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First off - if you are a wine connoisseur, stop reading right now - just hit the back button.
OK - now my question.
Last summer we were having a happy hour on a new acquaintance's boat, and they had a quite acceptable red wine that they called "boat wine". Like the line from the Blues Brothers movie - they said "the wine list extended to both kinds of wine - red or white." Our hosts said you could only but it by the case and was it very inexpensive (ok - very cheap!)
Anybody have a clue what I might have had on board that warm and lovely summer evening?
Hmmm. Confession time. If we are going away for a weekend, we'll grab a few bottles of nice wine.
Now the confession. When we go away for a month, I mostly drink wine out of a box. It's not cheap I can't remember the brand name, but it's a yellowy/orange box with a good chardonnay. And there is a red that's not too bad either. Stores better and there are no bottles to dispose of - just a box to knock flat. Plus if you pour a glass, no air gets in the bag - it keeps well. Quite often I pull the bladder and throw in the fridge without the box. So don't get hung up on bottles.
Two Buck Chuck is very unreliable because they don't make any of their own, I believe. They just buy excess wine by the vat load from wineries and bottle it themselves. Now with that said; I've had some that is quite drinkable, especially after a long hot day of sailing!
We've had some great bottles in the $3 to $5 range from Grocery Outlet. Yes, they have Two Buck Chuck. But they have some others too. They have an Australian Cab called GumBear that's actually pretty good. Gotta concur on the Charles Shaw Merlot. We've had an open bottle on the counter for a few days that nobody's touched. And that NEVER happens around here! You also have to watch the vintages on the white wines, they sometimes are trying to unload some older bottles.
I'll have to ammend my comment on the $3 wine. We had good results with it when we first bought some. But a month later we went back and bought more of the same label and it was not as good. Not sure what the problem was but we switched to the $8 stuff and it seems to be more consistant. maybe the cheap stuff doesn't age well?
I reas somewhere that the cheap stuff is whatever overruns they can buy cheaply so the quality varies depending on what they can get their hands on...
CORRECT !!!!!! Such box wines have EXPIRATION DATES !!!!!! usually dot matrix printed and very small on the box. These are HIGH PRODUCTION wines and the 'stability filtering' is not all that efficient thus the relatively short shelf-life. The warmer the ambient temperature the shorter the 'shelf life' ... and they start to generate bacteria growth which slowly changes the wine to vinegar, etc. A 'good' bottled wine will be efficiently stability filtered and thus has a much longer 'shelf life'. I have envy for a trawler I saw last winter --- a separate 'wine storage refrig' that kept the wines cold down to 40 def. F.; as I dumped about 12 gallons of stored 'box wine' overboard due to the high ambient temps. aRRRRRRGH.
SO when buying box wines, carefully look at the expiration date and if you anticipate 'warm weather' get the absolute 'youngest' white wines you can obtain .... otherwise it wont be wine but whine you are storing.
[QUOTE they sometimes are trying to unload some older bottles.[/QUOTE]
What's the world coming to? selling aged/vintage wine?......tsk, tsk....
Just kidding.......personally, wifey and I prefer Vella White Zin, and Franzia Chillable Red.....along with Chardonay and Mountain Rhine.....$13-16 per 5 Litres.
It's all cheap and drinkable......
Totally different story when dining out (when you really feel the need to justify the additional expense and enjoyment).....then it's $20 - $40 per bottle.....makes me wanna puke paying those prices however.....
We only wish we could find Chuck around here......
Again, A mountain of responses here HOWEVER: I happen to be lucky enough to be anchored in a small southern town with a very good liquor/wine store. This place has litterally Thousands of bottles of wine from everywhere imaginable. SOOooo .................
They actually carry "boat wine" it's an actual brand with a sailboat on the label and comes in the usual varieties (Red and White ........... LOL) and costs around $5.00 to $7.00 a bottle. Thats all I know about it right now. I buy my boat wine from Walmart at about $3.00 a bottle ..... ;o)
2 buck chuck - 3 bucks on the east coast - plus lots of other affordable wines are available a trader joes -plus lots of other yummy stuff- check out their web site for locations
For a buck more at TJs you can buy the J Morris wines which taste much less like mouthwash than 2 buck Charlie wines. With the exception of the Chuck Shaw Syrah, I think all the Chuck Shaw wines are dreadful. As mentioned above bottle variation of 2 buck Chuck is all over the map. TJ's has lots of cheap Italian whites and reds that are serviceable. One benefit of TJs is if you don't like the wine, put the cork back in it and take it back for a refund, no problem, very nice policy IMO.
I have to admit I'm a bit of a wine snob, however, Black Box Cab (current vintage) is not bad and we found a wine in Sam's Club called Veo ( $6.68)which is also not bad. Our preferred choice, when we can find it on sale, is J Lohr Cab.
is there such a thing as boat wine??? i just use what i generally drink the rare times i do so ---- is about 35 dollars/bottle when i got it in napa/sonoma......
You all need to switch to Rum.. Cheaper, more bang for the buck, plays nice with any mix, can be used in any dish to cook with, kills any fish one might catch by pouring into the gills ( also marinades the fish while doing this), good for cuts and bruises, and makes guests want to come back for sundowners on your boat. It is the true drink for any sailors. Argggg...
The best bargain we've ever encountered is the liquor store in Eastport, MD next to West Marine. Every year, right around boat show time, they have a huge sale on everything! Prices are just a little over cost. Get there early and wait in line. It's a 3 day sale and they restock often. It's semi organized confusion! First time we went there was a fellow in front of us in the check out that had two grocery carts full of "good stuff". His bill was like $8K! We stocked our boat for most of the winter season of our Bahamas sailing. Boat sat a little lower in the water! ;-)
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