Cheap Wine of the Day

I don't agree that life is too short to drink cheap wine; life is too short to drink bad wine. Not all cheap wines are bad. That having been said, have I got the cheap wine for you: 2007 Gypsy Chariot, Trader Joe's, less than $10. (I think it may actually be $4.99 or $5.99, but I can't find my receipt.) It's a blend of grapes from central California and Sonoma: Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Sangiovese, so it's got deep color and, it bears repeating, dense fruit. The finish is full of spice and pepper, and lasts longer than you'd expect when you spend this little money.

The caveat: to dig this wine, you have to like the big, high-alcohol fruit bombs--it's not an elegant wine--and you have to be willing to give a little on the structure. The tannins are light for a big red, so for my palate, it's just barely on the right side of lush versus flabby. If you love tannins and acids, if you love delicate Pinot Noir gazelles, then you will see this wine as the hippo.

But me, I might offer this wine to people who are not wine drinkers, because often people who say they don't like wine are reacting to the tannins and/or acidity. And also because the big fruit has such immediate appeal. It's accessible, it's like the 70s pop music of wine. Or it's like the buxom barmaid with the cleavage and the big hair and the gold bangles and the black eyebrows and red lipstick. I love it. Not every wine must be complex. Some wines are simple or unbalanced or wacky, and I have to say that I am starting to develop an appreciation for wines in their many different forms. You don't want the perfect universe in a glass every night. What to pair it with? Big, simple foods, e.g., Pizza, burgers, pasta with marinara sauce, charred grilled items.

Of course, I am the same person who today downloaded an England Dan and John Ford Coley album from iTunes, so my judgment may be suspect. Consider yourself warned.

UPDATE: Here's a second opinion, posted a few days after I posted mine.