In my quest for decent cheap wine, I found myself examining the ON SALE tags among the extensive wine selection at Kroger. At the time, all of the Beringer Founders Estate bottles were marked down from $13 to $8.* For me, the perception of a deep discount makes me salivate and then put things into my cart indiscriminately. It’s an affliction, but I’m big enough to admit it. Moving on…
I’d heard years ago that while Beringer may not offer transcendent wine regardless of the price point, almost all of their wines are competently made and worth drinking, even the budget stuff. So, it was a no brainer for me to reach for the 2007 merlot for $7.99. What’s that you ask? How can I bare to drink a merlot? Well, I’m not really sure, because I’m still learning about the various varietals. However, I reach for it now because Miles Raymond, in that hilarious movie, Sideways, told me not to tolerate merlot in my mouth or even in my presence. And I’m not the only one. After years of wannabe wine snobs taking the Sideways spoof on merlot very literally, the easy to grow and easy to drink grape is just staring to come out of the internment camps that Hollywood constructed. In short, I reach for merlot to experience that noxious swill that made Miles’ skin crawl. Maybe I’ll become that vehement as well. What fun.
On the flip side, Miles waxed poetic about pinot noir in Sideways as though every sip of the stuff were supremely contemplative. It even helped him get the girl Who wouldn’t want to fall under the spell of a wine the way he did? So, I also reached for the pinot with this aspirational mental image motivating my tastebuds. On this trip to Kroger, I wanted to take home something tasty while benefiting from their high-volume low price promotional offers. The Beringers seemed to fit the bill and the sighting of both a merlot and a pinot noir by the same vinyard, same vintage, and same price seemed like the perfect alignment of variables. What better circumstance to put Miles on trial and test a merlot versus a pinot? And so it begins…
Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot.
Miles: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!
For the wine comparison night, I invited a new friend and big time appreciator of cheap wines. Paul subscribes to the QPR quest (quality/price ratio) when quaffing bottles of old grape juice. He brought his gal-pal, Laura, and his daughter was seen and not heard somewhere in my house throughout the night. Before they came over, I opened both bottles of Beringer, passed them under my nose and got excited for our taste testing. When they arrived, we broke out some amazing blue cheese from River City Cellars, and then we took Miles to task with a round of merlot.
Miles: A little citrus. Maybe some strawberry. Mmm. Passion fruit, mmm, and, oh, there’s just like the faintest soupçon of like, uh, asparagus, and, there’s a, just a flutter of, like a, like a nutty Edam cheese.
After a toast to Karen’s Apartment Therapy noteriety, everyone took their first sip together, but not a word was spoken. We’d already remarked that the wine smelled good, fruity, but not very complex. The bottle had been open for over an hour, so I figured it was ready to go. As each of us had another go at it, people started speaking up: smooth, very drinkable, inoffensive, fruit forward, jammy, nice, but nothing to write home about. That was the Beringer Founders Estate Merlot 2007 (stay tuned for another take). Maybe Miles was right. People flocked to merlot because they didn’t like challenging wines that delivered too much earthiness or tart and tanic dryness. This was pleasantly plain, if a little zippy with sweet fruit.
Miles: It tastes like the back of a fucking L.A. school bus. Now they probably didn’t de-stem, hoping for some semblance of concentration, crushed it up with leaves and mice, and then wound up with this rancid tar and turpentine bullshit. Fuckin’ Raid.
Jack: Tastes pretty good to me.
When we poured the pinot noir, the wine splashed around like a much thinner liquid, not at all thick and chewy like the merlot. Tasting the wine, there was an obvious striking difference. This one had no fruit, very dry, slightly peppery, but not the way I expect a pinot noir to come across like a smokey chipotle pepper. For me, it fell flat. I tried it with the cheese and then with the black bean and squash stew (that I botched in my slow cooker), and the wine worked well with both foods. But the pinot noir just didn’t dazzle. The merlot didn’t really grab anyone either, but I think there were more apparent flavors that stuck with you. It was looking like a close but unexciting race to the finish. Sad.
Jack: Do not drink too much. Do you hear me? I don’t want you passing out or going to the dark side. No going to the dark side!
As the evening went on, we did more eating and talking. We looked over Wine Trials 2010, one of the wine books that I got for Christmas. This book lays out a very plausible polemic on the corrupt practices in wine marketing that results in the highest ratings going to the highest priced wines. There are also bits in there about the American sweet tooth skewing wine production toward the sweeter, fruity, and big and bold flavored wines (Robert Parker’s palate is also blamed for this). The bottles we were drinking tonight were not featured among the book’s profiles of 150 cheap wines that outperformed much more expensive wines in their blind taste tests. However, the Beringer Founders Estate 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is in there, because it outscored Beringer’s own Private Reserve Cabernet priced at $120 as well as most other high end cabs.
By this point, a couple of us poured ourselves more merlot and stuck our noses in the glass. Holy smokes! This wine evolved into a robust oaky beverage once it had been open for a couple hours. The fruity flavors were more pronounced and the richness of the oak barrel aging came through in a big way. All of a sudden, the merlot had pulled several lengths ahead of the pinot noir in our comparison. The transformation was remarkable, like your closeted friend showing up to the party with a feather boa and black leather chaps. Thank god, he finally came out of the closet. Now, let’s get this party started. Retasting the pinot didn’t show us any development in the flavor while this $8 merlot was tasting like we’d spent at least twice that. Booya!
At this point I declared that I would unfortunately not be able to hang out with Miles the drama queen, and that maybe the pedestrian wines that offend him were pretty alright by my standards. Well, that might be jumping to conclusions. Everyone around the table was impressed with the turn the merlot took and we’d probably seek it out again. Are all merlots as bold and beautiful as this one became after two hours? Absolutely not. Do all pinot noirs choose to fly under the radar of your tastebuds like this Beringer? Not in my experience. But, on this night, two cheap bottles produced very different results from each other and from the stereotype promoted by a very funny movie. These are two very compelling reasons for me to continue my quest to find the best bargain bottles out there.
Jack: You don’t understand my plight.
I know there are lots of good wines out there for upwards of $10 and the vinyards and my local wine shops both probably deserve a couple extra bucks for their effort to bring that wine to the public. Sure, I’ll spend a little here and there to follow up on a recommendation or to satisfy a curiosity, but that’s not what my wine pursuit is all about. My instincts tell me that there is more than enough delicious wine under $10 per bottle to keep my palate excited night after night. Gradually, I’m visiting every wine outlet in Richmond and figuring out what they’ve got to offer that suits my budget. It’s educational for me, even though the proprietors may not always appreciate my perspective. There are ups and downs that I’m excited to relay on this blog. So, drop a comment and lemme know what you think of all this.
*Not long after making this Kroger purchase, I sauntered down Target’s wine isle and found the same wines on sale for $6.99. They listed the regular price at $7.99. What the hell, Kroger? I hate that shit… because, I am so damned susceptible to it. Julia at River City Cellars has lectured me on this before. There are no super deep discounts. It’s an illusion. (Required reading: Julia explains part of the smoke/mirrors trick in the comments here).
that Kroger “regular” price does have an actual basis in reality. They are simply applying their usual markup to a regular price submitted to them by their distributor. There are assorted discounts and/or special programs (especially in the case of large national brands) that help bring the price down. Target evidently has a different method of pricing, but note that there was only a $1 differnce in the actual price you paid – probably exactly what Beringer intended.
While Sideways was funny and I loved how Miles described Pinot Noir (and I agree to some extent), I hated his Merlot line. Merlot can be good or bad depending on how and where it’s grown and what the winemaker does with it. And I’ve found a lot of cheap CA Pinots to be so crappy that I do not even look at them. If I want a good Pinot, I usually have to pay a bit more. French Burgundies are a favorite. After tasting an old Burgundy years ago, I finally got what Pinot was all about (just like Miles). But these are not cheap wines. I’m starting to appreciate some Oregon Pinots as well. But, once again, not your bargain basement bottles.
If you want an inexpensive Pinot try Rex Goliath 47 Pound Rooster. Decent and you gotta love the name. And keep shopping and attending free tastings. Currently Kroger at Willow Lawn features Sacred Stone red blend (not a pinot grape in sight) for under $9. Lovely. We try to buy this when they have their 15% discount.
Hey–thanks for the shout out. There are two points I want to elaborate on, but first I want to reiterate pjpink’s point: PN is difficult and expensive to grow compared to other varietals. It’s better to try things like inexpensive gamay to recreate those flavors at a lower price point and save $$ for decent Burgundy. Those bargain Cali “Pinots” are more often than not blended with something cheaper to grow. (CA wine labeled “X grape” is only required to be 75% that grape. France is 100%.)
So to my two points…the first is obvious but bears repeating: most red wine is better with food and with age (whether letting breathe or bottle age) BUT American consumption practices have hugely affected production practices. We tend to drink our wine immediately after purchase and as a cocktail rather than with a meal, and wineries at home and abroad have started playing to that audience. I think your next blog should compare same wine notes with/without food…
My second point is more insider stuff, and I’ll try to keep it from getting buy-local-ranty. NB: I wholeheartedly support the “democratization” of wine–the more, the merrier! I also laud your pursuit of QPR wines and totally respect your budget, but keep in mind how things get to certain price points (e.g.: WalMart). The indies aren’t snobby or exclusionary (an unfortunate complaint I hear occasionally) because we tend to be $12+ but because we can’t begin to compete with the big boxes. Both Kroger and Target buy from the same distributors we do, but obviously in bulk at corporate-to-corporate negotiated deals. I’m not talking about specific wines but about practices. When the giant semi shows up with literally pallets of Barefoot Chardonnay at 5am at a Food Lion, a busy little employee (“merchandizer”) of the distributor shows up and unloads them, stacks them and creates towering displays AT NO EXPENSE TO THE RETAILER. Add in all the corporate marketing tools (shelf talkers, ratings, posters, logo’d bags etc). Repeat that scenario for the rest of the wine department and for all your major beer brands and you have completely eliminated 90% of your labor cost and a fair amount of marketing cost. Indies cover all that expense and healthcare, employee education, etc. To put it simply, a small wineshop with 4 employees costs WAY more to run per square foot than the entire Kroger wine department. And the final blow is that in VA, all that alcohol is COD; no terms, no credit. Very different animals indeed..
I love the educational compilation of comments that manifests when I post about wine. Keep them coming. Fellow novices have told me they’ve gotten a lot out of reading these discussions too. A really big thanks to Julia for taking the time to go on the record with an extremely informative explanation of the “lecture” that she’d given me in person (I was being playful in that choice of words. Obviously, I’m an incorrigible cheap skate). It seems like every local wine shop has their specialization, but from an economic standpoint the little local guy/gal perspective is one of valiantly swimming against the mainstream. I hope to spend more space on this blog going over these price factors before long and Julia’s explanation will definitely be quoted heavily. Bottom line: I have to keep my bargain hunting from putting me squarely in the pocket of the chain stores. My wine scavenger hunt has to be more interesting and responsible than that.
To give Miles the benefit of the doubt, I think his issue with merlot was more about the trendiness and the thoughtlessness with which people were drinking it at the time (because it was easy to spell and pronounce). The grape was ripe to be skewered the way Miles did, and that’s why it resonated with so many people. If Sideways were made today, Miles would rail against malbec, right? Yesterday, I was sent to Kroger to buy one thing, and again, I found myself wandering the wine isles (Broad/Lombardy location). The Beringers are still on sale, by the way. At one end cap, a couple “wine consultants” were giving samples of… what else? Malbec. It tasted about like the merlot in this story before being allowed to breath for 2hrs. I didn’t buy any, but I did notice a basket on their table that said, “marked down.” There were mini bottles of Gallo for $1.50. No thanks. And there was a bottle of 2006 Dancing Bull Cabernet for $6.99. That one is featured in the Wine Trials book too. The foil at the top of the bottle was all tore up, but they let me peek at the cork and it was fine. I can’t wait to drink my first scratch-n-dent wine.
Kroger, unlike many box stores, has educated wine consultants. Wine education is taken seriously there.
One other factor in choosing to buy wine from an indie shop is that indie wine shops are usually not required to buy certain wines, they bring in wines they have personally tasted or selected for the store. Box stores are usually required to buy a large percentage of their wines–like them or not.
Someone said “avoid wines with animals on the label”. Can’t recall who that was.
Cranky: I said that on this site, or something along those lines. Not sure who I heard say it. Meanwhile, loads of people swear by Smoking Loon and Yellow Tail is the best selling wine in the world. I’m wondering if there is a dichotomy here: the everyday wine drinker’s palate/budget/interest-level and the connoisseur’s approach to wine. Is there truth in both perspectives? Or is wine really reducible to good and bad regardless of the audience? I feel like I’ve got a foot in both camps, and opining on any wine gives me fits because of it. They say that wine is the intellectual aspect of a meal, but there is a point at which it’s just pretentious over-thinking.
The line about animals on the label always makes me laugh because I tend to agree, and then I overheard a conversation just like this last Friday out at a networking/cocktail event, where someone couldn’t remember the name of a certain wine like “black dog or something” and his companion offered up a similar color+animal combo, and then of course I had to chime in with something similiar, like “orange cat” to which the couple actually asked me if that was a real wine. ha.
I’ve got to wholeheartedly agree with Julia’s point here: “American consumption practices have hugely affected production practices. We tend to drink our wine immediately after purchase and as a cocktail rather than with a meal”
You mentioned that your Merlot tasted so much better after sitting open for awhile and call me wino, but all I could think was, “I would never wait that long to drink my wine!” I also rarely ever drink wine with food so I’m a noob when it comes to pairings.
I’ve recently discovered Pinot Noirs, finding them a much ligher, thinner, easier-drinking red, but my favorite red wine of all time are Malbecs.
I want to participate in the next tasting, soon yes?
Julia makes some excellent points, especially about the competitive abilities of a local VA purveyor versus Kroger/Target/younameit. Trader Joe’s keeps its costs down and is able to pass on savings on decent QPR wines because they buy in bulk directly from the producer. It ensures the producer an income and eliminates many of the costs Julia points out in the marketing and merchandising of the wines. That said, Laura and I do like to balance our purchase of everyday bottles from TJ’s with weekly interesting finds at River City and other small, local shops.
The other point she makes that should be echoed is the need to pair wine with food. Occasionally I’ve stumbled across a wine that demands to be served with very specific dishes, and in almost every case, I’ve been rewarded with the explosion of flavors and mouthfeel. Her suggestion to take a couple bottles and compare them as aperitifs versus components of the meal is one we should all take to heart.
I’m wondering if the way those two Beringer wines came across was typical of those varietals? I know I clearly preferred the Merlot, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t drinking the consensus favorite Pinot Noir in nationwide blind taste tests (okay, it definitely wasn’t that, but people who really like pinot might have seen that one differently). Also, I kinda marked out for the big and bold wine just the way the Wine Trials book says American’s dumbed down palates tend to behave and subsequently influence the wine market. Am I Joe Public wine-drinker at this point?