Last week we sold out of our Liliputian Winery 2006 "Fat Head Red" (a meritage of cabernet franc, merlot & pinot) and we haven't bottled our 2008 Zoe's Merlot yet. This leaves me with no relatively inexpensive reds to drink. What a dilemma! So began my search for an everyday red that is inexpensive and drinkable. This is probably an easier task for someone that lives in a major metropolitan are, as opposed to rural Western Colorado, like we do. My search last week started a TRI-R Liquors in Hotchkiss, CO owned by Tod Sabetke, a very knowledgeable wine drinker. He suggested that I try Badger Mountain's Pure Red, an organic red blend from Washington state with no added sulphites. I'm not usually a fan of organic wine (although there are notable exceptions!), despite owning a natural food store as well as a boutique winery. Let's face it, a lot of organic wine tastes like Gallo burgundy, dirty socks or worse. I'm also not usually a fan of most box wines, although they are improving in quality. However, based on Tod's recommendation I headed out of the store with a box of Pure Red. It cost me around $20.00. So the first thing I do when I get home is pull out my corkscrew, oops! As I struggled to open the box, all of our cats came to see what was going on, but they were unimpressed with the nose once I got it open and poured (tapped??) a glass. I was very pleasantly surprised with what I tasted! Pure red is very fruit forward, lots of raspberry and tart cherry, no oak, not a lot of nose or finish but heck, it came out of a box and cost the equivalent of $5.00 a bottle! I can't wait to pour it into an empty shiner and have our West Elk Winemakers Group taste it at our meeting next week. Should I confess it's out of a box?
Badger Mountain Pure Red: I would rate this wine 3 1/2 stars out of five. Not bad for a box wine.
No comments:
Post a Comment