Cheap crap hommage

  • Thread starter Thread starter BJ
  • Start date Start date
It's super trippy...Grocery Outlet hasn't been on my radar at all, and then on the SAME DAY Eden posts, and my massage therapist gives me a ten minute infomercial on the wonders of GO. And, now I see one is not far from the house.

FAR OUT MAN!!!!
 
Well, just got back from GO as it's apparently known. Bonny Doon rose for $3.99, Colombo Provence rose for 6.99, well...not sure I'll be back.

Carry on.
 
originally posted by BJ:
Cheap crap hommageWould it be a nice thing to have a Cheap Crap thread? I never knew Chris but definitely got a kick out of his writing. I would love to know about good cheap stuff folks are finding. I vaguely think we tried this before, but regardless here's a note:

'22 Sainte Celine Chablis from Trader Joe's $16. Clearly a badge engineered Brocard. Note on back says single vineyard, indigenous yeast, stainless raised...I typically prefer this to their Sainte Clair cuvee. Brocard is definitely an underappreciated domaine - while this is no Picq, it's quite good. We go through a case or two each year.
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I pick this up regularly too. I'm a fan of Brocard, and though it's among the least of their wines, it's still true to the region and pretty good.

FWIW, the current TJs Grand Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021 lot 109 is astoundingly good for the money. It's actually not terribly Barossa-like (for good or ill), with some cool floral-pepper notes and decent acidity. Has length and complexity. It was the group's favorite wine of a tasting of southern hemisphere Syrahs that included Penfolds and Mullineux.

Their 2015 Reserve Rioja ("Marques de Butrago" on back label) is solid, a bit generic and not complex, but tasty, balanced and structured. Proof of the current oversupply in Rioja? They also have a nice red from Utiel-Requena region, 50/50 Tempranillo & Bobal IIRC, for the ludicrously low price of $5.99.
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
Grocery Outlet is pretty good (not necessarily for the wine).
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If you're in the biz of food/drink marketing or distribution, it's a fascinating amalgam of "guess why it's here" products. Some clearly lost distributors, some are in way oversupplied/overcrowded niches, some were hilariously bad or random ideas.

Speaking of rose', that Tibouren that I posted about in what-did-you-drink-last-night is available at some GOs in the Bay area. Just in time for the good weather showing up.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by Yule Kim:
Grocery Outlet is pretty good (not necessarily for the wine).
Click to expand...
If you're in the biz of food/drink marketing or distribution, it's a fascinating amalgam of "guess why it's here" products. Some clearly lost distributors, some are in way oversupplied/overcrowded niches, some were hilariously bad or random ideas.

Speaking of rose', that Tibouren that I posted about in what-did-you-drink-last-night is available at some GOs in the Bay area. Just in time for the good weather showing up.
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Nice. I might swing by GO -- it's been a while.

I tried to look at your note in the WDYDLN thread, but for some reason, when I got to the last page, it doesn't show it. Weird. Maybe the thread has gotten too long?
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by Yule Kim:
Grocery Outlet is pretty good (not necessarily for the wine).
Click to expand...
If you're in the biz of food/drink marketing or distribution, it's a fascinating amalgam of "guess why it's here" products. Some clearly lost distributors, some are in way oversupplied/overcrowded niches, some were hilariously bad or random ideas.

Speaking of rose', that Tibouren that I posted about in what-did-you-drink-last-night is available at some GOs in the Bay area. Just in time for the good weather showing up.
Click to expand...

Nice. I might swing by GO -- it's been a while.

I tried to look at your note in the WDYDLN thread, but for some reason, when I got to the last page, it doesn't show it. Weird. Maybe the thread has gotten too long?
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Strange, I don't see it either. Yet if I run a search and click "view", it shows up just under Rahsaan's post. Anyway, the wine in question at GO is:

Tibouren Cotes de Provence 2022, Cave de Ramatuelle - a co-op in a location that could easily sell everything to tourists at mediocre quality, but seems to be showing some spirit with this 90% Tibouren, 10% Grenache rose' blend. Limpid salmon with a hint of brass color; light orange rind/melon fruit with a distinct herbal sage note; med-light body, similar flavor, dry and savory finish with a pleasant herbal phenolic touch and good length. Light but tasty.
 
Jean-Louis Chave Selection Syrah/Grenache Mon Coeur Cotes du Rhone '19 -- what a find on a wine list at $39. Really a lovely wine that was perfect for a low-key dinner in a noisy environment.

Paired well with a grilled angus burger on a Caesar salad.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Jean-Louis Chave Selection Syrah/Grenache Mon Coeur Cotes du Rhone '19 -- what a find on a wine list at $39. Really a lovely wine that was perfect for a low-key dinner in a noisy environment.

Paired well with a grilled angus burger on a Caesar salad.

. . . . . Pete
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I have always found this wine to be competently made but completely uninteresting. I probably haven't tasted it in ten years, but I can't believe the Chave house would have changed it, since it seemed to serve its purpose.

But, given that $39 in a restaurant is a very fair mark-up from retail of $18-20, I could see myself ordering it with a burger and salad, if all the other wines on the list of any interest were inflated in price, as an at least reliable and competently made red. I might also order a beer, though.
 
Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre with vine age between 20 - 60 years, this Jean-Louis Chave Selection Syrah/Grenache Mon Coeur Cotes du Rhone '19 marked up from an average ~$25 retail to $39 on the wine list was an appealing choice with burger on a salad in a very casual, noisy dining room (and considerably less than what I was expecting to have to pay for multiple bottles). Very pleased indeed.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

But, given that $39 in a restaurant is a very fair mark-up from retail of $18-20, I could see myself ordering it with a burger and salad
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with a lamb burger especially
 
originally posted by BJ:
fyi $39 is not cheap crap
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In a restaurant, at least around these parts, it is. And, again, at $18-20 retail, is at the low end of the scale of things, though not the prices people are quoting for good cheap crap. I think Mon Coeur is worth those asking prices, not more though.
 
Brad, I was just trying to contribute to your thread.

What do you consider to be the threshold for cheap price on a wine list?

. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg: , at $18-20 retail, ... I think Mon Coeur is worth those asking prices, not more though.
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Jonathan, the retail price range I'm seeing for the current bottling is $23 - 25 and more like $25 for the 2019. I agree with you that these price ranges are the upper limit of being reasonable.

. . . . . Pete
 
With regard to price, just check wine searcher. I'm confused about how you want to classify the wine. You say above that you don't consider it cheap crap, but then you say to BJ that you want to contribute to his thread, which is about the boatloads of cheap crap category. Regardless, I consider Mon Coeur, as I said, a competently made, uninteresting wine, worth maybe $18 or so, not more. Even at 12-15, I wouldn't be a buyer. At $20-25, I could name a boatload of wine I'd buy first.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2018 Principiano Langhe Nebbiolo 13.5% is a delightfully nebbiolesque experience for under 20 Europeans, at least on this side of the pondicherry (in non-monopoly countries).
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Year later, one more last night, fruity in the most ideal way, utterly delicious.
 
originally posted by BJ:
Cheap crap is in the lower teens at most
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I agree, $15-16 seems a reasonable cutoff point, definitely not wines $20 or more. IMHO the category (or at least this thread) doesn't include higher priced wines discounted
 
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