah. Blackberries and spice mark this wine with a nice balance of acidity and tannins. This wine is remarkable at this great price and I consider this wine to be a gem of a discovery. Robert Parker rates this wine at 90 Pts.; I will go with an 88-Pt. rating. The Cost Plus Red Wine sale goes through the end of October and then the wine will return to its regular price of $12.99.
European Wine Bloggers Conference
Janelle and I are off to the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Brescia,Italy, on Tuesday. The conference excursions plus our own personal itinerary will take us to these Italian wine areas: Franciacorta, Chianti Classico, Aldo Adige, Soave, and Piedmonte. We will be learning as much as we can about the Italian wine country and, of course, keeping our eye on outstanding bargains and values. There should be plenty of those to be discovered in our travels. We will try to keep up posting on GoodCheapVino.com, but we will mainly be posting our trip on another of our blogs: TheWineTravelers.net. Please follow us on both of these blogs.
This a.m I went to Costco and they have the Delas 09 Cote du Rhone for $8.99. They seem to have plenty.
They both sound yummy! Enjoy the conference and can’t wait to hear more great wine deals!
I’ve been drinking the Delas Frères CdR’s for years. They have two tiers: the St. Esprit and their Cotes du Ventoux (a little cheaper). The St. Esprit is deeper than the CdV but both are real great wines for the price.
One of my local wine stores has the Pennywise Pinot Noir for $8.99 or $9.99. I will have to pick up a bottle and try it!