We love to “treasure hunt” for good cheap vino. We continue to find an amazing amount of wines in the cheap category that taste as good or better than many wines well above the $20 mark. It takes a little persistence and intuition to find these wines but if you don’t have that time, you can rely on the Vintage Wine Club members to recommend terrific bargain wines. This week we have two wines to recommend.
Tramin Pinot Grigio $13.99 BevMo
Tramin is a cooperative winery located in Alto Adige in Italy amidst the towering Dolomite Mountains. Each grape harvest the local farmers bring in their best to the winery and this Pinot Grigio is definitely in character of this region. There is just the right touch of minerality to this wine, a stony character that sets it apart from most Pinot Grigio’s from Italy. It has a great mouth feel and a good lingering aftertaste. Match this wine with seafood or chicken and you can’t go wrong. 89 Points
We visited Tramin in October at the European Wine Bloggers Conference. Reflected in the glass are the Dolomite Mountains.
Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Voignier 2010 Costco $9.99
This wine has been very popular and highly rated over the past few years and it is well deserved. There is a good amount of this wine available at various stores but Costco in Redwood City seems to have the best deal at $9.99. At BevMo it is $11.99, at Wine.com it is $12.99. This is a terrific picnic wine, I know it is not the season but you get the idea. The blend is 79% Chenin Blanc and 21% Viognier. It almost tastes like a Spanish Albariño wine. The wine is refreshing, crisp and dry, and with a bit of lime flavor. It is prefect for an aperitif with seafood appetizers. 87 Points.
Other Wine News
Reader Jack D. recommends the Carneros Creek Pinot Noir at TJ’s for $8.99. He says his guests at Thanksgiving raved about the wine.
Looking for a wine book for the bargain wine hunter? “A Toast to Bargain Wines”
Next post on GoodCheapVino, our top ten bargain wines of 2011.
The Zinfandel Festival is in January. You can win tickets by commenting on your favorite Napa Valley Zinfandel wine at the Napa Valley Wine Blog.
OOPS, 2011…. top ten…
Safeway has this very wine also for the same price as Costco but you have to buy six to get the $9.90 price. This was as of today in San Mateo.