Red Wine & Chocolate On the Cheap

Feb 25 2011

If you’re in my age group, or maybe even if you’re not, odds are you know the feeling of buying wine on a budget. I’ve tasted great wine, and I’ve tasted not-so-great wine and one thing is constant: Price has nothing to do with the taste of a wine. However, whether the wine you want is twenty dollars or eighty dollars, sometimes it’s just more than you can afford, or want, to spend.

I was having just such a moment the other night, driving home from work and realizing “hey, it’s red wine and chocolate weekend!”  Nearly immediately after that I remembered we had just paid bills and I had almost no spendable cash till next payday. What to do, what to do…Then in a flash of glowing red neon, there it was: Walgreens.  I pulled in, & here’s what I found:

Red Diamond Winery is out of Paterson Washington and, until recently, totally unknown by me. Now, it’s almost a regular buy. When I think of Merlot, I want something fruity, smooth and drinkable all by it’s lonesome and that’s exactly what I get out of this little gem. While not a pure merlot, the added cab and cab-franc balances nicely on the palate. Cherry-vanilla on the nose with a velvety cocoa berry finish makes this wine perfect when paired with a 1.99 Whitman’s Sampler…or with nothing at all.  Plus, at a price point that usually sits below 10 bucks it’s easy to buy a bottle, even when you’re watching the wallet.  Bottom line, even if you include a wine line item in your budget, make sure you include this local treat in your next trip to the local drugstore.

~Cheers!

Snobby Specs

Vines: Somewhere in WA

Varietal(s): Merlot

Vintage: 2008

Price: $10