Aldi's Quarter Cut Red Blend: A $9.99 Bourbon Barrel Experiment

Send us a text

Domain Dave explores Aldi's Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel Red Blend from California, examining both the wine itself and the broader bourbon barrel aging trend at the $9.99 price point. The wine offers chocolate notes, soft tannins, and balanced acidity but raises questions about whether bourbon barrel finishing truly enhances more delicate wine flavors.

• Aldi's $9.99 Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel Red Blend is produced by Concha y Toro through one of their California properties
• Bourbon barrels are charred rather than toasted, creating intense flavors designed for high-alcohol spirits (80%) versus wine's lower content (14.8%)
• The wine features chocolate, mocha, cherry, blackberry and plum notes with surprisingly little noticeable bourbon barrel influence
• The significant difference between whiskey and wine alcohol content means bourbon barrel finishing must be extremely delicate to avoid overpowering wine
• Despite skepticism about the bourbon barrel trend, the wine itself drinks well with soft, sweet tannins and balanced acidity

Keep it cheap! More affordable wine reviews coming soon at cheapwinefinder.com.

Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com

or email us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave.
Again, another wine reviewpodcast for cheapwinefindercom.
We write them up on thecheapwinefindercom website three
a week under $20 wines for themost part and when we're done
writing them up we plug in themicrophone and that's where
we're at right now with a 999Aldi wine, and this is a wine in

(00:28):
their quarter cut bourbonbarrel line.
This is the Red Blend 2022.
I checked out California Wine.
Cola Registry is theorganization in California that
approves wine labels.
There's a lot of legalese thathas to be in there and this is a

(00:48):
wine of Cancha y Toro, which isa big winery out of Argentina
and Chile.
But they also own Fetzer andBontera in the United States and
this is a California wine.
So one of those companies, bob,had something to do with the
wine.
Bonterra is all organic andthis isn't so.

(01:14):
It's so the origin, the grapesand all that.
They don't even tell you whatthe red blend is.
Not that that matters too muchwith a 999 wine.
It nice to know, but if ittastes good, it doesn't matter.
Bourbon barrel what the heck isgoing on with that and it's kind

(01:35):
of a fad.
I don't know why.
You know bourbon wines,whiskeys, scotches will
sometimes finish in.
Maybe sherry or cognac barrelsadd a little extra and we're
talking about finishing, it'sthe last week or two short
period of time of aging to addthose little flavors.

(01:55):
Wine barrels are toasted.
They put a flame to them andthey toast them and there's
different levels of toast andthe different levels bring out
different flavors.
Bourbon barrels are, uh,charred.
I mean they, they, they cookthem pretty good and the reason
is you need more extreme flavors.

(02:16):
Uh, like whiskey's got to be atleast 80 percent.
Um, where I think this, thiswine, this, uh, the, the quarter
, the quarter cut barrel, oakbarrel, red blend is 14.8%.
That's a lot of difference inalcohol content.
So a wine's much more delicate.

(02:36):
So after they put these inbarrels if they did put them in
barrels, they add them into awhiskey barrel of some sort for
just a short time, because youdon't need too much and actually
I don't get a lot of whiskey.
There's like molasses andthere's some really stronger

(02:57):
spices that you get in a whiskeybarrel.
I'm not getting any of themhere.
I'm getting a smooth kind ofrelaxed wine, fruit forward,
kind of chocolatey I.
I'm getting a smooth kind ofrelaxed wine Fruit forward, kind
of chocolatey.
I'm going to take a sip.
Yeah, I'm not really gettingthose heavier flavors.

(03:20):
I do get more chocolate thannormal and that's not a bad
thing.
There's mocha cold coffee inthere too, but like round, like
cherries and blackberries andplums, and maybe some cranberry
and some spice and that type ofthing, but none of that is
really out of the ordinary for ared blend and I don't know what
the grapes are.

(03:41):
The other wines in the quartercut line are there's a Malbec,
there's a Cabernet Sauvignon,there is a Pinot Noir, I believe
, and a Chardonnay, which iskind of a crazy wine to be
putting bourbon flavors in.
But if they did it like thisone, I actually drank it a long
time ago.
I don't remember it.
So there you go.
I mean.

(04:01):
Mean, I'm not so sure that I'mreally in favor so much of these
, not 100.
I shouldn't say in favorbecause this one sips well and
it's not like I have a say inwho makes what and whatever, but
I'm not like drawn to a bourbonbarrel finished wine there's.

(04:23):
Just they have to be sodelicate that sometimes you
really don't get the effect atall.
Like I said, there's a bigdifference between 80% alcohol
and 14.8% alcohol and that extraalcohol needs that, more
charred flavors, and this moredelicate wine doesn't need it.
So you have to just give it alittle, or else you're going to

(04:43):
overpower the wine.
The line where too much and notenough is really close.
So there you go.
That's it for me.
Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom.
This one does sip well.
You know, this is a patiopounder, like they used to say.
It drinks well.
There's chocolate in there,there's red fruit in there.
There's know, the tannins are.

(05:05):
Tannins are sweet, soft andsweet.
The acidity is balanced.
There's nothing wrong at allwith this wine.
It's not that I don't actuallylike drinking it, it's just that
I just don't know about if I'minto the whole concept of
finishing with bourbon barrels.
But that's you know, neitherhere nor there.
Because I you know, becausewhen we review them, we drink

(05:27):
them anyway.
So, adios, keep it cheap.
I've got more wines coming.
Hopefully the weather stayswarm.
Here.
We get, uh, 71 day and snow thenext.
So we'll figure it out.
So, adios, keep it cheap andI'll be talking to you in a few
days.
Bye.