Big House Red (3L Box)
Name: Big House Red (3L Box)
Type: Red
Grape: Blend
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2009
Producer: Big House Wine Co.
Price: $16.99
There is much to like about this everyday red. Let’s start with the environment. This box wine comes in an octagonal cardboard container (which they call the Octavin Home Wine Bar, I love marketers) which they claim reduces packaging waste by 92 percent and carbon emissions by 55 percent vs. traditional bottles. So we’re off to a good start already. As box wine goes, it’s a nice looking package too. The octagonal shape is also less awkward and has a smaller footprint on the counter than most. My only complaint is the spout, it’s more difficult to use than others I’ve seen.
The wine itself is a combination of 14 different grapes, everything but the kitchen sink basically. It has a nice purplish hue and a strong aroma of fruit and subtle spice. The flavor is smooth, round and inoffensive in any way. It even matures on the palate and shows some tannins before the medium finish. All in all it’s the best box wine I’ve ever had by a decent margin. Recommended.
2005 Z-52 Agnes Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel
Name: Z-52 Agnes Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel
Type: Red
Grape: Zinfandel
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2005
Producer: Z-52
Price: $11.00
I got this bottle of wine along with half a dozen others from a site called Wine Insiders. I got a special deal on Groupon for this site so the prices were better than usual but I’m listing the normal price. Every time I’ve tried a wine club (about 3 times now) I’ve been fairly unimpressed with the quality of the wines. I happened to order 2 bottles of this wine because I like Zin and the first bottle was an atrocity. I opened the second bottle to be sure and it’s normal so the first one was either corked or heat damaged. I was plotting my worst review ever and then learned this, which I’ll admit was kind of a let down.
This Zinfandel has a potent aroma of tart, dark fruit. It’s smooth, with a medium-weight mouth feel and flavors of berries, cherry and a bit of black pepper. There are subdued tannins on the short-ish finish. Overall it’s inoffensive and uni-dimensional. More or less what I expect from a wine club. It’s not bad it’s just not particularly interesting. That’s also what I expect from a Zinfandel in this price range but you can get plenty of wine like this without paying for shipping.
Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz
Name: Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz
Type: Red
Grape: Shiraz
Origin: South Africa
Year: 2009
Producer: Cape Classics
Price: $9.99
I have a sweet tooth, there’s no getting around it. I don’t even try to deny it anymore. So when I see a wine that I know I like such as Shiraz, along with the adjective “sweet,” I have to try it. So it was with Jam Jar. The name even sounds sweet. And if you like sweet wines it’s kind of a treat. It’s pretty darn sweet, bordering on dessert wine territory. It even has a sweet aroma, sort of like blueberry pie filling. The flavor has a lot of berry flavors, most notably blueberry and blackberry. It has a weighty mouthfeel and I detect some tannins on the finish. It’s not for everyone but if you’re a fellow Shiraz lover with a sweet tooth I’d give it a try.
Tisdale White Zinfandel
Name: Tisdale White Zinfandel
Type: Rose
Grape: White Zinfandel
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: Non-vintage
Producer: Tisdale Vineyards
Price: $4.00
White Zinfandel is crap. That’s my opinion. I’ve never had a white zin that I liked in any way. This one is no different and I think it will be my last. If you think you know of one, cheap or not, that isn’t crap let me know and I’ll try it. Otherwise I’m done. This rose crap smells like rotten cherries and tastes like kool-aid spiked with cheap vodka. Yuck.
Hess Sauvignon Blanc
Name: Hess Sauvignon Blanc
Type: White
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2006
Producer: Hess Collection Winery
Price: $12.99
Nice color and grassy aroma. Clean and crisp flavor with melon and herbal notes. It’s more or less what an inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc should taste like. Recommended.
Gascon Malbec
Name: Gascon Malbec
Type: Red
Grape: Malbec
Origin: Argentina
Year: 2006
Producer: Bodegas Escorihuela Gascon
Price: $9.99
Nice purple color with soft berry aromas, blackberry, blueberry maybe even a little cherry. It has a medium weight mouth feel with mild tannins and medium length finish that is quite tart. All in all not bad but not my favorite Malbec and I’m a big fan of Malbec. I vastly prefer the Catena line of Malbecs.
Wine 4 All Sauvignon Blanc
Name: Wine 4 All Sauvignon Blanc
Type: White
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: Argentina
Year: 2006
Producer: FDL 79232 Prahecq – France
Price: $6.00
A relatively cheap Sauvignon Blanc, this one is straw-colored and has a grassy aroma. The flavor is dry and fairly thin with distinct herbal notes. I expected more honestly. It’s cheap Sauvignon Blanc but not super cheap so I expected a bit of depth and there’s none to be had here.
Marcus James Riesling
Name: Marcus James Riesling
Type: White
Grape: Riesling
Origin: Argentina
Year: 2007
Producer: Fecovita
Price: $3.99
I have a couple of dueling $4 Rieslings here and this one is light yellow in color and smells of apple. The flavor is semi-sweet and has tart notes of Fuji apple. It isn’t a bad for a super cheap Riesling but it contains virtually nothing of what I love about Rieslings.
Avia Riesling
Name: Avia Riesling
Type: White
Grape: Riesling
Origin: Slovenia
Year: 2006
Producer: Vinska Klet Goriska BRDA
Price: $3.99
This one is very light yellow and smells like garbage, and maybe a touch of melon. The flavor is so light as to be watery and just ever so slightly sweet and tart. Not much of a flavor to tell the truth. I have not had good luck with the Slovenian Avia wines in general, I think I may avoid the brand moving forward.
Big Mammas Pinot Grigio
Name: Big Mamma’s Pinot Grigio
Type: White
Grape: Pinot Grigio
Origin: Italy
Year: 2003
Producer: Boutinot Wine Estates
Price: $1.99
Smells like rotting garbage and the flavor is truly, truly disgusting. This is one of the cheapest wines I’ve ever tried (no small feat) and it’s 5 years old which is a long time for a Pinot Grigio to sit on the shelf so that explains the price. Still though, if you see this wine in a store RUN, do not walk, in the other direction as fast as you can. Seriously.