Twitter Cheap Wine Challenge

So this week Wine Ophelia (Raelinn Schmitt) proposed that a bunch of bloggers all post notes for one of their favorite under $10 bottles of wine. Then after everyone has posted, we should gather (locally) to do a big blind tasting via Twitter (à la Twitter Taste Live) to share these great buys with our friends and followers. So it took me a while, going through some of the notes that I have from the past year, and I was able to narrow my selection down to TWO bottles.


The first, Clean Slate Riesling I know I got at Whole Foods back in Ohio. I've seen it elsewhere, and typically it ranges from $8-12 a bottle. I'm going to count it because I definitely know I paid less than $10, sale or not. Here are my notes:

2007 Clean Slate Riesling (Mosel, Germany)
Appearance: Clear, pale lemon yellow with a little pétillance, or effervescence.

Nose: Clean with light to medium intensity. Youthful aromas including green apple, lemon, lime, pineapple, slate, and anise star.

Palate: An off dry wine - 2.8% residual sugar - with medium acidity, body and light alcohol. Intense fruit flavors characteristic of the variety including apple, citrus, and lime. Also some pear, orange, and floral notes finished with a soft minerality.

My second choice is one of the best rosés I tried over the summer in 2009. The Torres Santa Digna Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé. I found this bottle at a tasting at the Cellar Door/American Wine School, Cleveland and was able to get a few bottles for around $8 or $9 a piece. I've seen it in many large/national retailers as well at comparable prices. Here are my notes:

2008 Santa Digna Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé (Central Valley, Chile)
Appearance: Clear with medium+ intensity. Definitely darker/deeper than many a rosé - somewhere between rose and cranberry juice pink.

Nose: Just shy of being incredibly aromatic, the youthful aromas definitely jump out. Included are grapefruit, citrus, lemon, cherry, strawberry, very soft vegetal, and floral notes.

Palate: Dry wine with medium+ acidity, body, and alcohol. Each sip leaves your mouth watering, making for a very refreshing wine. Flavors are medium in intensity and make me think of cranberry, sour cherry, lemon, green apple, pineapple and other tropical fruit, and bell pepper - thank you C.S.

The plan (locally) now is to meet up next Thursday in the Portland area with Mary Cressler from Vindulge and some other happy winos and tweet about all the different cheap wine favorites we taste.

To take part, and watch the tasting live just check out the original post here: Wine Ophelia: Twitter Cheap Wine Challenge and check Twitter for the #cheapwinechallenge hash-tag.

Cheers!