- Sara Lehman is the private sommelier and lifestyle director of 160 Madison, which is a luxury, residential high-rise building in Manhattan. She also owns the wine and travel blog Somm in the City.
- We gave Sara 11 different low-cost wines to try from big-box stores like Costco, Target, BJ's, and Trader Joe's.
- Watch the video above to see how she ranked bottles of cabernet sauvignon, pinot grigio, and rosé, all under $10.
Following is a transcript of the video.
Sara Lehman: I'm Sara Lehman. I am the owner of Somm in the City. It is a wine and travel blog that focuses on food, wine, and luxury.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Kirkland, Costco — $7.99
Give it a nice swirl first. It's quite fruity, but it's a little mild. Ooh. I actually like this. It has a little bit more complexity than I was expecting it to have.
Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's — $3.99
Hmm. Wow. This is definitely not as powerful as a cabernet that I would expect. It's just really approachable and very friendly, and I think this is a good cabernet.
The Collection, Target — $9.99
Very smooth. Wow. Not gonna lie, didn't expect that from Target, but I would drink this.
Wellsley Farms, BJ's — $7.99
This one's definitely spicy. It's a nice wine. There's nothing too complex about it. There's a lot of fruit, and you get a lot of this sour cherry, bright strawberry, and raspberry, and then it just kind of finishes flat.
Untamed Vine, Lidl — $8.99
Oh, excellent. Wow. Alright, so right off the bat, you're getting a lot of this cranberry and currants. Then you're getting this really nice, like meatiness and like some nice coco. I really like the sweet baking spice I'm also getting in this. I feel like this wine has a lot of layers.
Rankings:
My first choice is definitely the Untamed Vine. I think that this definitely showed everything that I love about California and California wines. I would say my second favorite would actually be the Kirkland. I was pleasantly surprised by that. It had some personality to it, and I really would not knock this wine. For my third, I would have to go with The Collection. Then I would say my fourth one would be the Charles Shaw. I just thought that this wasn't as strong as the other few. Lastly would be the Wellsley Farms, and that's just because I felt that it just tastes very commercial.
Pinot Grigio
Kirkland, Costco — $7.89
Pleasant nose. I think it's definitely very typical of Pinot Grigio. This is what I would expect from it. Not as much acidity as I thought it would have, which is pleasant because sometimes Pinot Grigio can be a little too racy and aggressive. But what I really like about this wine is the fact that it's medium bodied and it has a really smooth finish.
Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's — $3.99
Ooh. I'm kind of getting like an apple juice nose, which is interesting. So this one definitely has a lot more acidity than the Costco. It's almost like a creamy wine. The acidity is right there in the beginning of the wine, and then it just kind of smooths out and it becomes creamy. It's really interesting, but it's really reminding me of apple juice.
The Collection, Target — $9.99
Oh, right off the nose you get a lot of citrus. I'm getting some white flower. Okay, so this one has a lot more of like the citrus skins. We're getting a lot of this lime peel and I'm getting a little bit of a candied lemon. But it's nothing too sweet. This wine is still very dry.
Wellsley Farms, BJ's — $6.99
I'm getting some barnyard right in the nose. And I know that sounds like a weird quality to have, but barnyard is definitely an aroma in wine that can be attractive depending on the wine. Hmm. Yeah. Yellow apple, hay. It's got acidity. You got some lime in there. I really like it.
Rankings:
Out of my top favorites, I would say The Collection won my heart this time. It was just really fun, and I would just, I would drink this all the time. The Kirkland, again, surprised me. I am wondering if I should start going to Costco and buying some wine. And then I would say the Wellsley Farms definitely would be my third choice. And the fourth would be the Trader Joe's Shaw. It was my least favorite. It didn't have as much personality as the other three.
Rosé
Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's — $3.99
Ooh, okay pleasant. So, I'm getting again a lot of this fresh red fruit. It's really kind of a juicy wine. You have just enough acidity to get this drying sensation in your mouth, but what I really enjoy about this is that to me it tastes like a typical California rosé. This is an easy to drink wine. The finish does fall very short, though.
The Collection, Target — $9.99
This wine has a lot more acidity. It has everything I look for in a California rosé, so it's bright, it's fruit-forward, it's fresh. The finish is there. Like I'm still tasting it. This wine could be taken places I would say, compared to the Shaw where the Shaw is really just... it was decent but it fell flat compared to The Collection. It really did.
And the winner is . . .
So the winner of the wine tasting would definitely be Target. I think The Collection by Target is my top wine choice from the selection that I've tried today. I was pleasantly surprised by all three of these wines. They met a lot of my qualifications, which includes, taste, aromas, complexity, as well as finish. So if I were to say bring something that was less expensive to my friends but from California, I would go with The Collection. I think out of all the three wines that I tried from them they really all struck me in very different ways but in very positive ways, and I would buy them.