We love wine, and we love parties. However, most parties we’ve been fortunate enough to attend have served BAD wines. It’s understandable, as few people throw lavish parties with expensive wines. Besides, if the guests are not wine aficionados, why spend the money if they can’t tell the difference?
The Qwest: to find great QPR wines suitable for serving guests for under $10 that are locally available.
The Challengers: Three Spanish wines recommended by two local merchants.
Wine #1: Grans Moments Cava
- Grans Moments Cava
A surprisingly light and crisp Cava, a great way to start a party. Drinkable, totally acceptable to the masses as most partygoers had two glasses.
Price: $9.50
Q.P.R.: Excellent
Verdict: Great for toasting, and if you are not serving food it’s totally acceptable. Even non sparkling wine drinkers enjoyed it, and great if you are not sure if you should get red or white.
Wine #2: 2008 Bodegas Borsao Garnacha Campo de Borja Monte Oton
Monte Oton Garnacha and Dehesa de Rubiales Alaia
From a recent post on this producer in Cellartracker.com suscriber:
I’ve continued to add to my holding of this wine, and every time I drink it I wonder why I mess with any other wine at this price point. I guess the answer is I love variety, but I’m telling you this wine ROCKS at this price. Its not funky, mineral, its not currant and plum, its not this or that. It is yummy. This is a great sub$10 wine, period. I’m going to reload my cellar with more.
I couldn’t agree more, especially on the “it’s not this or that” as I couldn’t really identify the flavors I just know it was good.
Price: $8
Q.P.R.: Excellent
Verdict: A great buy for any party, but an A+ for a fiesta where food is served.
Wine #3: 2006 Dehesa de Rubiales Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y Leon Alaia
After the success of the first two wines, we were disappointed in this basic Spanish wine. While it’s “not bad”, I didn’t find any special features that stood out, and this wine sat on the table for a long time before the bottle was finished. Also, this was slightly higher price than the other two, and we purchased for $12.50 and wanted to compare with the first two sub $10 wines.
Price: $12.50
Q.P.R.: Average
Verdict: Try wines #1 and #2 before buying this one.
The Cava was popular, two bottles were gone within minutes!
Two out of three ain’t bad! As average as wine #3 was, we would certainly purchase #1 and #2 again, especially when throwing a party.
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The Monte Oton is one of our favs for all the reasons you listed. We love it with roasted chicken and polenta. I think Spain has a few of these fruity Granache values; not complex but lots of fresh juicy peppery raspberry here. You can’t beat it for the price.