The Wine Tribune Blog

By Carolyn Evans Hammond 22/02/10

Those in the wine trade and the wine know-it-alls who, like me, taste far too much wine for their own good are going to let out a silent, collective, groan when they read this but I’m going to type it anyway. 

Carlo Rossi California Red in that iconic jug offers seriously good value for money.  And though you won’t see it written up often by critics, I’m clearly not the only one who thinks so.  It’s the number one selling economy wine in the US—labeled Carlo Rossi Burgundy south of the border—and is the third best-selling red in Ontario today. 

Frankly, it is one big gulp of round, juicy red wine imbued with smooth, ripe strawberry and raspberry notes.  And with just 12% alcohol, you can have a few glasses quite easily; it’s not so concentrated or boozy that it would annihilate your mid-week pizza, pasta or pork chops like most reds now on the market tipping the scales at 14% alc. or more.  

No, Carlo Rossi California Red isn’t fancy; it’s not concentrated, complex nor long.  And it won’t appeal to those with European blood who think the first duty of a red wine is to be bone dry unless it’s Port.  But Carlo Rossi a good, honest table wine.   Besides, anyone in the wine trade will tell you North America thinks dry and drinks sweet.  A lot of winemakers leave a touch of residual sugar in popular wines these days because they know it’s perceived as pleasurable roundness in the mouth, not sweetness when balanced with the other components in the wine.  And when selling to a wine-drinking public used to sugar in everything from their bread and soup to their salad dressing and soy milk, it works.   

It was interesting to taste Carlo Rossi California Red/Burgundy for the chapter “Good Deals at Super-Low Prices” of my latest book, Good Better Best Wines (April, 2010, $12.95, ISBN: 978-1-59257-977-8, Alpha Books).  It absolutely stood head and shoulders above the other best-selling wines that cost less than $5US/750ml–it sells for about $6/750ml here in Ontario.  This means, there’s a perfectly drinkable wine on shelves that doesn’t cost much more per glass than a soda pop. 

“Go local” zealots might complain drinking Carlo Rossi doesn’t support our economy directly enough, purists might complain it doesn’t promise grapes from a single appellation, aficionados might insist it’s too one-dimensional and isn’t bone dry.  But I would argue none of that matters to unjaded wine drinkers looking for an easy, reliable quaff at a rock-bottom price.  

Frankly, for about a buck a glass, it’s hard to beat.

Carolyn Evans Hammond’s latest book, Good Better Best Wines, A No-Nonsense Guide to Popular Wines, hits shelves in April.  Her critical articles and reviews have appeared in such eminent magazines as Decanter and Wine & Spirit International in the United Kingdom, as well as Maclean’s, Taste, and Tidings in Canada and her first book, 1000 Best Wine Secrets, earned critical acclaim and international distribution with the distinction of being a best-seller by Canadian standards.  Qualified sommelier and seasoned journalist, Carolyn holds the Diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and a BA from York University.  Carolyn has lived in many cities in North America and Europe, and now resides in Toronto, where she was born.

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