Well, it was fun.

Hello, Folks. Looks like the ol' Swiggtator will be shutting down. I am turning my household into an alcohol-free zone. Yes, no more drinking for me- maybe forever. I have really enjoyed looking high and low for all the best deals in wine out there- I have gotten an chance to meet some really great people in the winemaking business and elsewhere. I am sad that I have had to end my blog and my memberships to the two wine clubs that have provided me with some of the best wines of the decade.
I have no regrets about all the wine I have had in my life- It definitely made for some good times over the years. Now I am on a different course and I'll be just a spectator now, no longer a proper Swiggtator. Keep on swiggin' and finding those sub $ 10.00 gems !

Cheers, Paul.

Local zin is a good one

We went to a tasting at Bottle Jack/ Silver Mountain last weekend. Having done the Silver Mountain tasting a few months ago we opted for Bottle Jack this time- it also helped that we had a comped tasting from the owner. Even if it was not free, this place had been on my radar to visit as I had tried a couple of the wines at events and was really impressed. We took home a 2015 zin  -$ 29 at the winery. This is more than I usually spend for a weekend wine, or any wine for that matter but since they had spotted us the tasting ( which included six wines and was excellent ) I figured that buying a couple of bottles was the right thing to do- especially as the wines were top notch.
The zin is not huge but still very flavorful- keeps you wanting more. It is really ready to drink and not in need of cellaring in my opinion. I'll give it 8 1/2 swiggs- go by and do a tasting- you won't be disappointed.

Wild thing

I have not had a Carol Shelton wine I have not liked and this "Wild thing" Mendocino Zin is no exception. It has a very nice balance and is not as heavy handed as a sierra foothills Zin, even though I'm a big fan of Amador and other Zins from that region. At $ 17.99 this is a really good weekend wine - I'll give it 8 swiggs. We had it with some very hot Szechuan food and the wine held up to all the spices and chilis. You can find it a lot of places but this price was from New Leaf markets and it is a bit lower than what I have seen elsewhere.

$ 2.99 ???

Yes, that is correct- a Paso Robles Rhone blend for $ 2.99 at Trader Joes . Do they have any more ? Doubtful, but worth a look. It turns out that this "Le Grande Cote" is actually Rabbit Ridge. It might be their "allure de Robles" blend or a Syrah. You can see the Rabbit Ridge brand on the cork and the logo on the foil. My guess is that this wine was re-labeled to hide the fact that a large brand was dumping a good amount of 2014 red wine through Trader Joes. I took two bottles home in November not knowing the real origin of the wine. When I drank it I was really impressed with the quality .....it was $ 3.99 then. I went back to Trader Joes a few days later and it was gone.
A few weeks went by and to my surprise, stacks of cases of this wine were at Trader Joes again. I bought three cases as not the price was $ 2.99. Since then I have had a few bottles- it is just as good as the first bottle- hope that you find some. I'll give it 8 swiggs- an outstanding wine at a giveaway price.