Exploring Ravini: Aldi's $9.99 French-Style California Sparkling Wine

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Dive into the world of affordable luxury with our exploration of Aldi's hidden gem – the $9.99 Ravini California Sparkling Wine. This budget-friendly bubbly defies expectations with its elegant profile and quality craftsmanship, proving that champagne-style sophistication doesn't require champagne-style pricing.

We uncover the fascinating details behind this wallet-friendly sparkler, from its Hindu-inspired name connected to passion and the god Shiva, to its production by Rack and Riddle – the custom sparkling wine house responsible for creating bubblies for numerous major California wine brands. What you're getting is essentially expert winemaking at a fraction of the cost you'd pay for other labels produced by the same craftspeople.

The subtle flavor profile featuring hints of cherry, red fruits, and grapefruit might suggest a blend including Pinot Noir, while the well-balanced acidity provides a delightful lingering finish that keeps you coming back for more. The traditional French champagne method (method traditionnel) creates those fine, persistent bubbles that dance on your palate with each sip. Far from being a shortcoming, the wine's restraint and subtlety contribute to its surprising elegance – a quality typically associated with much more expensive bottles.

Whether you're searching for an affordable option for celebrations, casual gatherings, or just Tuesday night enjoyment, this Aldi sparkler delivers remarkable value. Visit CheapWineFinder.com for more wallet-friendly wine discoveries, where we review three wines weekly, almost always under $20. Have you found any exceptional wine bargains lately? Share your discoveries in the comments and subscribe to join our community of savvy wine enthusiasts who know great wine doesn't have to come with a hefty price tag!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave cheap wine fighter
dot com.
Like always, we got anotherwine today.
This one's from Aldi.
It's a $9.99 bubbly.
It's the Ravini Californiasparkling wine.
Non-vintage.
Ravini is, or is, a Hindu wordthat has something to do with

(00:24):
the god or goddess, shiva, andpassion.
I'm not sure exactly what itall has to do with it, but
passion for a sparkling wine isa pretty good thing.
This is a wine made in theFrench champagne style, the
method tradition now, which isthat's what's written on the

(00:46):
label, the french reading of it,the um, they don't even tell
you anything about.
They don't tell you the grapesinvolved.
They don't tell you if it'sbrewed or extra dry or any of
those things, things younormally get.
They do tell you it's 12.5 onthe alcohol.
The back label it mentions, uh,just a one sentence of tasting

(01:07):
and they said um, cherrystrawberry and toasted almond.
Now the cherry strawberry kindof suggests that this is a
bubbly made out of pinot noir,but when I got to the tasting
portion yeah, I don't know, notso much it seemed like a blend,
because nothing really stood out.

(01:28):
And the almonds?
These wines are fermented twice.
With the first fermentationit's pretty much like every
other one.
But they ferment the wines whenthey're way too tart they're
not ready to drink Becausethey've got to ferment them a

(01:50):
second time.
They have to pull back on thesweetness levels because you can
go below the sweetness leveland get it sweeter, but if you
go beyond the sweetness levelthere's no going back.
So the almond thing comes fromAnlise.
Anlise is when you leave thedead yeast in with the wine

(02:12):
during the aging process, and ifyou stir it batonnage, every so
often the dead yeast the leesadds a nutty, salty sensation.
So that's what that looks like,though I didn't get it in
drinking the wine.
I'm going to take a sip.

(02:40):
Very subtle wine, but that's nota bad thing for champagne-style
wine.
It's got really good acidity.
The acidity gives it length.
Very subtle wine, but that'snot a bad thing for
champagne-style wine.
It's got really good acidity.
The acidity gives it length.
I'm smacking my lips.
It's really nice For anexpensive bubbly, you want it to
be really dry, like it almostdisappears when it hits your
mouth, but for an expensive onesmacking your lips, it kind of

(03:03):
entices you to drink more.
It kind of beckons you andcalls you, and that's pretty
good for a little $10 bubbly.
It's made by Rack and Riddle.
Rack and Riddle is a customsparkling wine house.
They specialize in thetraditional champagne style, but
they recently did a Charmettestyle, added that to their

(03:25):
repertoire and that's theProsecco style.
I left links on the review howsparkling wine's made and rack
and riddle and all that if youwant to read up on that.
Because if you're thinking well, I don't know, it's Aldi, I
don't know who this is, but ifyou ever had a sparkling wine by
a major California wine brand,the odds are you've had a rack

(03:51):
and riddle wine, because theymake wines for everybody.
There are sparkling wine housesin California that are really
good, that kind of giveChampagne and Francer run for
their money, but most of them goto a rack and riddle to get the
job done.
So what we have here is a winethat I'm not sure what the
grapes are, but it tastes good.
I did get a little bit ofcherry.

(04:13):
There is some red fruit in here, but I also got grapefruit and
that type of thing which doesn'tusually come from red grapes.
Take some more sips.
I'm getting a little more now.
I'm getting a little more.
I'm getting a little more of aPinot Noir on it, but it's
subtle.
It's subtle so I don't know ifit's Pinot Noir with Chardonnay

(04:35):
or with whatever it is,sauvignon Blanc with Chardon
Blanc.
I'm not sure what's in there.
It's got a touch of sweetnessto it, but it might still be
brute.
I don't think it goes to theextra dry and they really push
the French on the label wherethey write the tradition now on
there, and the French champagneis more likely to be brute than

(04:57):
it is to be a little bit sweet.
So there you go, you got a $9.99Aldi Kind of well-made bubbly,
made in the French style.
That tastes good, the nose issubtle and the flavors are
subtle.
That subtlety kind of comesacross as a little bit on the

(05:20):
classy side.
You don't want it to be up inyour face.
You know this is bubbly.
Don't want it to be up in yourface.
You know this is bubbly.
This is supposed to be elegantand it's about passion.
You don't want.
You want the passion.
You want the passion to get allover you, not the wine.
Took another sip it's.
It tastes good and it's gotgood bubbles.

(05:41):
So there you go.
It's Domain Dave cheapw is goodand it's got good bubbles.
So there you go.
It's domain, dave, cheap winefightercom.
We write up three wines a weekon the cheap wine findercom
website, almost always under 20bucks.
We go up scale in the lastcouple months of the year and I
think the next one's going to bea french rosé, just a, just

(06:02):
like a, the entry-level frenchrosé, the everyday one, maybe
the one you might want to gettwo or three bottles of for that
hot summer afternoon where youjust want to laze away in the
sun.
But that's it for me.
Domain Dave CheapWineFettercom.
Like us, we like your podcast.
It does help and we appreciateit.
So, adios, keep it cheap andI'll be talking to everybody in

(06:22):
a couple days.
Bye-bye.