Now’s the time to indulge in a few cheap red wines
From boxes to bottles, budget-conscious picks offer decent quality at great prices
We now have enough wine stores in the province to have something akin to choice for inexpensive wine. Let’s not kid ourselves, however.
The combination of the Sask Party’s “Social Pricing” (trying to keep alkies from affording alcohol) and bonus taxation (inventing a new category of wine above 14.8 per cent alcohol that needs extra taxation) and of course the complete refusal to give up the distribution chain (which pushes all products through one over-worked and not brilliantly organized warehouse) means we will never really have inexpensive wine in this province.
Three cheers for the selfacclaimed pro-business party. The cabinet is effectively the board of directors of the SLGA. All executive powers, and therefore senior management, are their responsibility. Alas, it turns out they can’t manage a business any better than ’70s members of the Waffle NDP. Although in their defence they do seem able to make money from land transactions.
There are still any number of decent buys available for wine drinkers who are budget conscious. My favourite wine in this category is Plantaze Vranac from Montenegro, $15. This is a firstrate wine with decent bottle age, and because of the anonymity of both the country and grape can only garner sales using penetration pricing. Co-op carries it, and if your local store doesn’t, bug them until they do.
The cheapest wines, of course, are the boxed wines, which save money on packaging and transport.
My favourite in the category is Boka Radio Tempranillo, 3L/$40. I’m not as hot for the other Boka grapes but this one is more than drinkable at the equivalent price per bottle of $10/750ml. It may be out of stock until the end of January.
My next favourite boxed wine is Terre de Lobos 5L/$50. This is a mix of Portuguese grapes, an extraordinarily drinkable wine, and the max packaging means a net price of $7.50 a bottle. It’s also great for slow drinkers. (A box is good for 6 weeks.)
If you are okay spending a little more money than that, you need to shop the Spanish and Portuguese aisles closely. I’ve recommended Castillo de Almansa more times than I can remember. At $15, this is a tremendous deal. Anciano, a 10 year old Tempranillo, has a solid following here and is $16. I think it’s a general listing so you should be able to get a bottle in any number of SLGA stores.
For people who like a bit fruitier profile, Grenache is grown and bottled all over Spain and often at a tremendous price. Castillo de Monseran is all of $11 at Co-op and should be available at Sobey’s, too. (If it isn’t, complain. Loudly.)
Another huge favourite of mine, although it can be hard to find and may take some bullying of your local merchant, is Luna. This is a Puglian Appassimento and altogether lovely wine for under $18.
If you are trying to stay cheap, and buy by the bottle, Cono Sur is a Chilean label that consistently has quite decent wine in a wide variety of grapes. Their Pinot Noir at $12 is probably the only PN at that price range I’d drink. For fans of organic wines, you need to splash out a bit more, about $15, but they have an organic Carmenere too.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Perrin’s Grand Prebois, a Grenache heavy Rhone red that continues to be a constant deal on the market at about $15.