Cheap Wine

I have a mental block.

After living in France, where you can pick up quality plonk for two euros a bottle, I have developed an almost masochistic obsession with cheap wine. In England, I picked out two decent choices which didn't break the bank. A Pays de Gascogne from Sainsbury's at £2.99 a bottle (which was crisp and delicious ice-cold) and a robust little red called Little Penguin, which pushed the envelope at £4.99 (which is considered pricey in my book) but delivered every time.

Over in America, the dollar/pound difference is causing me headaches.

Little Penguin, for example, retails at $7.99 here. For some reason, that's too pricey for me.

I know, I know. Technically, that's £3.50 a bottle so I should be rejoicing rather than complaining. But the dollar amount just SEEMS more. I'm used to paying a dollar for things that cost a quid in England. When a fair exchange rate crops up, it seems like I'm paying above the odds stateside.

Which explains why wine consumption has dropped in the Hulme household - which is probably no bad thing.

We tried buying 'cheap' wine (like Carlo Rossi's enormous 4ltr tubs of 'Paisano') but that stuff was pretty rough even by my standards (and I was once drinking Chateau Mutant in Saint Valery en Caux for .84 centimes a bottle.)

But last night, entirely by accident, I stumbled over an ambitious little number that threatened to deliver on my dollar/pound dilemma.

Hailing from Australia, Mattie's Perch is a vineyard that produces single grape wines very much in the style of Little Penguin and other Aussie brands. Although the friendly Koala on the label claims that their Shiraz is 'ripper,' it doesn't quite live up to the more famous (and more expensive) brands.

But you know what?

It's not half bad. And it's only $3.99 a bottle.

There's a very mild 'fat' flavour to the wine, as you'd expect with a Shiraz - although is seems a little watered down compared to more expensive brands. But the grape is instantly recognizable and the wine itself goes down more smoothly than an awful lot of Californian reds that retail for three or four times as much.

What with my more temperate lifestyle, I can't claim that I'll be enjoying Mattie's Perch all that much (if you're only going to have one bottle a week, you might as well make it a good one) but it's worth keeping in mind.

In America, the land of opportunity, you can find whatever you're looking for if you just search hard enough. My little Aussie red is proof of that!

Visit Mattie's Perch here.