CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Exploring Ravini: Aldi's $9.99 French-Style California Sparkling Wine
Dive into the world of affordable luxury with our exploration of Aldi's hidden gem – the $9.99 Ravini California Sparkling Wine. This budget-friendly bubbly defies expectations with its elegant profile and quality craftsmanship, proving that champagne-style sophistication doesn't require champagne-style pricing.
We uncover the fascinating details behind this wallet-friendly sparkler, from its Hindu-inspired name connected to passion and the god Shiva, to its production by Rack and Riddle – the custom sparkling wine house responsible for creating bubblies for numerous major California wine brands. What you're getting is essentially expert winemaking at a fraction of the cost you'd pay for other labels produced by the same craftspeople.
The subtle flavor profile featuring hints of cherry, red fruits, and grapefruit might suggest a blend including Pinot Noir, while the well-balanced acidity provides a delightful lingering finish that keeps you coming back for more. The traditional French champagne method (method traditionnel) creates those fine, persistent bubbles that dance on your palate with each sip. Far from being a shortcoming, the wine's restraint and subtlety contribute to its surprising elegance – a quality typically associated with much more expensive bottles.
Whether you're searching for an affordable option for celebrations, casual gatherings, or just Tuesday night enjoyment, this Aldi sparkler delivers remarkable value. Visit CheapWineFinder.com for more wallet-friendly wine discoveries, where we review three wines weekly, almost always under $20. Have you found any exceptional wine bargains lately? Share your discoveries in the comments and subscribe to join our community of savvy wine enthusiasts who know great wine doesn't have to come with a hefty price tag!
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Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave cheap wine fighter dot com. Like always, we got another wine today. This one's from Aldi. It's a $9.99 bubbly. It's the Ravini California sparkling wine. Non-vintage. Ravini is, or is, a Hindu word that has something to do with the god or goddess, shiva, and passion. I'm not sure exactly what it all has to do with it, but passion for a sparkling wine is a pretty good thing.
Speaker 1:This is a wine made in the French champagne style, the method tradition now, which is that's what's written on the label, the french reading of it, the um, they don't even tell you anything about. They don't tell you the grapes involved. They don't tell you if it's brewed or extra dry or any of those things, things you normally get. They do tell you it's 12.5 on the alcohol. The back label it mentions, uh, just a one sentence of tasting and they said um, cherry strawberry and toasted almond. Now the cherry strawberry kind of suggests that this is a bubbly made out of pinot noir, but when I got to the tasting portion yeah, I don't know, not so much it seemed like a blend, because nothing really stood out. And the almonds? These wines are fermented twice. With the first fermentation it's pretty much like every other one. But they ferment the wines when they're way too tart they're not ready to drink Because they've got to ferment them a second time. They have to pull back on the sweetness levels because you can go below the sweetness level and get it sweeter, but if you go beyond the sweetness level there's no going back. So the almond thing comes from Anlise. Anlise is when you leave the dead yeast in with the wine during the aging process, and if you stir it batonnage, every so often the dead yeast the lees adds a nutty, salty sensation. So that's what that looks like, though I didn't get it in drinking the wine. I'm going to take a sip.
Speaker 1:Very subtle wine, but that's not a bad thing for champagne-style wine. It's got really good acidity. The acidity gives it length. Very subtle wine, but that's not a bad thing for champagne-style wine. It's got really good acidity. The acidity gives it length. I'm smacking my lips. It's really nice For an expensive bubbly, you want it to be really dry, like it almost disappears when it hits your mouth, but for an expensive one smacking your lips, it kind of entices you to drink more. It kind of beckons you and calls you, and that's pretty good for a little $10 bubbly.
Speaker 1:It's made by Rack and Riddle. Rack and Riddle is a custom sparkling wine house. They specialize in the traditional champagne style, but they recently did a Charmette style, added that to their repertoire and that's the Prosecco style. I left links on the review how sparkling wine's made and rack and riddle and all that if you want to read up on that. Because if you're thinking well, I don't know, it's Aldi, I don't know who this is, but if you ever had a sparkling wine by a major California wine brand, the odds are you've had a rack and riddle wine, because they make wines for everybody. There are sparkling wine houses in California that are really good, that kind of give Champagne and Francer run for their money, but most of them go to a rack and riddle to get the job done.
Speaker 1:So what we have here is a wine that I'm not sure what the grapes are, but it tastes good. I did get a little bit of cherry. There is some red fruit in here, but I also got grapefruit and that type of thing which doesn't usually come from red grapes. Take some more sips. I'm getting a little more now. I'm getting a little more. I'm getting a little more of a Pinot Noir on it, but it's subtle. It's subtle so I don't know if it's Pinot Noir with Chardonnay or with whatever it is, sauvignon Blanc with Chardon Blanc. I'm not sure what's in there. It's got a touch of sweetness to it, but it might still be brute. I don't think it goes to the extra dry and they really push the French on the label where they write the tradition now on there, and the French champagne is more likely to be brute than it is to be a little bit sweet.
Speaker 1:So there you go, you got a $9.99 Aldi Kind of well-made bubbly, made in the French style. That tastes good, the nose is subtle and the flavors are subtle. That subtlety kind of comes across as a little bit on the classy side. You don't want it to be up in your face. You know this is bubbly. Don't want it to be up in your face. You know this is bubbly. This is supposed to be elegant and it's about passion. You don't want. You want the passion. You want the passion to get all over you, not the wine. Took another sip it's. It tastes good and it's got good bubbles. So there you go. It's Domain Dave cheapw is good and it's got good bubbles. So there you go. It's domain, dave, cheap wine fightercom.
Speaker 1:We write up three wines a week on the cheap wine findercom website, almost always under 20 bucks. We go up scale in the last couple months of the year and I think the next one's going to be a french rosé, just a, just like a, the entry-level french rosé, the everyday one, maybe the one you might want to get two or three bottles of for that hot summer afternoon where you just want to laze away in the sun. But that's it for me. Domain Dave CheapWineFettercom. Like us, we like your podcast. It does help and we appreciate it. So, adios, keep it cheap and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple days. Bye-bye.