Wino Wednesday: The Price is Right?

Ever perused the wine list at a restaurant and thought, "Ugh, I don't know where to begin?" You have two thoughts: I don't want to pay too much, but I don't want a crappy wine. You never want to spend too much for an overpriced wine, but surely a higher price means something, right?

NO. This was resoundingly proven at Wine Club last night at our first-ever "blind price test." We each pitched in $10 bucks and our fearless amateur sommelier Erica purchased six wines (three whites and three reds) ranging in price from $2.99 to $27.99. We tried each and wrote down what we thought the price might be. Let's just say we were in for some surprises...Melissa had the best score and she got two right. I missed ALL of them.

BUT before we got down to that business, we cuddled with Erica's new puppy, Gus or Bruce. Name TBA. We vote Gus, but we welcome your input in the comments.

So, here were the wines and their prices. I'll put what I THOUGHT their price was and maybe that will tell you something about how good they were.

This chardonnay got better and better with each sip, but for some reason, it struck me as a $6.99 wine. NOPE. $11.99 for Clos du Bois, and it was quite good.

 So the second wine was so watery and tasteless, we compared it to rubbing alcohol with a hint of white grape juice. I placed it in the $2.99 category. We were SHOCKED to find out it was Clos Saint Michel, a very specific varietal that isn't common, and costs $27.99. It was NOT GOOD.

Stone Cellars' Pinot Grigio had a floral scent and a pretty bouquet of flavors. Something about it felt rich to me, so I guessed it was the big ticket item. Nope! A very reasonable $7.

 Everyone loved this spicy cabernet sauvignon. I thought it might be the $11.99, but was an AWESOME $3.99.

I forgot to include a picture, but we also tried Yellow Tail's Shiraz and OMG I probably forgot to take a pic because it was so damn good. We all loved its smoothness  and it rings up to $3.99!

Finally, we had this tart Merlot, which I guessed was about $3.99, but it was actually $2.99. Not too shabby.

So, although this should have been clear to all, don't judge a wine by its price (although we all judge by labels!).