Sideways, while a very good movie, has had FAR too much influence on rubes who are desperate to sound like the know what they’re talking about. Although it is fun to scare people by occasionally screaming “I’M NOT DRINKING ANY FU&*ING MERLOT!”

QOTD: Boxed “Sangria”. I was 18, poor, and we all needed to get hammered. never…ever…again…

Under $10: $2 buck chuck Chard.

But maybe had even a worse $60 experience on Father’s Day – 2005 Sea Smoke TEN (Pinot). I was so dissapointed.

I got my allocation last week, and wanted to treat myself on Dad’s Day. HOT. The most obivious alcoholic wine I ever had. Worse than most Zins and Shiraz’s. it was like drinking Armagnac – with the burn and heat flash in mouth and throat. The grapes were ripe and of fine pedigree….I believe it was downright awful wine-making. I am very dissapointed in 2005 Sea Smoke.

Joe

re: cheap PN: Yikes? Ugh. The vine Gods were not smiling today. But the wine trolls were apparently out in force. Good excuse to treat yourself to something good later…

QOTD : J. Wray and Nephew “Red Label Wine” tasting description – Flat Doctor Pepper mixed with Robotussin (sp?)

my sister and her new husband were in Jamaica for their honeymoon and picked this up at the drugstore for me knowing how much of a wine enthusiast I am, $2.99, what a steal. haha

J DUB

QOTD : J. Wray and Nephew “Red Label Wine” tasting description – Flat Doctor Pepper mixed with Robotussin (sp?)

my sister and her new husband were in Jamaica for their honeymoon and picked this up at the drugstore for me knowing how much of a wine enthusiast I am, $2.99, what a steal. haha

J DUB

Great episode, even if the wines were terrible. Worst ever: Barefoot Cab – absolutely hideous.

wow, was the high score of the day a 73? gary, you’re a braver man than i. atleast today. QOTD: some shiraz from california. guy brought it to a blind tasting i had. had to rinse my mouth and glass with listerine before moving on.

Not a big fan of Pinot.. especially sub $10.00..
QOTD: 2005 Yellow Tail Shiraz..awful!

Ohh man.. I can just feel your frustration GV. Echoing Johnny Blue.. sorry you had to go through that.

y0wza, that was bad. A few years ago (when I was moving on from Three Buck Chuck), I was drinking the Camelot Pinot Noir from California. It was about $6, and it was pretty decent, actually… the best $6 wine I had had. I don’t believe they make it anymore… at least I can’t find it in Oregon. Oh, I just looked it up… they do still make it, and funny, just like this first wine you had, the grapes are now grown in France. Surely it has gone down hill as well. If I could find it locally, I’d try it again, but surely since it’s now from the other side of the earth, it will at a minimum be a totally different wine than what I had years ago, and likely not as good.

QOTD: There’s this $3.50 Italian wine at trader Joe’s… Carvaglio… or something like that. Oh my god, it’s horrible…

Was that the worst episode ever (in terms of wines)? Sure was a lot of fun watching though :). Mind you, Pinot Noir is a fickle grape and I’m not surprised that 5-8 USD efforts are awful. Having said that, I’ve had 13-14 USD Pinot Noir which blew most of what you find at that price range out of the water (it was a Bourgogne too). No ‘deal’ feels better to me than finding a good PQR PN.

QOTD: I try to forget these as fast as possible, so can’t tell you the worst ever. But recently I had a supermarket-bottled Cotes Du Rhone Villages (Rasteau) which was just awful. In fact it took me by surprise, because usually you can find some real steals in CDR Villages.

Time to fire up the “way back machine”. Worst was the infamous “Red Mountain Burgundy” $1.99 a gallon. Animal house special!

I don’t drink many Pinots and I have sworn off any under $10.
Gary, you could tarnish that great palet of yours, be careful.
I would rather pay twice the price and drink half as much.

QOTD: I bought two bottles of d’Arenberg “Laughing Magpie”
and found the first so bad it went down the drain. Then,
opened the second to see if it was me/them and poured that
one down the drain too. It did not make me laugh. That
was about $40 down the drain, I think……

QOTD: I can’t even pick. . .any of the sub-$10 Chardonnays fit in there. THe most recent was Toasted Head. Ick. HMRex Goliath Rooster too.

That episode looked brutal for you Gary, thanks for taking one for the team.
QOTD: By far Yellow Tail “Shiraz”, worst sheeyot I’ve ever had. Even worse than 2 Buck. Yep, that bad.

urg!!! sorry you had to go through that pinot hell!!! Even after watching Sideways didn’t get into Pinots, but definately began disliking Merlots!

QOTD: Hmmmmm….too many in my past to single out one, but Yellow Tail really was bad. THANK GOD there is you-Gary-to stop me from drinking bad wines!!!!! Thank you!!!

urg!!! sorry you had to go through that pinot hell!!! Even after watching Sideways didn’t get into Pinots, but definately began disliking Merlots!

QOTD: Hmmmmm….too many in my past to single out one, but Yellow Tail really was bad. THANK GOD there is you-Gary-to stop me from drinking bad wines!!!!! Thank you!!!

BWAAHAA Ha ha ha, that was AWEsome Gary!!! High score of 73?! Classic. Also confirms my own experience with cheap pinot (notice I use “cheap” instead of “inexpensive”). Under $15? Fuhgeddaboudit.

QOD – Tough call, but I think the Little Penguin cab is somewhere in there.

QOTD – Fat Bastard. It was like drinking bacon fat.

QOTD: Wild Irish Rose. We used to pick it up for 1.25. Sorry

Looming disaster for Pinot. Dreck is dreck, no matter the varietal. Merlot was a victim of it’s own success + cycles of the wine business = don’t invest in marginal Pinot regions, 5 years???

Looming disaster for Pinot. Dreck is dreck, no matter the varietal. Merlot was a victim of it’s own success + cycles of the wine business = don’t invest in marginal Pinot regions, 5 years???

Hey I was first? There’s two 2 ChrisR’s now!
Somebody is highjacking my screen name!

let’s face it……who makes great “cheap wine”?…..spain!!…..and i’ve never had a spanish pinot noir….why???….because the Spaniards are smart….you can find many great $15 and under tempranillos and garnachas, so why even try pinot….they know, as i do….pinot noir + under $15 = CRAP!!!

if you want under $10 and quality, look to Spain or Cotes du Rhone!!

oh, and at last, a corked wine!!!

I don’t think it’s the price that doomed those wines but the fact that those were the grocery store over produced brands that you can find all over the country. I can’t even imagine the production numbers. The really good cheap wines i’ve had were usually from countries that aren’t big in the wine world like hungary and austria. Spain though by far has the best qpr wines (even in the 5-7 dollar range!) that i’ve had. Maybe an episode on what you know are high quality $5 wines sometime in the future? QOTD Cribari chianti (the kind that comes in a giant jug and you find at truck stop cafe’s and such) And this burgandy that’s from one of the generic cali super brands I can’t remember. I’ve been getting alot of corked wines lately.