Tuesday is Tax Day, the deadline for U.S. residents to pay their state and federal income taxes. Which is an ideal opportunity for the Wine Curmudgeon to remind everyone about the blog's reason for being: cheap wine. What better day to write about wine we can afford to drink than the day our taxes are due?
Americans hate Tax Day, and one study claims that we're more prone to die in a car accident on the day our taxes are due. If that's the case, then we need to change our behavior. It's only money, after all.
What better way to enjoy Tax Day than to stay home and drink cheap wine? After the jump, a few thoughts on how to do that.
• Visit Michael Franz's annual Tax Day cheap wine post (though it doesn't look like he did one this year). Franz ia big deal wine writer who spends a lot of time trying to find value for less than $12, and the Tax Day post is the result. He also notes the improvement in cheap wine: "Regarding quality, the best wines are better than ever before, and the worst wines, defined as the bottom 25% of the pool, are nowhere near as bad as they used to be."
• Bill Citara at the Biscayne Times goes in depth for Tax Day, with six whites for $12 or less (and the 2011 post was nifty as well). It's a pleasure to see Citara fighting the good fight for cheap wine.
• My suggestions? A French sparkling rose called Perle de Vigne ($10, purchased), which offers stunning value. It's made the same way Champage is made, and the grapes come from Burgundy, which is usually expensive wine real estate. How this is only $10 is beyond me. For white, try Casillero del Diablo's sauvignon blanc ($8, purchased), made in the sturdy, old-fashioned Chilean style -- lots of grapefruit and some sweetish pineapple. The 14 Hands cabernet sauvignon ($12, sample) is a Washington state red with cherry fruit and complexity to match. It's cabernet, as opposed to the cabernet lite usually found at this price.
Photo courtesy of j4p4n at OpenClipArt.org, using a Creative Commons license
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