5 Cheap Crazy Wines Over the Weekend

 I tried 3 wines this weekend while visiting my aunt in Charlotte along with 2 more that I had in my fridge once I got back Sunday. Once I told my aunt that I was in a wine tasting class she just thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread and took the pictures of the wine in cart and texted them to me because she was anxious to finally drink wine with me (Hence the pictures in the shopping cart and in her purse because I forgot to take pictures of them when we were drinking them). For as long as I can remember my aunt has drank wine and was sort of surprised me when she just bought bottom shelf wines to taste. But none the less they were free so I was on board! The first wine was by FlipFlop and was the California Pinot Grigio ($3, alch content 12%). We first tasted the flip flop and it was very fruity on the nose with a light hint of ethanol or alcohol scent. The taste was a sugary floral taste, strong tastes of raspberry, strawberry, and a hint of cherry. It seemed like so much was going on in it that I couldn't even enjoy it, it had so much sweetness that really just seemed to overwhelm the fruit tastes that it had. Wasn't too big of a fan of this one.

 The wine next up was the Barefoot Pinot Grigio ($5, alch content 13%). This wine on the nose had hints of honey, lemon, citrus, and tart apple. The taste was almost exactly what I had smelled, it was a sweet yet tart taste, it gives you that same feeling when you bite into a really tart granny smith apple. The aftertaste was a sweet honey that I didn't care for at first but grew on me as it began to open up. My aunt didn't care for it but I liked it a lot more than the flip flop one. But enough with the pinot's and onto my favorite white wine.

 Sauginon Blanc is my favorite type of white wine, that I have tried so far in my brief wine tasting career. The last wine my aunt purchased was another wine from the very prestigious and highly sought after Barefoot winery. Their version of the Sauvignon Blanc ($5, alch content 13%). The initial nose on it was very light and only had hints of fruit not as overwhelming as the pinot's. The color was also a lighter and less yellow hue. The taste was tart for a sauvignon blanc that I wasn't used to tasting from most others, I got a lemon and light summer floral taste from this wine. It also felt like the taste you would get from most carbonated wines like champagne in the aftertaste that almost evaporated in your mouth. The lack of overwhelming sweetness really made this wine the winner for me. The dryness also took away from the 13% alcohol content and was quite pleasing. My favorite of all 5 wines tasted in this post.

These next two wines I purchased from the very bottom shelf of ghetto Kroger for pennies on the dollar and I soon found why they were as cheap as they were. The first to be tasted was the Bay Bridge Pinot Grigio ( $3, alch content 11.5%), unique to this wine is that it is made of 51% Pinot Grigio and 49% Colombard grapes which changes the characteristics of this wine dramatically. And sure enough it had a more refreshing less sweet nose to it. This pinot is nothing like the other in that it has less sweetness and is more dry. I honestly enjoyed this wine in the long run better than the sweeter ones because I don't enjoy very sweet wines. But one characteristic that was terrible was the alcohol content, this wine tasted like I was drinking water, I very sublimely got just a plain old grape taste, like I drank an entire glass trying to come up with more descriptors but it was just so bland that I couldn't come up with any haha.

The last wine of the week was the Bay Bridge version of Chardonnay ($3, alch content 12.5%). This wine was 100% Chardonnay, or atleast if it wasn't they didn't mention it anywhere on the bottle. This wine had a little darker greener color than the previous. It however was not as watery as the previous Bay Bridge. On the nose it was dry and smelled like a passion fruit. On the tongue it tasted of strong pineapple and pear, with hints of lemon and apple. The first taste you get is all pineapple and apple and then the aftertaste is like a tartness followed by pear left in your mouth after you taste it. The only thing that makes me not love this wine is it tastes like it's been open for a while and gotten stale or something it was quite strange. I've never had a wine that I opened and sit for only 30 minuets while I took a shower that tasted like that. I really don't know if it was the wine or me letting it breathe for a little. I would like to buy this bottle again and try it immediately after opening it to compare results.