Bargain Wine(s) of the Week: 28 Wines Rated 90+ for <$10

A month ago we let you in on a little secret for finding highly rated wines priced less than $10. We went to LiquidDiscount.com, did an advanced search for wines that had been "rated," then filtered by price and came up with a list of 11 wines that we could take to the local wine store or order from the site.

So, let's do it again at another site, EmpireWine.com. This site gives us 27! wines, rated 90 or higher by experts but with a price tag under $10.

Your wine store is not going to have all of these wines — or even most of them. But they might have one or two. What if the store has none? There are two solutions: 1) filter for ratings between 85 and 90; or 2) splurge and go up to a maximum price of $15.

Here's the list that EmpireWine.com gave us for 90+ rating and <$10:

• Bodegas Luzon "Black Label" Jumilla 2007 (Spanish red) $6.95
• Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (Spanish champagne) $7.45
  
• Vega Sindoa Tempranillo/Merlot 2007 (Spanish red) $7.45
  
• Cristalino Brut (Spanish champagne) $7.95
  
• Wishing Tree Shiraz 2006 (Australian red) $7.95
  
• Panarroz Jumilla 2006 (Spanish red, also on the 4/16 list) $7.95
  
• Castano Yecla Monastrell 2007 (Spanish red) $7.95
  
• Bonny Doon Framboise half-bottle (CA desert wine) $7.95
  
• Trevor Jones "Jonesy" Old Tawny Port (Australian port) $8.95
  
• Yalumba Y Series Sangiovese Rose 2007 (Australian rosé) $8.95
  
• Domaine LaFage Catalanes Cote Est 2007 (French, Languedoc white) $8.95
  
• Tormaresca Neprica 2007 (Italian red) $8.95
  
• Bodega Rj Vinedos "Pasion4" Uco Valley Malbec 2007 (Argentine red) $8.95
  
• Maipe Malbec 2008 (Argentine red) $8.95
  
• Las Rocas de San Alejandro Rosado 2008 (Spanish rosé) $9.45
  
• Milbrandt "Traditions" Riesling 2006 (WA white) $9.45
  
• Terra Andina "reserve" Chardonnay 2007 (Chilean white) $9.95
  
• Chateau St. Jean Fume Blanc 2007 (CA white) $9.95
  
• Pillar Box Red 2007 (Australian red) $9.95
• Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha 2006 (Spanish red) $9.95
  
• Bodegas Olivares Monastrell Altos de la Hoya 2007 (Spanish red) $9.95
  
• George Duboeuf "Flower Label" Morgon 2005 (French red) $9.95
  
• George Duboeuf "Flower Label" Julienas 2005 (French red) $9.95
  
• Torremoron Tinto 2006 (Spanish red) $9.95
  
• Chateau Ste. Michelle "Mellies Garden" Dry Rosé 2007 (WA rosé) $9.95
  
• Falset Marca Garnacha Rosé 2006 (Spanish rosé) $9.95
  
• Jacobs Creek "Reserve" Riesling 2008 (Australian white) $9.95
  
• Masserie Pisari Negromaro 2006 (Italian red) $9.99
  

A historical note: we served the Freixenet at our wedding years ago, and we're glad to see that it's even better now.

A geographical note: it's very difficult to find good French wine for less than $10. There are three on this list, including one from Languedoc in the South of France, where bargains are often found. 

Happy wine hunting. Let us know what you find and how you like them.

The Produce Department: Roasted Grape Tomatoes

Yeah, we know: we just posted about roasted vegetables. But the fact is, there’s probably no better way to draw flavor out of a vegetable than to roast it. The process concentrates the flesh and caramelizes the sugars, leaving you with something much richer than you started with.

During the cooler months, when we’re craving tomatoes, we roast cherry or grape tomatoes. (Now widely available, the grape looks like a miniature Roma and is sweeter than the cherry variety.) They can be expensive at the supermarket, but Costco sells two-pound boxes for $4.99, and two pounds is just about what we need for most dishes.

Roasting the tomatoes couldn’t be simpler:

1. Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet.  Roll the tomatoes around in it until they’re coated.

2. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a teaspoon of dried herbs of your choice—herbs de Provence are good; so’s thyme—and salt and pepper. Roll them around again.

3. Roast at 400 degrees for about half an hour, shaking the pan occasionally. When the tomatoes are done, they’ve turned soft and juicy and developed a few brown spots.

They work well either as a side dish or as part of  a larger dish. Last night, as an experiment, we slightly mashed them when they came out of the oven, then mixed them with a pound of linguine, a few tablespoons of olive oil, half a cup of goat cheese, and a few tablespoons of parmesan. The result was delicious, though some shredded basil would have made it even better . . . 

Make It Yourself: Lemon Tahini Dressing

This is another salad dressing that’s easy to whip up in your own kitchen, despite what may seem like a lot of ingredients. All you need is a blender.

Ruth discovered it last year while attending a retreat at Kripalu, a yoga center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Although the yoga and meditation were great, what she loved most about the weekend was the salad dressing: Kripalu’s cafeteria featured one of the best concoctions she’d ever tasted. Although it looked like a vinaigrette, it was more complex, featuring lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and sesame oil. She put it on her salad, on her bread, on heaps of raw shredded beets and carrots . . . and was delighted to later find it listed among the recipes on Kripalu’s Web site. Really, Kripalu should make people visit their center to taste this bliss-inducing dressing, but being generous yogis, they’re happy to share it with the world.

Lentil and Quinoa Salad

These days, it can be tricky to feed your friends: one’s a vegan, one hates vegetarian food, one’s a picky eater, one eats like a horse. Feeding a large group of friends is even trickier.

We’ve found that this dish, which mixes lentils with whole grains and bathes them in a sprightly dressing, makes everybody happy. It can serve as a main dish for the vegetarians and a side dish for everybody else. Its forthright flavors make it a particularly good accompaniment to grilled meat and seafood. And it's cheap as can be to make.

Maybe you’re looking at the photo and thinking, “Lentils? KEEN-wah? What ridiculous hippie hell do you people live in?” If so, you should withhold judgment until you've tried this salad. Every time we serve it, people ask us for the recipe, and we don't have the kind of friends who do things just to be nice.

The dressing is adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Recipe

1 cup quinoa*
1 cup lentils**

Dressing:
zest of two lemons
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
1 t. paprika****
4 fat scallions, minced
2 t. garlic, minced
salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

½ cup mint or basil, chopped
½ cup parsley, chopped

1.    Simmer quinoa in two cups of water until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

2.    Place the lentils in a medium-size pan, cover with at least an inch of water, and boil until tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

3.    While the quinoa and lentils are cooking, prepare the dressing, mixing all ingredients.

4.    Pour the dressing over the quinoa and lentils while they are hot.

5.    Once the salad has cooled, mix in the chopped herbs.

Feeds at least four as a main dish, eight as a side dish.

* Brown rice is an excellent alternative to quinoa.

** Green, or French, lentils work particularly well in this dish, but we've also used regular brown lentils with good results.

*** If you have smoked paprika, try subbing it for half or (if you really love smoked paprika) all of the paprika.

Bargain Wine of the Week: 2006 Panarroz Jumilla

A couple of weeks ago we used an online wine store to show how to find wines under $10 that had also been rated highly by wine magazines and experts. One of the wines that made the list was 2006 Panarroz Jumilla.

This wine rated 90 points from Robert Parker and can be found on sale for $8 a bottle. If you are drinking so-so weekday wines that cost $10 and thinking, "I wish I could afford something more drinkable"—buy a case of this Spanish wine.

It's a full-bodied wine with a long finish that goes with everything from seared steak and au gratin potatoes to a plate of leftovers. Its spicy licorice and cherry flavors make it a good match with pork or a spicy chicken dish.

When Parker gave this Panarroz the 90 rating in The Wine Advocate, he said, “An amazing bargain from Spain, this blend of mourvèdre, grenache, and syrah bursts with plum, blackberry, and licorice-infused fruit. There is a bit of pepper as well, and the wine is silky, soft, and opulent. Serve it at a barbecue.”

Some wine snobs will look down their noses at this bottle because of its high rating, low price, and popularity. But as a weekday wine, this red belongs in a bargain hunter's wine rack.

Red Pepper Sauce

Our friend Paul Spring makes a roasted red bell pepper sauce that can be used for dipping—chips or artichokes, for example—as a spread on toasted or plain French bread slices, or as a finishing sauce, to give a colorful and flavorful boost to a dish.

Once you’ve roasted the peppers, this sauce is quick and easy, and it lasts for days, perhaps weeks (we're still testing that), in the refrigerator.

Start by placing a roasted, cleaned pepper—or two or three or four—in your food processor. For each pepper, add one-half to one teaspoon of thyme (more if you have fresh or really love thyme). With the processor running, add a scant teaspoon of rice wine vinegar and a scant tablespoon of olive oil for each pepper, as well as a clove of garlic, if you like. Process to a smooth consistency. Taste for salt. If you need to thin the sauce because of the way you’re serving it, put in a bit of milk, but don’t overdo it.

For a bit more punch, Paul suggests adding some anchovy. This is a pretty forgiving recipe, so you can experiment to find what you like best. 

Even when it's just made with red peppers, the sauce has a fresh, smoky taste and a bright color that can dress up a too-pale plate of food. It nicely complemented Tim's grilled cod last night.

The Produce Department: Roasted Red Peppers

We all have our favorite flavors. For some of us, it’s chocolate; for others it’s garlic. What’s yours? The daily staple, coffee? An exotic fruit like mango or pomegranate? Or maybe Camembert, which a French poet described as smelling like "the feet of God"?

Roasted red pepper is very high on our list of favorite flavors: simultaneously sweet and smoky, it adds complexity to a dish without overwhelming the main ingredient.  And despite their rich taste and meaty texture, roasted peppers are nutritious and fat-free.

We serve them by themselves, unadorned as a colorful side to entrées. They are particularly good with steak or fish. We dice them and add them to salads, pasta and even bread. (We’ll post the bread recipe at a later date.) And we put them in sandwiches with other roasted veggies, such as eggplant. 

And lately we’ve been whirring them into a concoction that works as a dip, a spread, or a finishing sauce. You’ll find that recipe here.

You can buy canned roasted red peppers, and some supermarkets have them in the bulk area with olives, but these tend to have a medicinal, "processed" taste. And they’re more expensive than the homemade variety.

Yesterday our supermarket had thick-skinned large peppers for 99 cents a pound—a bargain. So we bought seven and roasted them all.

It’s probably easiest to do this on a gas or charcoal grill, but you can do it on a gas stovetop as well. Set the heat on high, lay the pepper on the grate and let the skin blister to black. Turn the pepper to char all sides, trying to leave no skin unblackened.

When the peppers are done, put them in a brown paper sack and close the top to let them sweat in the bag for at least 10 minutes (longer is fine). 

Next, remove the skins, stems, and seeds. They’ll be hot, and there are a couple of methods for doing this. Ruth puts on rubber gloves and rubs the black skin off into the compost bucket. Tim rinses the skin away under a cool low flow of water, then chucks the collected bits into the compost bucket. 

You can make them ahead of time, because they can be served at room temperature.

Shopping Bargains: Spices

We’re working up a longer post on the deals you can find at Indian food markets, but the recipe for Too-Tired-to-Cook Curry reminded us of the huge savings on spices these stores offer.

Check out the photo: a 1.5-ounce jar of coriander powder was $5.99 at our local supermarket, compared with $1.49 for a seven-ounce bag at the Indian store.

The savings on cumin powder are even more dramatic. These days, many recipes call for cumin—not just for Indian food but for a wide range of dishes, including Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Cuban, and Tex-Mex. Perhaps because of its sudden popularity, cumin tends to be obscenely marked up at supermarkets, where a 1.5-ounce jar runs between $4 and $7. At Indian markets, however, you can get a 14-ounce bag of cumin powder for about $4.

Although online grocery sites also offer some good deals on spices, it’s worth googling “Indian grocery” and your city’s name to see what’s available locally. 

Shopping Bargains: The Warehouse Club

Derided by many for their laughable, ludicrous quantities—remember Homer Simpson and the Mrs. Butterworth bottle?—warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s offer equally large savings . . . for those who can control themselves.

Though it is ever-escalating, our annual membership fee at Costco — now $50 — is a bargain as long as we avoid expensive and caloric temptations. So we avert our eyes from the tantalizing bags of Terra Chips and Atomic Fireballs and stick to the basics: coffee, olive oil, mustard, baking yeast, sugar, nuts, basmati rice, juice, fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit, canned tomatoes, cheese, and whatever other quality staples can be gleaned. Even with this fairly short list, our membership pays for itself several times over, as we also buy vitamins, detergent, and other household basics at Costco.

We generally do a warehouse run once or twice a month. Here’s what we got on our trip this week:

4.5 lb. raisins                           $6.89
2 lb. pecans                               8.89
3 lb. almonds                             9.49
1 lb. organic salad mix              4.79
2 lb. grape tomatoes                  4.99
15-lb. bag grapefruit                  9.99
1.5 lb. Parmigiano Reggiano   15.83
1 lb. goat cheese                        4.49
2 lb. queso fresco                       5.49
2  loaves whole grain bread       4.49
2 lb. coffee                               10.39

For less than $90, we got a big pile of groceries that in some cases will hold us for months. We’ll use the raisins and nuts for homemade granola and freeze part of the goat cheese and queso fresco. One of the bread loaves will go into the freezer. The costliest single item, the parmesan cheese, will last at least a couple of months.

A one-pound box of salad mix can be tricky to manage, as it’s sometimes hard for the two of us to eat that much lettuce before it goes bad. Although this low price justifies a certain amount of spoilage, we really hate to waste, so we’ll make a few salad-based meals to keep on top of things. (One reason these mixes spoil quickly is that they’re crammed too tightly into the containers; if you shake up the plastic box every time you take some salad out, the leaves will last longer.)

Costco offers some of our favorite seasonal items, such as the $8 one-pound boxes of chanterelle mushrooms that appear in the fall. Other products, like organic sugar, come and go, so if you see something you like and can stockpile it, you probably should load up.

If you have the patience to winnow the quality buys from the towering aisles of junk, and have the room at home to store your purchases, the warehouse club is one of the best deals out there. 

Recommendation: Elissa Altman has written a book on buying, storing, and preparing bulk foods, titled, appropriately, Big Food. Check it out!

Guest Recipe: Too-Tired-to-Cook Curry

Jeanetta Miller submitted this recipe in the comments, but we think it merits its own post. As the name indicates, it’s a recipe that comes in handy when Jeanetta and her husband are too worn out to try anything fancy and just want a reliable dish that they know will make them happy.

Recipe

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 T. olive oil

14-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
½ t. ground ginger
2 t. garam masala*
½ t. chili powder

½ cup plain yogurt
handful of chopped cilantro

1. Cut the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces and brown them in the oil, using an oven-proof pan with a lid.

2.  Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3.  While the chicken browns, blend the tomatoes, garlic, ginger, garam masala, and chili powder in a blender or food processor.

4.  Add the sauce to the chicken in the pan, bring it to a boil, cover, and bake in the oven for half an hour.

5.  Remove the lid from the pan, and let the chicken cool for a few minutes. Stir in the yogurt and cilantro.

Jeanetta suggests serving this dish on brown rice cooked with a tablespoon of wild rice: “It makes a huge difference in the texture and taste of the rice.” This is a great suggestion for stretching wild rice, which is as expensive as it is delicious.

* Garam masala, an all-purpose Indian spice mix, can be found in the ethnic section of some supermarkets or online. If you’re lucky enough to have an Indian market in your area, go there, and not just for garam masala—these stores have the freshest, cheapest spices for all kinds of dishes.

Never Waste a Flavor: Parmesan Rinds

Many meat eaters say they can’t become vegetarians because of bacon—its smoky deliciousness trips them up every time. Ruth has a similar dilemma: she can’t become a vegan because of parmesan cheese, which lends depth, breadth, and bliss to everything it touches.

Our Costco membership allows us to get Parmigiano Reggiano for a relative bargain—$11 a pound—but we still strive to make every crumb count. Once we’ve scraped the rind nearly bare, we freeze it. Later, when we’re making a batch of minestrone or other vegetable soup, we toss in the rind and let it simmer. It turns into a gummy wad that looks awful but tastes wonderful (if a glamour puss like Nigella Lawson can admit to gnawing on hers, we can, too) and dramatically amps up the flavor of the soup liquid.

If your parmesan rind gets moldy, just scrub it with some white vinegar. Once frozen, it will keep indefinitely. 

Favorite Quote: Carl Spackler

“In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one.”

We’re learning how to think like groundhogs. The fattest, greediest, most fleet-footed groundhogs on earth have taken up residence in our backyard and are now waiting for this spring's lettuce crop. Last year we caught five of these varmints. So far this year, we’ve just caught squirrels.

(Relax, animal lovers; we use a Havahart trap.)

Waste Not Challenge: Red Mole Black Bean Soup

This month there’s a contest at the Fine Cooking site that’s perfect for the likes of us: Ellie Krieger’s Waste Not Challenge to create a dish from refrigerator leftovers.

The contest only runs through April 30, and we only got around to reading the rules on Saturday, but as it happened, we had a few items that really, really needed to be used up.

These included an aging batch of vegetable stock, an ancient but apparently immortal jar of Trader Joe’s red mole paste, part of a can of tomatoes, a rapidly ripening avocado, and some black beans, cilantro, and queso fresco left over from a recent Friday night dinner.

With a few contributions from the spice and onion drawers, these ingredients all came together in a dish that falls somewhere between soup and chili.

Will we use this recipe again? Definitely. But what we enjoyed most was the challenge to make do with what we had—to add this, tweak that and in the process come up with something entirely new and, for all practical purposes, free.

Recipe

1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. olive oil
7 cups vegetable stock
2 cups cooked black beans
1 ½ cups diced canned tomatoes, with juice
2 T. red mole paste
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. dried oregano
1 T. mild chili powder
1 T. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos* (optional)
salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste
four small corn tortillas, shredded

Garnishes:
diced avocado
chopped cilantro
crumbled queso fresco**

1. Saute garlic and onion in oil until soft.

2. Add stock, beans, and tomatoes. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

3. Add mole paste; stir until paste dissolves.

3. Add cumin, oregano, chili powder, Bragg’s, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Add shredded tortillas; simmer until they fall apart, about 20 minutes.

5. Serve with garnishes.

* If you ever find yourself with a flat-tasting vegetarian dish, this product adds depth of flavor without adding a lot of salt. It’s available in many supermarkets (near the vinegar), or in any health food store.

** Although you can substitute feta cheese for queso fresco, the Mexican cheese adds a nice meaty texture to the soup. Available at Costco as well as Hispanic markets.

Wine Bargain of the Week: 2007 Bogle Chardonnay and Petit Syrah

OK, OK. We know: Everybody who’s ever unscrewed the cap of a bottle of supermarket wine knows that Bogle is a reliable brand. But let us tell you a story about why it’s important to know some wines you can always count on—any time, any place.

Every autumn Tim (and sometimes Ruth) goes to a ranch/farm near West Tallgrass, South Dakota, for an extended-family reunion, where 30 to 40 relatives gather to hunt ring-necked pheasants and catch up with one another.  Last year Tim and Ruth and two of Tim’s nephews were responsible for the big Saturday night meal. As luck would have it, the case of featured wine didn’t arrive despite UPS’s best efforts to find its way from East Tallgrass.

Tim’s brother forgot to mention that the wine hadn’t arrived, so when we realized our predicament late Saturday afternoon, we called the two attendees who were still driving across what could best be described as land that had been rejected by the director of Dances with Wolves as too desolate and unpopulated. We were in the proverbial middle of nowhere. We needed six Pinot Noirs and six Chardonnays.

Luckily, the cell phone tower out on the highway was working just enough that day so that we got through to niece Amy, who stopped in a town east of Tallgrass (pop. 500) that is considered “the City” by everyone within 150 miles. She went to the only liquor store and gave us the names of six wines. What else, we asked. No, THESE ARE THE ONLY SIX WINES IN THE STORE, she answered. We know enough about wine to be able to buy over the phone, but this was clearly going to be a challenge. The first five were so bad the local drunks wouldn’t touch them. The last of the six was Mark West Pinot. Bingo.

But no Chardonnays, period.

Then caller No. 2 checked in from 30 miles west of West Tallgrass, where the local hooch establishment had a grander selection. But still, we’re talking about a store that my brother doesn’t consider worth a visit—and he lives in Fort Pierre, South Dakota.

Fortunately, caller No. 2 knew a bit about wine, and we knew the hunt had been pared to Chardonnays, so she began reading the blanc list. Bogle Chardonnay! Bingo twice in the same hour. Bear in mind that we were sitting in the wine equivalent of the nosebleed bleacher seats of the bingo hall. Truth be told, the only reason the store had Bogle was that the label depicts a ring-necked pheasant, the peacock of the local tourism economy. But never ask why when you find yourself holding a lottery winner.

Bogle wines, particularly the Chardonnay and Petit Syrah, consistently get high marks despite their under-$10 price. They are both great everyday wines and perfect for large gatherings where you want a quality wine that won't bust the budget. The ’07 Chardonnay is buttery and spicy and smells like pear and apple. The Petit Syrah is jammy, with lots of red-berry fruit color and taste.

If you're having a party, there's no need to spend $15 to $20 on wine you're not sure about. Just put out the Bogle. The hunt need not necessarily be difficult.

Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage. Woody Allen said that.

"Can We Afford to Eat Ethically?"

There's a great article* on Salon today by Siobhan Phillips, who conducted a monthlong experiment to see if it's possible to eat organically, locally, ethically, and affordably. She concluded that it is, as long as you also eat frugally and thoughtfully.

Best quote: 

Eating sustainably and frugally forces you to challenge preferences and resist ruts, since you pretty much have to buy any available item that's cheap and well-grown. Thrifty habits thus helped my husband and me to dine more adventurously, and we felt pleasantly surprised more often than deprived.

*If you don't subscribe to Salon, it's worth going through the site's day-pass procedure to read this piece. 

Make It Yourself: Vinaigrette Dressing

Look inside your refrigerator door. How many bottles of salad dressing live there? How many of those bottles do you actually use?

You can free up valuable refrigerator real estate—and save lots of money—by making your own salad dressings. We’ll be posting our favorite recipes in the coming months; for starters, here’s an excellent mustard vinaigrette that holds its own with strong-tasting greens like arugula and livens up even the most boring supermarket lettuce (we’re looking at you, soggy head of red-leaf!). It’s also good brushed on sliced vegetables before you grill them.

Courtesy of Nora Ephron:

Recipe

2 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. good red wine vinegar 
6 T. olive oil


Whisk the mustard and vinegar together, then slowly add the oil, whisking all the while. 

You’ll have about half a cup of thick, golden dressing.

Favorite Kitchen Utensils: Wine Vacuum

Sometimes you just can’t finish a bottle of wine. Maybe it’s late, maybe you have to work in the morning, or maybe you just want to avoid the spirit-crushing malady known as “wine head.” 

Whites will keep fine if you cork them and put them in the fridge, but reds demand a little more care—even an overnight stay on the kitchen counter will change the flavor of an opened bottle for the worse.

Fortunately, there are devices you can buy to vacuum out the air in the bottle and preserve the leftover wine for another day or two. There are many different models; we’ve used the VacuVin’s rubber stoppers for years with good results.

Depending on where you buy it—many liquor stores carry it—a VacuVin set usually costs between $10 and $15.