Hey Reader—
It's been a slower week of wine events for both Flipturn Cellars and Barrel Dork, and it's been a nice change of pace from the usual busy summer wine schedule.
But this weekend, things pick back up. I'm visiting two vineyard sites that I'm hoping to source grapes from for the upcoming harvest season. Meeting with vineyard owners on the ground is always one of the most rewarding parts of winemaking for me — it's what keeps me connected to the entire process from vine to glass. There's something about walking a vineyard site, looking at the soils, taking in the views, and talking with the people who tend those vines every single day that no amount of reading or tasting can replicate.
And then on Monday, I head to Walla Walla, Washington, where I'll be on the judging panel for the Pacific Northwest Wine Competition. It's a huge honor to have been selected as part of their judging team, and I always love judging wine competitions. It's one of the best ways I continue to sharpen my palate, explore new wines, and recognize the hard work of the winemakers behind the bottle. Stay tuned for the stories to come.
Now, speaking of exploring wines — this week's lesson is all about finding great deals and using affordable bottles to level up your wine education.
Let's get into this week's wine digest.
Cheers,
Discover wines you truly love, learn how to choose better bottles at shops & restaurants, and build a home collection you'll actually drink — and feel confident about.
Sip Smarter: Your Weekly Wine Lesson
The Insider's Secret for Great Wine Deals (and Why You Should Be Shopping Like a Thrifter)
I kept hearing from other wine professionals that Grocery Outlet is the insider's secret for wine deals. So my tasting group decided to put this theory to the test.
We organized a formal blind tasting this past Monday using wines purchased exclusively from Grocery Outlet to evaluate their quality without any label bias. I had never actually been inside a Grocery Outlet before.
The first thing that struck me was the selection. There were far more grape varietals and wine regions represented than I expected.
For my contribution to the tasting, I picked up a Santa Virdina Vinho Verde from Portugal for just $4.99. According to the shelf tag, it retailed elsewhere for $16.99.
That evening, we lined up about ten wines and tasted every single one blind. We assessed each wine using our WSET and CMS methodologies: length, intensity, complexity, and overall quality.
The beauty of blind tasting is that you have no idea what you're drinking. There's no label influence, no price influence — just what's in the glass.
Out of the ten wines we tasted, I personally enjoyed three.
Most of the reds leaned quite high in alcohol and very jammy. One even tasted like liquid pepperoni.
But there were definitely some standouts.
The biggest crowd favorite was a Firestone Dry Riesling from California for just $6.99. The Vinho Verde I brought was also a hit — crisp, refreshing, and exactly what I want to be drinking at a BBQ on a summer evening. As for the reds, the clear winner for me was a 2018 Chateau Paloumey Bordeaux, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend that cost just $11.99. The same bottle typically retails for closer to $33 elsewhere. And I also discovered a Beerenauslese dessert wine that would be absolutely perfect during the holidays (sold for $14.99 at Grocery Outlet).
Want to see the full story and all the wines? Head over to my Instagram where I did a Reel on this tasting experience.
The big takeaway? Shopping for wine at Grocery Outlet is a lot like thrifting. You have to dig a little to uncover the hidden gems. But the hunt is absolutely worth it.
And here's why I bring this up beyond just saving money: purchasing affordable wines is one of the best things you can do for your wine education.
Think about it. When you grab a few bottles in the $5–$12 range, the stakes are low. You can set up a blind tasting with friends, revisit grape varietals you haven't tried in a while, or explore something completely new — all without the pressure of spending $50 on a single bottle. It allows you to get experimental.
You can compare two Sauvignon Blancs from two different countries and notice the differences. You can try a grape you've never heard of. You can pour something and decide, "Nope, not for me" — and that's still progress, because now you know something new about your palate.
This is actually how we approached wine shopping during my WSET Level 3 course. We were tasting about 15 different wines per session, covering regions and varietals from all over the world — and we needed to keep practicing outside of class, too. So we'd seek out the most affordable bottles we could find for each grape or region we were studying. When you're trying to wrap your head around the difference between a cool-climate Syrah and a warm-climate one, or compare Rieslings from Alsace and Germany, you're not reaching for the $40 bottle every time. You're grabbing something in the $8–$15 range so you can taste widely without going broke. It was absolutely necessary — and really fun. Some of those budget bottles surprised us, and even the ones that didn't were still doing their job, because every single glass taught us something new about our palates.
This is exactly the kind of palate-building we work on inside my course, The Wine Cellar Blueprint — learning what you actually like, understanding why, and shopping with more confidence so you're not just guessing when you walk into a store or scan a wine list.
If you have a Grocery Outlet near you (they're in 16 states), I highly recommend taking a stroll through the wine aisle with fresh eyes. And I will definitely be back.
Have any spots you love to shop for great wine deals? Hit Reply — I'd love to hear your hidden gem stores!
Vine To Glass
Wine Of The Week: 2023 Fattoria di Basciano Chianti Rufina
This week's bottle is an everyday Chianti that punches way above its price point.
I recently sourced the 2023 Fattoria di Basciano Chianti Rufina for a friend's wedding reception — it was the perfect crowd-pleasing red for the occasion. And last night, Tony and I cracked open a bottle while watching the season finale of Survivor (our favorite show!). It's just a solid wine.
A little about the producer: Fattoria di Basciano has been owned by the Masi family since the early 1900s, and they've been making wine there for three generations. The estate sits right in the heart of Chianti Rufina — one of the smaller and often overlooked sub-zones of Chianti — on a hilltop overlooking the Argomenna Valley on one side and the Sieve River on the other. Their vineyards sit at nearly 1,000 feet in elevation on stony "Galestro" soil, and the cooler microclimate at night allows grapes to ripen slowly — which tends to produce wines with more freshness and balance.
Chianti Rufina, by the way, is not the same as Chianti Classico (an easy mix-up). Rufina is its own distinct sub-zone to the east of Florence with a reputation for structured, age-worthy Chianti. It's one of those regions that serious Italian wine fans love because you can find excellent quality without the Classico price tag.
This wine is a blend of 95% Sangiovese and 5% Colorino (an obscure Tuscan red wine grape), fermented with about 20 days of skin contact and then aged for 8 months in French oak. It has a great bouquet of black cherry and violet, and it's full and round with a lingering tannins.
Now, here's my real-life pairing note: we had taco bowls for dinner last night, and given the higher tannins of this wine, I didn't want it to clash with the spice of the dish. So I waited a bit after dinner, let my palate settle down, and then cracked into this bottle to enjoy by itself. Sometimes that's the right move — not every wine needs food, and not every meal needs wine at the exact same time.
What I'd Pair It With
- Pasta with red sauce or Bolognese
- Grilled Italian sausages
- Margherita pizza
- Roasted chicken with herbs
- Hard cheeses like Parmigiano or aged Pecorino
- A simple charcuterie board
- Braised short ribs or stewed meats
- Or by itself, after dinner, on the couch with your pup — highly tested and approved.
At around $18 a bottle, this is a Chianti I'd happily keep stocked at home for weeknight dinners, casual hosting, or a Tuesday-night Survivor finale.
Cork Report
This Week’s Wine News Roundup
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The 7 Best Chillable Red Wines to Drink This Summer
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The Balearic Islands: Making Waves in the Mediterranean
