Vin Ordinaire - Cheap Red Wine @@ (2 corks)

Retails: $5.99 (Total Wine)

"The most important thing about wine is that you enjoy it, regardless of vintage or style." Vin Ordinaire's Cheap Red Wine claims to be nothing else than a very straight forward California red. A melange of several varietals, this red wine presents a no-frills approach to wine drinking. To use a metaphor, most of the bottles I rate are like designer knock-offs--equally delicious bottles, gussied up like their pricier counterparts that don't come with the designer pricetag. This bottle makes absolutely no attempt at being anything but cheap. The bottle's simple brown label with "cheap red wine" stamped on the front conveys quite simply, what thrifty wine shoppers are looking for. It's shabby-chic--something kinda ugly and unkempt that is made to be kind of modern and forward in thinking. Is Vin Ordinaire (Ordinary Wine) onto something? I think this all sounds like a bunch of marketing ho-ha if you as me. I'd almost be insulted if it wasn't clever at the same time.

But, as they say, proof is in the punch. Cheeky label aside, this is an OK red wine. Not horrible, not great, just OK. After a couple days of being open, it begins to sour so it's best to be consumed on the day you open it. It would have been far more impressive if hidden within the unremarkable packaging there happened to be a true gem of a wine. Unfortunately, Cheap Red Wine turned out to be just that.