Tag Archives: Cheap wine of year

2024 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Stemmari Grillo 2022

Stemmari grillo bottle
Stemmari Grillo 2022

Sicily’s Stemmari Grillo 2022 is the blog’s seventh annual Turner Cheap Wine of the Year

Usually, one of the wines on the shortlist for the blog’s Turner Cheap Wine of the Year award is just enough better than the others so that I don’t have much trouble choosing the winner.

Not so this year. All six of the wines were award worthy, and each would have been a fine choice. So how did I settle on the Stemmari Grillo ($8, purchased, 13%)?

Call it a shout out to the late Mack Turner, who the award is named after. He and I  spent more than a few Sunday afternoons drinking this wine, and we were rarely disappointed. And, without fail, he wold always ask,”Where did you get it?” and then we would wax poetic about Jimmy’s, the Dallas Italian grocer that sells this.

What to know about the wine? Nutty. Spicy. Green apple and stone fruit. Fresh. Clean. Drink chilled, on its own or with almost anything except big red meat.

The award’s shortlist is here. Selection criteria are here; I considered wines that cost as much as $15 to take into account price creep and regional pricing differences.

More Turner Cheap Wine of the Year:
• 2023 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
• 2022 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Scaia Rosato 2020
• 2021 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: MAN Chenin Blanc 2019

2023 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Matchbook Caberrnet saucignon bottle
Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon 2020/$10-$18

California’s Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is the blog’s sixth annual Turner Cheap Wine of the Year

Cabernet sauvignon is supposed to be California’s glory, yet finding one that tastes like cabernet at an affordable price — or even almost affordable — is practically impossible. This wine, which used to be more than adequate, is now so sweet that I had to spit it out when I tasted it the other day. And the most popular California cabernet on Wine-Searcher costs $89.

So thank you, Matchbook. Thank you, thank you, and thank you, for showing that it’s still possible to make quality California cabernet that we can afford to buy. How well done is this wine? The Cajun Oenophile, who dislikes fakey California red wine even more than I do (and also misses the Big Guy) agrees with this choice. That speaks volumes.

What makes the Matchbook ($12, purchased, 13.9%) so terrific? It’s an honest wine, with dark berry fruit that opens up and becomes less brambly, but doesn’t approach smooth. Plus, the tannins are actually part of the wine, the oak doesn’t get in the way, and there’s maybe even a bit of cedar — just like the $100 cabernets. And availability is quite good, too.

Check out the award’s shortlist here, which also explains why the award has been named in honor of the late Mack Turner, the Big Guy. Selection criteria are here; I considered wines that cost as much as $15 to take into account price creep and regional pricing differences.

More Turner Cheap Wine of the Year:
• 2022 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Scaia Rosato 2020
• 2021 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: MAN Chenin Blanc 2019
• 2020 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Le Coeur de la Reine Gamay 2017