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You know, Dorothy Parker said, "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." Must be one of the most clever quotes of all time. Almost as good as
W. C. Fields; "Ah yes, twas a woman who drove me to drink. I forgot to write and thank her!"

John Galt

[brewer12345]

I've got a new discovery in very cheap wine: box wines. Yes, I know most people have had the misfortune of trying a glass of Franzia and the like, but some producers are now putting decent, quite drinkable wines in the boxes and charging low prices. I bought a 3 liter box of Banrock Station Chardonnay (Aus.) recently. It is quite nice, and my past sampling of the same winery's Shiraz indicates that there is something here for red wine drinkers, too. The box has a dripless tap and maintains the wine for months at a time, so you can tap off a glass at a time over several weeks/months. Best of all, the wine is a good deal cheaper than buying it in bottles. The ox is equal to 4 regular 750 ml bottles. I paid $21, which is a shade over $5 a bottle for wine that normally goes for $7 a bottle near me. I have read that in less heavily taxes states, many retailers are charging $16.99, which is an even better deal. There are also other producers putting decent wine into boxes: Delicato, Hardy's and Black Box.

[ESRBob]

Whats a half-open bottle? Vin-o-vac?
How about wife-o-vac?


BUM

Probably should have said "half-consumed bottle", but maybe I'd been drinking when I posted that one!

As for the Vin-o-vac, its a nifty little award-winning contraption that has a rubber wine cork with a near-invisible one-way slit-valve on the top. Comes with a handy little air pump, no batteries! Pump the thing a few times and it sucks most of the air out of the bottle, leaving less in there to oxidize the wine, and thus letting the wine stay drinkable for a few extra days to a few extra weeks. (We even cook with white wine that's been hanging out in there for a month sometimes -- whites seem to keep longer esp. if refrigerated with this contraption).
Anyway, costs just a few bucks and will pay for itself quickly, since you can drink a few glasses and then use the rest of the bottle a few days later. I often find my cheap reds taste even better (softer, mellower) a day or two after opening them when stored like this.

ESRBob

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Only problem with the vin-o-vac is I was at a party once at a friends house, and he has one. I was hanging around near the kitchen where two gals were pouring themselves some wine. One noticed and picked up the vin-o-vac vacuum tool, looked quizzically at the other and asked "whats this, one of those penis enlarging tools?" The other looked at it and said "its pretty small. Poor xyz (where xyz was the hosts wife)".

I decided a little wine rust was ok.

[gayl]

What's wrong with Two-Buck Chuck? *Well, it's not great wine, but it is cheap.

2 buck chuck (Charles Shaw) Shiraz was just voted one of the 53 best wines in the world -- all this for only 1.99 a bottle. So it might not have been that well rated in the past but that seems to be changing.

"Two Buck Chuck" is the greatest wine for the money
available today. Nuff said!

John Galt

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That was a funny article on the 2 buck chuck shiraz making the top 53. That tasting was out of thousands of wines, by the way.

Several "professional tasters" lamented that it could be the end of their careers for having made the blind choice...

Now...the only problem with it is that these bulk wholesale sources change pretty regularly, so you might walk into a trader joes and get a bottle from the same batch that "won", or a completely different batch that tastes like turpentine.

The wife really liked the bottle of chardonnay we got there last summer, so on the next trip we grabbed a case. Ick. Wasnt as good.

just bought a 3 liter box of Corbit Canyon Merlot. I have a question to ask. Do you have to refrigerate it after opening.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

No you dont need to, nor should you.

Thats a pretty darn good value. I pick those up now and then in the winter when I'm drinking reds.

Of course, I wont be doing that anymore for a long time...at least not until "uhnsfhhgj" turns into "daddy!!!"

[BUM]

Never refrigerate after opening. DRINK after opening. :P

BUM

[Ed_B]

One of the best red wines I've ever tasted is the Columbia Crest Merlot-Cabernet. It's $7 per bottle on sale and maybe $8-9 off sale. It's as good as any $25-30 wine I've tried. I rarely drink it straight these days though. I usually mix about 15% of this with 85% of Franzia Blush. The Franzia is drinkable and only $8 on sale, $9.50 or so off sale, for the 5-liter box. The blend is great. It's very inexpensive yet has much of the Merlot-Cabernet flavor. I figue it costs me about $0.50 a glass, which is somewhat less than the $4.50-$5 a glass that most restaurants want for equivalent wine.

I've also made my own wines from time to time. The best of these was excellent and the worst was in the hog-dip category. Haven't done much of this lately but plan to get back into it when ER arrives in Sept.

Also make beer from time to time and have had excellent results with a creme porter style that I have worked out as an emulation of Cornish Creme. That worthly brew is world class stuff and only sold in barrels and kegs so it doesn't travel very far. If you want to try it, you simply HAVE to visit Cornwall. It will make the trip worthwhile.

Ed_B

[BUM]

Some luxuries are untouchable but when Sunday's Frappe cost me $2.19 I decided enuf is enuf

one place
I do splurge is on does darn little Frappacinos put out
by Starbucks. I have started buying them in quantity
lately, even though they are pretty expensive on a per
oz. basis.

John Galt
Here is whats really in these beauties.
http://www.copykat.com/asp/copykatrecipe.asp?recipe=38

Regards,
Kiljoy