Sweet Sweet Wine

Wine is such a great thing. I could, in fact, use a glass right now and it is barely 9:00 a.m. You can feel the alcohol begin to work with the first crisp fruity sip of a Chardonnay or the first warm smooth sip of a rich red. There is a wine for every palate and cuisine.

There is also a wine for every budget. You can get a very good, unique bottle of wine for less than $10 (split that with a friend and you get 2 or 3 glasses of wine for $5). Now beware, there is a big difference between wine that costs $4.99 (Trader Joe's famous Charles Shaw being the most famous exception) and a bottle that costs $8.99 or $9.99.

You do not need to drink Boon's Farm on a budget, you can even drink French wine!

This is a bottle (empty of course) of les Shadok's White Bordeaux purchased by a friend for $9.99 in downtown Boston (probably cheaper in the burbs if you can find it). The first time she saw this bottle she was skeptical of the seemingly silly label, but the helpful man at the liquor store assured her it was a good find.

My intensive search of the internet (i.e. Wikipedia) informs me that the cartoon birds on the front of the bottle are characters from a late 60's French cartoon still referenced today with great cultural significance. Do we have California wine with Tom & Jerry on it?

Regardless, the birds are cute, the wine is good and a white Bordeaux for $10 is hard to criticize. Don't think you have to by the ubiquitous wines to stay on a budget, I love a good Chardonnay or a Merlot, but if you have the time to look for different vineyards and vintages you may find a gem like this one.