An ongoing tasting of wines under the $10 mark, accessible in Vancouver, that we will post about regardless of whether we loved it or it was absolutely putrid. We will wade through bottles of bad plonk to find those hidden gems around town and hope that in doing this, you won’t have to do the same.

It’s been a while since the last “Cheap As Clay” post and we’ve both taken some heat about it. Kurtis and I attribute it to the fact that, as many of you know, the less than $10 selection in many of the BCLDB stores and private shops in Vancouver is pretty thin pickings. But we’re going to push to do it more often!

Don Simon Seleccion Tempranillo - Vino de la Tierra de Castilla, Spain

This little non-vintage number comes from the very large and arid Spanish catch-all appellation of “Vino de la Tierra de Castilla”  (which many of these low price point Spanish Reds do).

The flavours of this wine primarily revolve around red berry fruit - raspberry & strawberry - with a slight green ferny character and some dustiness on the palate. It’s medium weight, has some bright and balanced acidity, and finishes quite soft.

It’s simple and quite inoffensive, no doubt about that, yet it has enough acidity that you could put it on the dinner table as an accompaniment to food and nobody would complain.

So there you have it….a generally inoffensive wine for $10! Print that on a card and stick on the shelf. I found this wine for $10 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars, it’s available at Everything Wine for $9.99, but keep your eyes open as I feel that it may be fairly common at other private wine shops.

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