Bargain Red Wines For Summer BBQ And Everything Else

With our wine loving in-laws in town for the month of July, there were plenty of opportunities to drink bargain wines. After all, when you're sitting on the back porch nightly with a glass or two of red each for four people, those $25 bottles just aren't a fiscally sound option.

This led to the pleasant discovery that there are many great bottles at the $10 point on the shelves of Austin's wine sellers. We'll lead with the ones to buy, then give you a list of a couple to avoid despite some favorable press. All of our selected wines will go well with your summer BBQ fare, though some (like the Crios) perform better on their own.

Great: Montes Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2004, Chile ($9 at World Market and Twin) - We can't recommend this enough for $9. There's loads of black fruit, nice oak, and some coffee and tannins on the finish. We've gone through a case of it already with everything from Salt Lick BBQ to salads. A true bargain from an up and coming vineyard.

Great: Susana Balbo Crios Syrah-Bonarda, Argentina ($11 at World Market) - So you know Syrah, but Bonarda? It is a light, fresh red grape originally from Italy. As a result, this blend has some aggressive flavors of blackberry and oak in a silky, velvety wine that goes down far too fast.

Very Good: Casas Del Bosque Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile ($9 at HEB) - Have you noticed that these picks are all from South America? Given the expense of California Cabs, it makes sense to search other regions for bargain reds. This recommended wine at HEB has a nose of cedar and berries, a little oak, some subtle tannins, and a peppery finish.

Alright: Henry's Drive Pillar Box Red, Australia ($10 at World Market and Twin) - We were excited about this, as Henry's Drive makes some ridiculously bold Syrahs and Cabs in the $40 range which we can't afford. Unfortunately, the wine was easy to drink and there wasn't anything wrong, but didn't have any special going for it despite a 90 point review from Robert Parker. Online wine hounds say this wine is incredibly inconsistent from bottle to bottle, so this may explain our disappointment.

Poor: Buckeley's Cabernet-Shiraz, Australia ($9 at Twin) - Ouch. We made the mistake of buying this based on a "rating" sticker at Twin Liquors, and it proved incredibly disappointing. Not much on the nose, lots of acid, and a general lack of balance made this our worst purchase of the summer season. Avoid it.

One final note on summer wine purchases: many on internet wine forums have voiced complaints of late about the quality of wines purchased at Texas-area Costcos and Sam's Clubs. The general gripe is that there is a lot of kicked wine due to pallets sitting outside in the heat too long while waiting to be unloaded. While we've done fine with our inexpensive purchases there, the cautious might wait until the weather cools before buying nice bottles at these shops.

Image via nhanusek on Flickr.