The Punk Rockers Strike Again!

I had written a review of the Four Vines Old Vine Cuvee Zinfandel...a fruity Zin blend that makes me want to buy one of their "Zin Bitch" shirts.

Anyway, fun little surprise in the Boston Globe...every month they recommend some "plonk" (relatively inexpensive and surprisingly drinkable wine) and Four Vines Naked Chardonnay is one of their picks!

When we were at the Boston Wine Expo, they slapped a "Naked" tattoo on my arm because I liked this unoaked Chardonnay so much. Gives me a little validation for my palate.

Here's the "Barebones Chardonnay" Plonk of the Month.

Here's the Four Vines Wines.

Five Dollar Bottle of Wine

Now, let me first say that there's nothing wrong with cheap bottles of wine. The Lost Vineyards Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc is surprisingly tasty and worth every penny (it tends to retail for $4 or less). Check it out here.

Over the weekend I had bought a few bottles of wine (our friend Bedlam was in town, and I knew we'd be drinking something tasty). One of those was the 2005 Honey Moon Viognier from Trader Joe's. Price point is about five dollars. It's a ripe, ripe mouthful of honey, apricot, citrus and tropical paradise. It lacks some subtlety, but at five dollars it's a keeper!

Costco and Cheval Blanc

I wandered about the Food and Wine section of Costco.com and was incredulous to find that they are selling 2005 Bordeaux futures~!

I managed to find (although I certainly can't afford to order) Cheval Blanc for the low, low bargain price of $724.99 per bottle (a bit of sarcasm). Retail cases of Cheval Blanc for the 2003 vintage went for between $3600 and $4600, so this price point may be a bit...shall we say...excessive? On the other hand, the Cheval Blanc is certainly a candidate for wine of the year, at least according to some of the tasters that had it in the barrel. And 2005 was an excellent, excellent year for Bordeaux. Read more about Bordeaux future pricing and tasting notes here!