Hi-Time Wine Cellars has a little-known around-$10/bottle wine club, featuring two wines per month (they also have the option for an around-$25/bottle wine club too). It’s neat because it’s a low price point, you can always buy what you liked again, and they include almost a page of notes on each wine, not just tasting notes but background on the wineries, the grapes, the regions. Most of the wines they select are decent, but in the course of my membership over the past year, these two have really stood out:
Enrique Mendoza 2014 “La Tremenda” Monastrell
Excerpt from notes: The name “La Tremenda” references the name of the vineyard where the grapes are grown in Alicante near Valencia. The”secret” to this wines success lies in the very low yielding vines, which produce less than a ton of grapes per acre! This results in small, deeply colored Monastrell (aka Mourvedre) grapes with intense aromatics and concentrated fruit flavors.
It seems like every time I go to Hi-Time, they’re tasting Spanish reds, and I say I don’t like Spanish reds, and then I find a monastrell that I like. This one is no different—I was really pleasantly surprised by this wine, as were my friends, and it’s a steal at $9.95 bottle.
Casas del Bosque 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine actually wasn’t included in the wine club—the Pinot from the same producer was, and it was surprising, as a Chilean pinot, but good enough to go back for. While there, a staffer encouraged me to try the Cab ($13.98), saying it was even better than the Pinot, and he was right. Both are excellent.
Notes: Casas Del Bosque is a small, boutique winery nestled between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific in the Maipo Valley, which is well-known for its quality wine production. Their estate-grown grapes are reliably ripened in the abundant sunshine while the cool nights help keep the wine fresh.
Just in time for all those holiday parties requiring you to bring a decently-priced delicious bottle of wine!