CheapWineFinder Podcast
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CheapWineFinder Podcast
Aldi's Quarter Cut Red Blend: A $9.99 Bourbon Barrel Experiment
Domain Dave explores Aldi's Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel Red Blend from California, examining both the wine itself and the broader bourbon barrel aging trend at the $9.99 price point. The wine offers chocolate notes, soft tannins, and balanced acidity but raises questions about whether bourbon barrel finishing truly enhances more delicate wine flavors.
• Aldi's $9.99 Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel Red Blend is produced by Concha y Toro through one of their California properties
• Bourbon barrels are charred rather than toasted, creating intense flavors designed for high-alcohol spirits (80%) versus wine's lower content (14.8%)
• The wine features chocolate, mocha, cherry, blackberry and plum notes with surprisingly little noticeable bourbon barrel influence
• The significant difference between whiskey and wine alcohol content means bourbon barrel finishing must be extremely delicate to avoid overpowering wine
• Despite skepticism about the bourbon barrel trend, the wine itself drinks well with soft, sweet tannins and balanced acidity
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Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave. Again, another wine review podcast for cheapwinefindercom. We write them up on the cheapwinefindercom website three a week under $20 wines for the most part and when we're done writing them up we plug in the microphone and that's where we're at right now with a 999 Aldi wine, and this is a wine in their quarter cut bourbon barrel line. This is the Red Blend 2022. I checked out California Wine. Cola Registry is the organization in California that approves wine labels. There's a lot of legalese that has to be in there and this is a wine of Cancha y Toro, which is a big winery out of Argentina and Chile. But they also own Fetzer and Bontera in the United States and this is a California wine. So one of those companies, bob, had something to do with the wine. Bonterra is all organic and this isn't so. It's so the origin, the grapes and all that. They don't even tell you what the red blend is. Not that that matters too much with a 999 wine. It nice to know, but if it tastes good, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Bourbon barrel what the heck is going on with that and it's kind of a fad. I don't know why. You know bourbon wines, whiskeys, scotches will sometimes finish in. Maybe sherry or cognac barrels add a little extra and we're talking about finishing, it's the last week or two short period of time of aging to add those little flavors. Wine barrels are toasted. They put a flame to them and they toast them and there's different levels of toast and the different levels bring out different flavors. Bourbon barrels are, uh, charred. I mean they, they, they cook them pretty good and the reason is you need more extreme flavors. Uh, like whiskey's got to be at least 80 percent. Um, where I think this, this wine, this, uh, the, the quarter, the quarter cut barrel, oak barrel, red blend is 14.8%. That's a lot of difference in alcohol content. So a wine's much more delicate.
Speaker 1:So after they put these in barrels if they did put them in barrels, they add them into a whiskey barrel of some sort for just a short time, because you don't need too much and actually I don't get a lot of whiskey. There's like molasses and there's some really stronger spices that you get in a whiskey barrel. I'm not getting any of them here. I'm getting a smooth kind of relaxed wine, fruit forward, kind of chocolatey I. I'm getting a smooth kind of relaxed wine Fruit forward, kind of chocolatey. I'm going to take a sip. Yeah, I'm not really getting those heavier flavors. I do get more chocolate than normal and that's not a bad thing. There's mocha cold coffee in there too, but like round, like cherries and blackberries and plums, and maybe some cranberry and some spice and that type of thing, but none of that is really out of the ordinary for a red blend and I don't know what the grapes are.
Speaker 1:The other wines in the quarter cut line are there's a Malbec, there's a Cabernet Sauvignon, there is a Pinot Noir, I believe, and a Chardonnay, which is kind of a crazy wine to be putting bourbon flavors in. But if they did it like this one, I actually drank it a long time ago. I don't remember it. So there you go. I mean. Mean, I'm not so sure that I'm really in favor so much of these, not 100. I shouldn't say in favor because this one sips well and it's not like I have a say in who makes what and whatever, but I'm not like drawn to a bourbon barrel finished wine there's. Just they have to be so delicate that sometimes you really don't get the effect at all. Like I said, there's a big difference between 80% alcohol and 14.8% alcohol and that extra alcohol needs that, more charred flavors, and this more delicate wine doesn't need it. So you have to just give it a little, or else you're going to overpower the wine. The line where too much and not enough is really close. So there you go. That's it for me. Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom.
Speaker 1:This one does sip well. You know, this is a patio pounder, like they used to say. It drinks well. There's chocolate in there, there's red fruit in there. There's know, the tannins are. Tannins are sweet, soft and sweet. The acidity is balanced. There's nothing wrong at all with this wine. It's not that I don't actually like drinking it, it's just that I just don't know about if I'm into the whole concept of finishing with bourbon barrels. But that's you know, neither here nor there. Because I you know, because when we review them, we drink them anyway. So, adios, keep it cheap. I've got more wines coming. Hopefully the weather stays warm. Here. We get, uh, 71 day and snow the next. So we'll figure it out. So, adios, keep it cheap and I'll be talking to you in a few days. Bye.