The New Best Red Wine For $5 Or Less

I have discovered my new all-time favorite red wine (for $5 or less, that is).

Regular readers of this blog will recall my quest to find a bottle of red wine in Prague that was both cheap and delicious. Turns out it's possible.

My previous favorites basically boiled down to two wines:

-- The Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot from Brise de France (around 80 CZK per bottle, or around $4.80).

(I just noticed that the 2007 Cabernet from Brise de France has been selected for the Gilbert & Gaillard wine guide, which sounds pretty impressive for a $5 bottle of wine, but I don't know anything about that particular guide. It's possible that wineries may pay to be included in the guide.)

-- The California Cabernet Sauvignon from, believe it or not, Tesco. At 55 CZK ($3.35), it was a real bargain, which is why it previously held the crown of the Best Red Wine In Prague For $5 Or Less.

But there's a new king.

It's not cheaper, but it's more bang for the buck.

I'm talking about the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Misiones de Rengo, an award-winning Chilean winery with a cool website.

I first saw it at the large Interspar grocery store at the Metropole mall at Zličín. It looked promising. A Chilean red for only 79 CZK (about $4.80). I bought a few bottles to try it out. I'm very glad I did.

A deep black-red in color with the taste of of black cherries, and a bit of spiciness and tannin. It's a chewy mouthful of flavor.

I give it a 9 out of 10 on the Wino-Meter.

It reminds me very much of the Carmenere or Merlot from another Chilean winery, Tarapaca. The difference is that the Tarapaca is normally around 289 CZK per bottle ($17.60) in Prague. (Although I stocked up during the summer when the Hypernova at the Šestka mall near the airport was selling it regularly for 99 CZK ($6) per bottle.

I must have bought about four or five cases at that price, of which only two bottles remain. I'm waiting for it to go back on sale.)

Anyway, the Misiones de Rengo is an absolute steal at 79 CZK per bottle. The only problem is that I've only seen it at that particular Interspar. If anyone has seen it closer to the city center, please let me know.

In the meantime, it's the new king of the cheap but tasty Prague wines, and I'm heading to Interspar to bring back a few dozen bottles.

A New King Is Crowned (Best Red Wine In Prague For $5)

A (plastic) bottle of red. A (plastic) bottle of white. Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight.

As someone pointed out in a comment on one of my earlier blog posts, one of the best ways to find drinkable, but inexpensive, wines in Prague is to seek out wine bars and shops that offers wines from the barrel.

I live in the village of Černý Vůl, west of Prague, and the nearest place I know of to buy wines from the barrel is in Suchdol. It's a little kiosk along Route 241 called, wonderfully, Relax Vine. The proprietor is very friendly and offers small tastings of all of his offerings.

The wines on offer from the barrel on my most recent visit were from Argentina and Macedonia. I decided to sample both a red and a white -- a flowery, crisp Torrontes (65 CZK, or $4, per liter) and a chewy, dark Cabernet Sauvignon (60 CZK, or $3.75, per liter), both from Argentina.

I have no idea from which vintner the wines originate. Unfortunately, my Czech is pretty awful, and certainly not good enough to engage in a wine discussion.

In the end, though, I liked them so much I bought 1.5 liters of each. The wines are poured from the barrel by spigots into plastic soda bottles. The packaging, and the price, is conducive to drinking all of the contents in one sitting.

On the Wino-Meter, I'd give both of them a solid 7 out of 10. (They'd normally get an 8, but I'm taking a point off since they're not widely available.)


The Relax Vine kiosk in the village of Suchdol.

In other tastings of late, I tried two more budget wines from Tesco -- a California Cabernet Sauvignon, described on the bottle as a "medium-bodied smooth red wine with rich black currant flavors," and an Italy Sicilian Red Wine, described only as a "dry red wine."

The Sicilian Red was drinkable, but entirely forgettable. There is simply nothing to recommend it, except the price, which, if memory serves me correctly (I've misplaced my notes), was around 55 CZK, or about $3.50 per bottle. I'll give it a 5 on the old Wino-Meter.



I have to admit, though, to being pretty impressed by the Cabernet Sauvignon, especially considering its price, which was also around 55 CZK, or about $3.50 per bottle, I believe.

The wine is remarkably meaty, and eminently quaffable. I'd say that, especially considering the price, it's as good, or even slightly better, than my previous favorite $5 bottle -- the Cabernet or Merlot from Brise de France (which usually retails for around 75 CZK, or $4.75 a bottle).

As with the Brise de France, it's not going to blow your socks off, but it's entirely respectable, and you won't be embarrassed to serve it to guests. If only the bottle had a different label. That whole "Selected By Tesco" text is pretty cheesy looking. The Brise de France has the upper hand in the label department.

In the end, I'll give the California Cabernet Sauvignon by Tesco a score of 8.5 on the Wino-Meter, which makes it the new Best Ride Wine (Widely Available) In Prague For $5 Or Less.

A new champion has been crowned, but the quest, as ever, continues.

Your thoughts welcomed.


A new king is crowned.

Best Red Wine In Prague For $5, Part 2

The wine's not bad, but the label's awful.

I am on a quest to find the best bottle of red wine in Prague for the equivalent of $5 (around 80 CZK) or less.

In my first post on this topic, I singled out the Merlot or the Cabernet Sauvignon from Brise de France, which can be found in Prague shops for anywhere from 70 to 80 CZK per bottle.

As I said in my previous post, "it's a pleasing wine, pouring a dark, deep, rich red. For the price, it's got a nice little bit of spiciness, with hints of black cherry."

On my new Wino-Meter, which takes into consideration taste, color, bouquet (or what I like to call smell) and price, Brise de France gets an 8 out of 10.

Since then, I've drunk a number of wines all costing 80 CZK or less (in one case, much less) and have had a number of reader recommendations. Let's start with the reader tips.

One gusto reader said the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Los Reyes, Cosecha, Chile, sells for under 40 CZK at Norma supermarkets in Prague. At one point, apparently, even selling for 30 CZK. I'd never heard of Norma, but have since discovered it's a German discount chain, which has recently been taken over by a German retail chain, a move that may spell its demise in the Czech Republic. Or has already spelled its demise, since I haven't seen one anywhere.

Can anyone help out with this intriguing mystery? Where the heck is Norma?

Roll Out The Barrels

Another reader wrote to plug the barrel wines available from the wine shops around town, "especially the Chilean Merlot or Argentine Malbec for 55 CZK a liter." There's a wine kiosk in the village of Suchdol, near where I live, and I've enjoyed some drinkable wines from there in the past. I'll have to go back and drink a few more for the purposes of this search.

My only complaint with these wines-by-the-barrel is that the wine is served up in the 1.5-liter plastic bottles usually used for soda, sealed by a plastic top. Their shelf life is thus very limited. Basically, you've got to drink that baby right away (not that that's usually a problem).

'Now That's A Bargain!'

One reader wrote to pass along the "wine tip of the week," saying Tesco is selling the "excellent Rosemount Estate Shiraz for 189.90 CZK -- now that's a bargain!!!" I will definitely have to check that out, but at the equivalent of $12 a bottle, it's way out of the range of this post.

Hollywood & Wine

Speaking of Tesco, however, my good friend Stewart brought over a bottle of California Red Wine from Tesco, which he said cost 54 CZK per bottle, or $3.40.

The label (which sports a drawing of the Hollywood sign) looks pretty crappy, actually. They could have sunk a few more pounds into a more sophisticated design. As for the wine, it's totally drinkable, if forgettable. There's absolutely no finish to it, and it barely makes its presence known to your tongue. It's a decent screw-cap table wine, and for the price a pretty good deal.

On the Wino-Meter, I'm giving it a 6 out of 10.

'Nice, Drinkable' Italian
Another anonymous reader put in a plug for the Merlot 2006 IGT, Cielo family, from Veneto, Italy, selling at Interspar for 67-79 CZK per bottle. "It is nice, drinkable, I think in this category," the anonymous reader said, going on to say: "Czech red wines are terrible if cheaper than 120-150 CZK, especially those you can buy in supermarkets. And they are often only bottled here, but made of low quality grapes from Italy and Hungary anyway. (It is written by very small letters on the rear side of bottle.) Almost only chance to find good and cheap red wine is to visit winemakers and their wine cellars directly, but even in that case they will be offering a lot more of white wines."

The Cielo brand is widely available in Prague, and is definitely a good bargain bet. Again, very drinkable, if unmemorable.

I just finished a bottle of Cielo Cabernet Sauvignon, which I bought for 69 CZK ($4.36). Not bad. The taste was very grape-y, almost like grape-flavored Kool-Aid or something.

I finished the bottle, nonetheless.

The Cielo Cabernet Sauvignon gets a 6 out of 10 on the Wino-Meter.

Crapola de Espana
One bottle I actually couldn't finish was of Sol de Espana from the well-respected vintner United Brands, a Spanish table wine that was for sale at a Vietnamese market I frequent near Hradcanska metro for around 34 CZK ($2.15). It was absolutely undrinkable -- vinegary and just plain awful.

I don't think the bottle was bad. I think the wine is bad. I had a swallow and poured the rest down the drain.

The Sol de Espana came close to breaking the Wino-Meter.

And the quest continues...

As always, please share your recommendations, both good and bad. I promise to do my best to taste them all.

Best Red Wine In Prague For $5 Or Less?

Is there a better red wine in Prague for the price?

At my house, we like to drink wine -- sometimes white, but usually red. I'd say we drink, on average, a bottle a day with dinner.

When you're drinking a bottle of wine a day, it's nice to find something that tastes nice but that won't break the bank. In the United States, it's very easy to find drinkable wines that cost $5 or less per bottle.

It's a lot tougher here in the Czech Republic. There are certainly a lot of Czech reds at reasonable prices, but they're usually the color of watered-down grape juice and taste just as bad. The decent Czech reds cost much more than $5 per bottle.

There are also some delicious Australian and Chilean reds for sale here in Prague -- from such established labels as Tarapaca or Jacob's Creek -- but they'll set you back anywhere from 200 CZK (about $12.50) to almost 300 CZK ($19) per bottle. (I was astounded to see Tarapaca Cabernet and Carmenere on sale for 99 CZK ($6.25) at one of the Hypernovas here in Prague a month or so ago, and bought a few cases worth, but the sale was short-lived.)

Is it possible to find a decent red in Prague for $5 or less? That means for around 80 Czech crowns (CZK), at today's exchange rate.

I used to really love a Chilean red from Tupahue that was a a bargain for around 70 CZK per bottle, but it mysteriously disappeared from local shelves about a year or so ago.

Now, my affordable, but drinkable, wine of choice is the 2006 Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon from Brise de France, which retails for 70 CZK to 79 CZK at a few of the grocery stores I frequent (the Hypernova at Sestka, near the airport, and at a Vietnamese market near Hradcanska metro, but I think they also carry it at Billa).

Right off the bat, it's a pleasing wine, pouring a dark, deep, rich red. For the price, it's got a nice little bit of spiciness, with hints of black cherry.

It's not going to knock your socks off, but it's eminently drinkable, and for the price, it's hard to beat, at least in this city.

What's the best wine in Prague for 80 CZK or less? My choice is Brise de France 2006 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Your nominations are welcome!