The bottle is winking at me... #CHEAPDATE

Winking Owl Shiraz 

This, my dear financially strapped lushes, is THE cheapest wine I have tested for my Cheap Date series.

Aldi…the mutha-effing king of cheap booze, has this bottle for an every day price of $2.89 at my local store. (obviously, shit is cheaper in Indiana that the coastal cities. We have no water so we get cheap booze. Priorities.)

The nice thing about Aldi wine…it also has this handy label on the back so we know what the flavor will be like…if it’s sweet or dry…what temperature…

SHIT!

Mother effing shit. This is supposed to be at room temp, and I put the damn thing in my wine fridge again. Shit. I need to stop buying room temperature wines. I’m obviously incapable of having this stuff warm.

Okay. I don’t care. I’m trying it anyway.

Again…there’s no pull tab, twist off cap, or anything like that. Here’s an improviser’s tip. No seal cutter? Put the corkscrew sideways against the underside of the lip of the bottle and stab it over and over.

Step 1. Stab Seal.

Step 2. Peel like it's no big deal.

See? Sure you still could stab yourself, but it’s a smaller point. That means less chance of hitting a major artery, right?



FIRST IMPRESSIONS

There’s a cork. So obviously it’s a quality wine. (Yes. Cork Equals Quality. You know that by now.)

At this point, hubby wakes up from his nap and decides to make a smoothie right where I am working on this blog. He has to argue about which fruit is the smoothie fruit. I guess this gives the wine a chance to get to the right temperature… *grumble*

For real. He interrupted my wine time for fruit.

Okay. The wine is definitely room temp now. How long does it take to make a fucking smoothie?

Anyway….



FIRST POUR

There’s a little bit of bubble action at the top, and the drag on the glass has a few pits in it.

It might be time to be worried. Still not as heinous looking as the sangria though. That shit still haunts me.

The bottle says there should be a “hint of spice”.  It smells really bold to me. Maybe it’s my mayo lifestyle.

Time to try it.



FIRST SIP

This has the warmth in the back of my throat, the hint of fruit and no harsh bite to speak of. It’s like a breath of warm happiness.

This isn’t a gulp wine. It’s more of a laugh with friends while you make dinner kind of wine.

Or in my case, type out your opinion while your hubby completes the final boss fight in Final Fantasy, after munching on carrots and tater tots.




FINAL VERDICT

I’m pouring another glass. I dig it. I think I like the white I tried last time a bit better, but this is a great sipping wine.

Hubby didn’t weigh in on this one. Partly because it’s a dry wine, and mostly because he got in my damn way while making a smoothie.

Thumbs up for the wine. Thumbs down for the smoothie interruptus.

Pouring more!

...lots more.

So far I have come to the conclusion that Aldi is where shit goes down as far as cheap wine. I have also been told Trader Joe's is great, but there's not one terribly close to me. Where else should I go shopping for a deal? Feel free to tweet me your finds @RoxyMews.

Until next bottle...


~Roxy



To find Roxy's books with buy links and what she has coming up next check out her website at RoxyRocksMe.com