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July 2, 2009

Helpful advice from the front porch

The best thing to do with cheap wine is make sangria with it.
Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:18 PM | | Comments (15)
        

Comments

She's finally beginning to take her vacation seriously.

Posted by: Laura Lee | July 2, 2009 6:39 PM

True -- but does Two Buck Chuck make drinkable sangria?

Posted by: hmpstd | July 2, 2009 7:16 PM

I only tried cheap Trader Joe wine one time (in Newport News, VA), and did not find it drinkable at all. Maybe it might have survived as sangrai, but I wouldn't bet money on it.

I tried the sauvignon blanc and had to spit it out. I've never spit wine out before (except at a wine tasting). EL

Posted by: Hal Laurent | July 2, 2009 7:23 PM

My brother loves sangria, but I don't know what he uses for the base wine.

Posted by: PCB Rob | July 2, 2009 7:26 PM

A recent New Yorker had an article about Two Buck Chuck, which helped to explain why it is so variable--and so cheap. A lot of it is mixed together "excess" wine from places other than Napa.

Posted by: Dahlink | July 2, 2009 7:27 PM

FALSE! It also makes a wonderful deer marinade!

Posted by: Joyce W. | July 2, 2009 7:46 PM

I wonder how 'Bird or Ripple would do in a sangria? Does it matter whether it's tinto o blanco?

Posted by: bill | July 2, 2009 10:04 PM

Ackshully, Elizabeth, you can also make a spritzer with your cheap red and 7-Up or Sprite. It' kinda reminds me of Arbor Mist or Wild Vines.

Posted by: Dottie | July 3, 2009 12:15 AM

Dottie--gack!

Posted by: Dahlink | July 3, 2009 6:49 AM

For those of us who drink wine with every meal (sans breakfast,) in hopes of outliving Methusela, $80 Pommards and Beaunes would soon wipe us out. Better to enjoy the local equivalent of the Chateau Thames Embankment that fictional British barrister Horace Rumpole used to "slosh down" after a hard day keeping criminals out of the nick. In other words, a nice 1.5 liter Debouef Vin Ordinaire or Chilean Cabernet.

Posted by: Michael A. Gray | July 3, 2009 6:58 AM

You know, Dottie, this is the first time in a long time that someone has come up with an alcoholic drink that I didn't regret not being able to try.

Posted by: Lissa | July 3, 2009 7:20 AM

MAG, you don't have to spend $80/bottle for drinkable wine. You have to spend more than $2, though. Actually, the TJ wine I had was more like 4 or 5 bucks, and it was still awful.

Posted by: Hal Laurent | July 3, 2009 8:59 AM

Finally, I can make an Arbor Mist at home. Now, I can move on to recreating the Riblets from Applebees in the comfort of my kitchen.

Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | July 3, 2009 10:16 AM

Decades ago when my husband and I were first married, we lived in Switzerland. The local grocery store carried cheap wines. The cheapest was a red wine simply labeled "Vin Etrangere." It cost 2 Swiss frances (less than a dollar) and it never tasted the same from bottle to bottle.
Sometimes it even tasted as if it was made from grapes.

Posted by: Dahlink | July 3, 2009 10:26 AM

Old Playboy cartoon:

Man is walking past a Wine and Spirits store looking at a sign that says "For the man who'll drink anything - $2 a gallon."

Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | July 3, 2009 5:33 PM

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Elizabeth Large, The Baltimore Sun's restaurant critic, blogs about memorable meals, dining trends, comings and goings on the restaurant scene and more.
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