Friendly, fun, and CHEAP!

Jacqueline Brisley CSW owner of Vitis Vitae, website www.vitisvitae.com


These are words I love to hear used in relation to a wine. Not all wine needs to be super-serious, and I call these fun wines "Tuesday night wines". When you open a bottle on a weeknight, just to have a tasty drink with dinner, your expectations from that bottle are less stringent than from a bottle opened to go with a meal you spent hours preparing.

I have a list of cheap and cheerful wines I always have on hand, just for opening when I feel like it, or to serve to impromptu guests.

My new number 1 on the list is Fuzion - a shiraz/malbec blend from Argentina for $7.45 a bottle. I don't have exceedingly high or unreasonable expectations at this price level, but I do expect it to be drinkable, enjoyable, and please the majority of palates. Fuzion does just that. It is fairly fruity on the nose, with a hint of oaky vanilla, it has pleasing acidity, enough tannin left to make it obvious you are drinking red wine, and a bit of length. It is definitely styled as a new world wine, and as such doesn't have much in the way of any earthiness or non-fruit characteristics. It comes in a handy screw top, to make it even more convenient to open for those in my house not versed in the safe and proper opening of a wine with a corkscrew. What it boils down to is - this is tasty, non pretentious wine, delivering excellent value for the price tag. I am ecstatic to find a wine under $10 with good drinking potential, at under $8, fill up the cart!

My previous #1 was Cono Sur Pinot Noir, from Chile now at $10.90. About a year ago it was $10.10, so I'm miffed about the almost 10% increase in price. I notice these things, but I still buy it. It's the cheapest Pinot Noir in the LCBO, and not bad either. It has the basic characteristics of bright red fruit - cherries? on the nose, good acidity, low tannins, all of which make an easy quaffing wine. Sometimes too easy - the second bottle seems to open and pour itself as you chat, which can be a bit dangerous. Again with the handy dandy screwcap!

I still like Montepulciano d'Abruzzo as a cheap and cheerful wine. Again at $7.45, but not long ago it was $6.95 - sneaky Mr. LCBO at it again! Inflation is 2%, so the correct increase should have been $.14, not $.50 . My go-to is Citra for this Italian red, partly out of habit, partly because it also comes in 1.5l bottles, eliminating entirely the pesky opening of a second bottle. I use this wine to make Sangria in the summer for my Sangria Sundays, since a vat of Sangria is a great crowd pleaser, and can be diluted with soda to match the time of day (at noon, you dilute it, at 5:00, it gets drank straight from the pitcher). My Sangria Recipe - quantities are vague as I just pour and mix until it tastes right!

1.5l red wine
about 1/2 bottle triple sec
about 1/2 bottle brandy (preferably Spanish)
about 4 cups clear fruit juice (apple, cranberry, cranapple etc.)
thinly sliced oranges, lemons, limes

mix and taste - should be sweet enough, but if not, add some superfine sugar - also called fruit sugar (don't confuse this with icing sugar!). Regular granulated sugar works, but needs more stirring to dissolve it.

Serve over lots of ice, and top with soda if desired.

I'm missing my Sangria Sundays right now, since I'm convinced winter will never end. Today it's raining, but the forcast is for the temperature to plummit this afternoon, and back to the freezer with all of us.

I'll continue with great value wines later, please share any of your favourites!