Vino al Cheapo

Ok, so I gotta stop buying cheap wine.

As a remnant from my 23-year relationship with my ex, I like red wine. Didn't at first, but her tastes rubbed off on me, and I became somewhat of a wine snob. Not $$$$ bottles, but enough that if it was under $15, I looked at it suspiciously.

Well, now that I'm single and on a somewhat tighter budget, I still like reds but I keep searching for that sub $10 gem. Yet to find it, and occassionally I really misstep.

Like the last bottle I bought. Browsing the local liquor store, found this Chilean thing....can't even remember the name (must have blocked it out). It was a "staff recommendation", which must have meant "the people that work here usually swig Mickey's Big Mouths 'till they're blind - then we taste wines, and this one didn't make us puke."

This thing boasts that it's a gold medal winner. Must've been a private ceremony with a medal they pressed themselves. It tastes like a big chunk of black pepper.
No subtle hint of pepper like many good reds will have. No, this is a pepper mill disguised as a red wine. I guess it pairs well with, oh, beef jerkey.

So the search for a good, affordable red continues. And I'm crackin' open a Mickey's.