Wine On A Budget: Oak Creek
Happy Hour
It’s Happy Hour today at MyMoneyMinute! My wife, The Lovely Miss H, really enjoys her vino, as I’m sure many of you do too. In case you hadn’t noticed though, wine can expensive! Nothing breaks a budget like a taste for the finer things in life. Well fear not, because I’m starting a new feature for our little website called “Happy Hour”. The MyMoneyMinute Happy Hour will feature fine beverages and snacks that are frugal on price, but not on taste.
Today’s Selection: Oak Creek Merlot
Oak Creek Vineyards are based out of California’s vast Central Valley, with vineyards in the cities of Livermore & Ripon. We tried Oak Creek based on a friend’s suggestion, and it didn’t let us down. I’m not a vinophile, I pretty much distinguish wine between red & white, LOL. But what I can distinguish between is good & nasty, and this wine wasn’t nasty; in fact it was pretty decent!
Quality vs. Cost
The age-old question is do you go with quality or price? Name brand or generic? Nike or New Balance? Krispy Kreme or 7-Eleven? You get the point, but here’s my take: we all value products differently, and tend to over-value products we are particularly fond of. The trick to managing your budget is to find the best quality without sacrificing your budget. Believe it or not, this compromise is almost always possible.
Cost Is Exponential; Quality Is Subtle
I love basketball. If my budget permitted, I would have season tickets to the Spurs. But I don’t have thousands to spend each year on basketball. The compromise? I buy the NBA League Pass, and can watch every game for less than what it would cost to attend one game. Oh, and I put in a 114″ projector screen in my house on the cheap. So unless I’m sitting lower bowl, I’d rather stay home and watch it anyway!
What’s my point? At some point, the cost of an item will eventually out-pace it’s matching quality. Would the quality be better to have season tickets? You bet! Is that Quality of live basketball worth paying 50 times the Cost of watching every game at home? For me, it’s a no. Compare a brand new $60,000 Lexus to a pre-owned, three-year old $15,000 Toyota. Is the Quality of the ride four times greater? No, you are paying for luxury status, and a new car smell, but ultimately it’s the same engine and body with different labels and extra added features.
Back To Happy Hour!
Currently, Oak Creek wine is on sale at CVS, $10 for 3 bottles – $3.33 each! This wine may not be as good as a $50 bottle of wine, but the Quality is enough where I don’t care to justify paying 15 times more in Cost, because I won’t get 15 times the Quality in return. In fact, this taste survey gave it decent marks. From what I’ve been told, the Cabernet is even better, so try that first. I would have, but they were sold out. Obviously, somebody found out about Oak Creek’s Quality before I did!
Next Selection
Readers, help me and the MyMoneyMinute community at-large!
Have you tried Oak Creek wine? What budget wine would you recommend? Give me some good options and I may feature your selection in a future “Happy Hour” segment.
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I stock up when Shiner is $5.99 a sixer at Sprouts or Kroger. I like only pay around $1 a beer…..so I buy the good stuff on special. I will go as high a $7.49, if it’s something I’m craving. Life is too short to drink crappy beer.
Yum…. I am actually reading this drunk… for the first time in a very long time. I live in Egypt and alcohol is quite expensive round here… No good budget wines so looking forward to a Europe / State side visit to have some decent budget wines and beers….
Thanks
Forest.
When it comes to wine, I’m mostly motivated by price and alcohol content. Occasionally, I’ll enjoy a drive to a Virginia vineyard for a decent bottle of wine for around $20. But for the most part, if I want a delicious, calorically rich beverage, I opt for grape soda.
I’m sorry did you just say you could buy wine at a CVS store?!? I live in the apparent commie state of PA, where the big new thing is “state stores”(the only place we can obtain wine & spirits) are FINALLY open on SUNDAYS!
The Wife is a huge wino and loves her red wine. In NY we can’t buy wine in a CVS, or grocery store, we have liquor stores (but not state owned). We do basic bottles of red between 7 and 10 per bottle.
Jeb, a buck-a-beer probably isn’t ‘cheap’, but it’s not bad. A bottle of wine has about 4 glasses, so a $4 bottle of wine would be the same cost per drink as your six-pack.
Plus, who cares? We’re talking about Shiner, a Texas institution! Definitely worth it.
Bummer man! Well keep checking back to my site for other deals, so when you make a trip to the U.S. you’ll have a nice list to work with!
Thanks for checking in from Egypt – have fun with your vino, just be safe!
I hear you! I used to think the cheapest wine out there was $10-20/bottle. Now I know there’s some acceptable wine out there under $5/bottle. It makes my wife’s wine hobby a bit more… palletable.
Wow alcohol laws are so confusing from county to county, let alone across state lines!
In Texas, you can buy beer & wine in grocery stores, but not liquor. And there’s still a semblance of Blue Laws here, because no alcohol on Sunday until noon, which means if you want beer for the Cowboys game, you buy it the night before! All that and they also have ‘dry’ counties & cities. I still haven’t figured all that out yet!
In California, you can buy it all anywhere, just not between 2-6am. When I first moved to Texas, I spent a half-hour in a Kroger grocery store looking for tequila for a margarita mix. When I asked the clerk where it was, he gave me the funniest look LOL.
Gotta love the local quirks of our Republic!
No wine in CVS? I thought NY was supposed to be progressive?!?
$7-10 – not bad for NY. We’re fans of the red wine too.
Based on The Lovely Miss H’s recommendation I tried Oak Creek. Maybe my mistake was to try the Zinfandel and not the Merlot. I poured all $3 of the bottle down the sink. I’ll stick with my $8 bottle of Cellar No 8 Merlot, but then again I also drive a Lexus.
Ooh, BIG mistake! I hear bad things about the white wines on the cheap. Try the cabernet next time.
The great thing about wine is that some of the best bottles I’ve had were inexpensive and better tasting than others that were twice as much or more in the $40-$80 range.
I mostly like Chilean wine, and Merlot in particular, but I have had some California wines that were quite nice. Whether a Cabernet is ‘better’ depends on the person; some people enjoy different grapes more than others. I’m a Merlot and Malbec fan for instance.
Nice thread! It highlights that with wine, price does not necessarily translate to better quality. I’m in the mood for a glass all of a sudden!
Our go-to wine is $3 and our “splurge” is a delicious pink wine for $8. I’m a wine-lover, but I don’t know the types. Need to get my study on.
Have you visited any vineyards or wine tastings? They’re perfect chances to try tons of wines on the cheap.
Austin @ Foreigner’s FInances
Sounds like you know your wine! I like the challenge of finding that diamond in the rough – a decent tasting wine at a great price. Bottoms up!
Back in grad school, I studied abroad for a summer in Europe, and went to a wine tasting in Tuscany. It was really cool but I’ve never done one stateside. There’s plenty of local wineries that do tastings on the cheap. You’re right, it would be a great frugal activity.
Thanks for the wine tips! I enjoy wine, but not the big overinflated prices! I’m going to enjoy your “Happy Hour” section, thanks for starting it!
I like your philosophy with respect to the valuation of things… While others like BMW and Mercedes (and I do too, don’t get me wrong), the Lexus make is what catches my eye, but I’d be happy with a decent used Toyato Camry any day! Currently we have a Toyota Sienna (minivans, yuck), and it’s been great (at least, for a minivan…)!
This is going to sounds lame, but I like the Chiannti at Olive Garden. I know that it’s probably considered as more of a table wine… but I like it!!!
@Money Reasons – hey thanks for recommending another wine! That’s the beauty of the “Happy Hour” – it may sound lame or cheesy, but if we can find diamonds in the rough, we’ll all drink better and save money.
And since you already understand the plight of your car situation, I won’t make fun of you for driving a minivan
I bought one bottle of Oak Creek (at $3.33) and went back the next day and bought 6 more at $10 for three at my local chain grocery (Harris Teeters). I got both Cabernet sauvignon and Merlot, like them both. I am more of a Cab man. As I got older I started having issues with red wine headaches, so I have stopped drinking wine for the most part. I try it time to time to see if I can find some wine that does not hurt my head. The Oak Creek does not cause an issue for me, but it does have sulfates in it (if that is an issue who knows, or tannins?). There is no OAK taste in the OAK creek… which I like in a red wine. However this is a very satisfying red wine and can live with out the Oak.
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I think super expensive wine is a waste and over priced, meaning a bad value. I worked as a waiter in fine dinning restaurants through college long ago, served lots of wine. A good friend was a wine steward. My wife and have been to the wine country in California many times. I travel abroad…. so I know a little about wine. THE BEST WINE is the BEST value (cheapest) you can get that is good quality and taste to YOU. This Oak Creek is a great quality, great taste and SUPER VALUE. I highly recommend OK. There is nothing wrong with getting a good deal and spending less on wine. For fun we all like to pop a $80 or $100 bottle of wine for some big occasion, but if you want to drink wine daily or weekly (good for health) than Oak Creek is great. I still get sleepy with red wine but no headache. That is a break through for me. May be it is the lack of oak wood aging? Don’t be a wine snob and try even the cheapest of cheap wines. How will you know what is good (to you) if you don’t try them all. No need to waste money and drink less wine. Cheers.
Greg, could not have said it better myself. I’ll take value over being pressured into being a wine snob! Thanks for sharing – bottoms up!
We’re big purchasers of the Oak Creek CVS wine and I get free wine at work. I know there will be no guessing with the Oak Creek Cab or Merlot. Both are great.
Thanks Christina! Big shootout to HEB, South Texas’ grocery store of choice, and sponsor of my favorite basketball team (Go Spurs Go!).