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.

Beringer 2008 ‘California Collection’ White Zinfandel – $9.99 at the BCLDB

I liked it.

There.  I said it.

Fine.  I’ll never work in this town again.

Some background:

Back in July, I attended a Zinfandel seminar.  High-end, big reds from small-ish producers.  I wrote about it here.  My ridiculously awesome colleague, DJ Kearney, was running the show.  She mentioned, in going through the dramatic range of styles of the grape, that at the end of a very social night recently – she had cracked a bottle of the Beringer White Zin, and it was “…delicious as always!”

Really?

White Zin?

Hey- I’m the as big a Rosé fan as they come.  But from a large producer and under 10 bucks?

As always, DJ didn’t mince words, put out the facts, and was 100% on the mark.

I thought it hilarious that we were having White Zinfandel for the evening, so I continued on with 1990′s gastronomic trends, incorporating Belgian endive with blue cheese and walnuts, plus a tomato, basil and balsamic salad.

Surprise, surprise, surprise – I (we) quite enjoyed the wine!  First off- it’s quite fruit-forward, but it is dry.  Mandarin oranges, lime and nutmeg jump out at you, followed by a slight peppery, somewhat-minty finish.

It was a killer pairing with the salty blue cheese and the bitterness of the endive and walnuts.  Outright awesome.  It balanced the ridiculous acidity of the classic ’90s (i.e.- “Rachel” hair-do, ‘Trip-Hop’) tomato/balsamic combo.  A good choice if you’re having anything spicy or salty.

There.

I said it.

I enjoyed the White Zinfandel.

Now it’s your turn…