Cheap Red Wine Roundup

When my Amway business really takes off I'll be able to drink only really good wine but until then I need to find some reasonable cheapies. I suppose I probably spend just as much money buying cheap wine and dumping it as I would if I just bought wine I knew was pretty good but like most value-seeking fools I get drawn to a "deal". The wife and I were at Cost Plus recently and to kill time while she selected soaps based on flowers I've never heard of I browsed the wine section. I figured it was a good time to grab a few bottles of sub $10 that I knew from experience were tasty if not memorable. The varied results are as follows:

The Amateur Hour Line-Up (Cline Zinfandel in trash, not shown)

• Bogle 2003 Petite Sirah: as I mentioned before, I like this fruity one and it's one of the best of this motley crew. If you can't find it for $10 or less then don't bother.
• Rosenblum Zinfandel (Vinter's Cuvee XVII): Sounds fancy but I wonder if 'Cuvee' mean 'scraps' in French. A bit of a bitey finish but overall it's pretty good and worth its $8.
• Rosso Shiraz: I couldn't find a year, probably because the winery doesn't even know. The use of the "Shiraz" term is a bummer but for $6 at Trader Joe's it's worth it (but probably not worth $7) .
• Cline 2002 Zinfandel: I know, only the Syrah is pictured, sorry, we drank the one bottle of Zinfandel we bought, or we stripped furniture with it, I can't remember.
• Ravenswood 2002 Zinfandel: They call it 'Vinter's Blend' but I think they meant to label it 'Vinter's Blind' because that would explain why they bottled this Windex and called it wine.
• Cline 2002 Syrah: One of the best of the lot. It's a little rough around the edges but has some interesting flavors. I think I paid $7 and was pleased.

Ravenswood and Cline's Zinfandel were disappointing because some years they are tasty and the best deal around but I guess 2002 was an off-year. Maybe Chuck Shaw bought up all the best Fresno grapes out from under them.