I recently picked up a bottle of The Watusi Zinfandel from Cost Plus. This was a nicely packaged California Zin for under $6. Very decent! I’ll be sure to pick up a few more bottles at this price and hope for more in years to come from this vinyard.
I love wine, but like many people, can’t afford to drink a $20 + or $50 or $100 + bottle on a regular basis. I like to drink wine every night! Studies show that a moderate drinker (4 drinks or less) actually enjoys an 18% LESS chance of dying of any given cause if they have strong social support for their moderate habit. Please note, anything more than 4 is considered heavy drinking and those folks sport an 18% GREATER chance of dying of any given cause, so, be moderate!
Up to 4 five ounce glasses of wine per evening is good for your health, but in this economy, is tough on the pocket book. To this end, I’ve decided to search out the best wines under $6. Some will only be available on sale at this price or special deals in bulk. For example, Safeway almost always has a 10% off deal on 6 bottles of wine or spirits, mix and match and occasionally, Cost Plus will have a special price on 12 or more bottles.
I really wanted to make the list Best Wines under $5, but it’s really tough! Whenever possible, I will include wines under $5 on this list.
The Wines:
Columbia Crest Two Vines
Recently, my wife heard a nice piece on NPR regarding inexpensive wines and the Columbia Crest Two Vines line was mentioned as a definite winner in the best wines under $10 category. I like the Cabernet Savignon very much and was able to procure that and the whole line for $4.40 a bottle at Safeway on a 6 pack price. Great wine for under $4.50!! I’ve tried the Merlot as well and it’s pretty good.
The Watusi Zinfandel
I recently shopped Cost Plus for under $5 and didn’t really find more than 1 or 2 that didn’t require a special membership. The membership is worth it and doesn’t cost anything by the way. Anyhow, nothing I was willing to gamble on, based on intuition but they had plenty of good wines under $6. I settled on The Watusi Zinfandel by The Watusi Vinyards in Sonoma county California. Wow, I was surprised. This vinyard has no presence at all and yet, here they are in Cost Plus for about $5.70 or so. I think I’ll pick up a few bottles before they run out and this one disappears. With the lack of presence, I doubt I’ll see them again anywhere. Too bad, what a GREAT Zin!!! It’s different than, but rivals Ravenswood Zin. So there!
I’ll keep adding to the list here as I go along trying both the good and bad in the under $6 range.
I recently got to enjoy two or three of these nice bottles of Chateau Vielle tour La Roche 2007, a Bordeaux I picked up from Trader Joes. Very reasonable at under $6. I’ve heard it said that, particularly with French Wines it’s either under $6 or over $20 for a good one. Well, The Chateau Vielle tour La Roche is a winner! It’s really rich and an excellent value.
Unfortunatly, all good things come to an end with such limited releases. I returned to Trader Joe’s for more of the same and found that it was all over. I really hope next year (2008) will bring another good year of this beautiful bargain Bordeaux.
A lot of folks are asking when will Wii have Netflix like PS3 and XBox 360.
The definitive Screwzoo answer is:
This Spring. Get ready for over 20,000 movies streaming to your T.V. via the Nintendo Wii console