A Whole Mess O' Wines Under $15

We bet you woke up this morning and said to yourself, "Self, I wish someone would post a story including 17 different wines under $15 so I can hit the liquor store." Your wish is our command. From Syrah to Riesling to Sangiovese, check out this roundup of more cheap wine than you can shake a stick at.

Washington Post - Bottles That Won't Break the Bank

As an interesting side note, this story was written by the same folks who wrote What to Drink with What You Eat- a little book that happens to be our favorite new food and booze pairing companion.

Find the Latest Wines at Wine.com

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Ring in 2007 with Wine Deals

If you're anything like us, you're a little less than flush right now money-wise after blowing it all on Christmas presents and celebratory drinks. Even if you're nothing like us, January can be a little tight, especially when it comes to buying wine. We've found an interesting article that rounds up a bunch of good wines for bottom shelf prices - we wish we could take advantage of the $2 deal from Trader Joe's but the stupid laws in Massachusetts won't let us buy wine at any old store. Anyway, check out the write up of the TJ's recommendation below and read the full story at MercuryNews.com.

TWO-BUCK ALTERNATIVE: When you're shopping at Trader Joe's, you could reach for the Two-Buck Chuck. But for the same money at TJ's, you can buy something a little more unusual and interesting from Argentina. Most stores still have the 2005 Amaicha Torrontes ($1.99), a floral, aromatic wine with a fragrance reminiscent of gewürztraminer, as well as notes of white peach, honeysuckle and jasmine. But the wine is likely to sell out soon, so don't wait if you want to try it. There was a red from the same winery made from the bonarda grape, believed by some to be the same grape as California's charbono, but the wine was sold out at every store I tried.

Top Wines for $5.99 or Less

The holidays are a time for giving, and while that do wonders for your tiny Grinch-like heart, it can make your wallet feel three sizes too small. Luckily, there are easy ways to find passable-to-good wines for under $10 to help stretch your budget. AOL Food has put together a list of wines available for even less than that - they went through 34 wines and found the top five you can buy for $5.99 or less. We knew about the deals Trader Joe's has (though we can't partake in them thanks to the barbaric liquor laws in Massachusetts), but there are a couple on the list that surprised us.

Head on over to AOL Food to see the slide show and check out their list, and tell 'em Cheap Fun Wines sent ya.

Woot Wine 10/16/06: Poizin Zinfandel

This week's Wine Woot has the greatest wine name EVAR (prove us wrong) and we were all fired up for it as soon as we saw Massachusetts on the list of states available for shipping. We mean "Poizin," with a skull and crossbones on the label? Sign us the hell up. Then we remembered that with the delivery times you can expect for Massachusetts, we'd be seeing our bottles in time for Thanksgiving or Christmas, when the humor would be gone.

Anyway, Poizin sounds like good stuff according to the Wine Woot description, and costs in the neighborhood of $25 per bottle in comparison to Woot's $52.99 for three bottles (plus $5 for shipping). It's a blend of Zinfandel and Petite Syrah and it seems like a good deal, plus you can buy a bottle of Antidote (a pinot gris) from the winery's website. Get your claws on a bottle of Poizin through Woot Wine and don't forget to check out the blog for reader tips and catty comments.

Wines 'Til Sold Out

We've been paying a lot of attention to Woot Wine lately, but it's come to attention they're not the only "sell wine for an allotted time period" game in town. We've recently discovered Wine 'Til Sold Out, another online venture that works on the Woot model.

This one offers wine deals updated daily instead of weekly like Woot Wine, and from what we've seen they tend to sell single bottles that are significantly discounted, from 30-70% off. Even so, they still seem to come in at a slightly higher price than we usually spend (today's deal is a $70 Tuscan wine for just over $40).

If you're looking to widen your online wine deal horizons, put these guys in your bookmarks and check them out every day (you can also sign up for email alerts). They currently ship to 20 states, and they seem to offer free shipping on orders of two or more bottles. Check out the deals and get the full rundown at Wines 'Til Sold Out.

Woot Wine 10/09/06: Parker Station Critter Quartet

Ye gods we look forward to each week's Wine Woot. Overall they're great deals, and if they would ever work it out so we could order it (stupid no shipping to Massachusetts) we'd be getting there every week. This week's Woot includes four bottles (2 Syrah, 1 Chardonnay, 1 Pinot Noir) from Parker Station for $29.99. Even when you include the $5 for shipping that comes in at less than nine bucks a bottle.

Nothing heart stopping when you compare it to the typical price of $10-$12 plus shipping at other wine sites, but it seems like it'd be fun to experiment with. Check out this week's Wine Woot blog for customer feedback, and check the main Wine Woot page to see if they're shipping to your state. Oh, and make sure you're not drunk when they deliver it.

Woot Wine 09/11/06: Jepson Mendocino Mix

How is it that we keep forgetting to cover the weekly Woot wine deal? It's not like they change the day they release it or anything. Every Monday - how tough is that to remember? Anyway, this week's deal seems like a pretty good one for $35.99 (plus $5 for shipping), so we'll hand the microphone over to Rick at Martini Lounge to give you the details.

All the wines are pretty good ones and Jepson also makes a nice Brandy if I remember correctly. Plus there's just something so pleasant about Mendocino wines. The cost normally is around US$58 before shipping, so you're getting a deal.

Woot Wine 09/05/06: La Famiglia Pinot Grigio

We've been loving a lot of Pinot Grigio around here lately, so we're all fired up about this week's Wine Woot. You're getting four bottles for $45 (like $11 apiece), and the lowest prices we found for this wine otherwise are around $15-$20 each.

That means the discount isn't incredibly deep but it's definitely not bad, plus we're intrigued by the tasting notes: "Enticing apple, citrus and lemon zest character with mineral, floral and spice nuances. Burst of tangerine on the finish. Crisp and dry, with silky texture." We say get there, especially if you like dry white wines.

But as always, make sure you check the list of delivery states at Wine.Woot as well as the Woot Wine blog before you get too pumped up; we found out Massachusetts isn't on the list so we can't partake this week.

Woot Wine 8/28/06: Vino Noceto Wines

Once again we couldn't get to the Wine Woot until the end of the day. We suck at life.

You get a bottle of Vino Noceto's regular Sangiovese, their Reserva Sangiovese, and two bottles of their Zinfandel. All of these are great wines to have with food, like a Jumbo Jack or Whopper. Or even something fancier, like Italian Food (You know, Olive Garden and stuff).

These all are pretty well-balanced and bring a lot of new flavors to your under-appreciated palate. The only caveat is the regular Sangiovese, don't let it breathe or it'll start tasting like you're licking lollipops.

Woot Wine 7/31/06: S. Anderson Sparkling Wine

We know there are a couple things amiss with us covering the wine discounts over at Woot Wine - one, the total price usually falls well out of our "under $20" price range and two, Rick over at Martini Lounge already covers it more than adequately every week.

Still, we've had very good experiences with the wines we've gotten through Woot, the total discounts can be pretty damned substantial if you don't mind shelling out up front to buy your wine in a quartet. Plus, we'll check in on Rick each week to see if his recommendation matches up with ours and let you know.

Anyway, this week's wine Woot is for 4 bottles of sparkling wine from S. Anderson - 2 bottles of Blanc de Blanc and 2 bottles of Blanc de Noir for $84.99 plus $5 shipping. The wines and the winery get pretty good reviews over at Epinions, and the Noir is typically priced at $28 while the Blanc is usually $38. Some quick math by a Woot poster says now the average retail price is $33, for 35.6% savings overall. Not too shabby.

Recommendation: We say go for it if the following apply to you: you plan to go to a lot of chic parties this year, you plan to give them as gifts, you just LOVE sparkling wine because the bubbles tickle your nose. And don't forget since these wines came out fairly recently you can cellar these bad boys too if you don't need them quite yet.