The BevMo five-cent sale is legendary in our house. More than once I’ve come home with cases of wine … all bought at BevMo during the sale. Since the sales tend to last a month or more, there is time to taste all the wines and then return to buy the really good ones.

Sadly, a lot of times the experience reminds me of the warning, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a Prince.” The BevMo wine sale version would be, “You have to taste a lot of vinegar to find something decent with pizza.” There just are not a lot of good wines in the nickel sale, though I have come across some finds.

But a lot of you are down to your last nickel, or at least your last ten bucks, and you need a decent wine in that price range. Of course, a lot of you shouldn’t be spending any money on wine and should instead save your money and drink water. Or beer. A lot of you are poor ministry types that can’t even afford that. For you, I suggest becoming a Catholic and taking communion each day. At least then you’ll feel holy as you live in poverty.

Assuming that’s not a good solution for you, and after some pestering from my friend Pam about affordable wines, this post is for my bargain hunting friends.

First, let’s be realistic. The nickel sale is a pretty good deal — you pay full price on one bottle and buy the second matching bottle for a nickel. But most of the wines n this sale are often on sale both before and after the nickel sale.

Take Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, for instance. This is my favorite nickel wine because it has strong fruit flavors, is very consistent year after year, and strikes a broad appeal that few people will dislike. Thus it’s a great wine for a party and can be paired with any food you’d normally drink Cabernet with. I wouldn’t trust it to last long … this is a wine without much depth and it won’t cellar well. But it’s such a good price that you’ll drink it quickly anyway. Normal price is $8.99 a bottle and you can buy the second bottle for a nickel. Making the effective price $4.52 a bottle. A great deal. Of course, after the nickel sale it is often priced at $6.99 a bottle at BevMo. So the nickel sale is a better deal, but it’s not truly half off.

While we’re talking about Challis Lane, their other varietals are equally safe and bargain worthy. The Zinfandel, Merlot and Shiraz are all worthwhile.

My all time favorite nickel wine is Cellar Number 8 Zinfandel. This producer also creates solid Merlot and Cab. It’s a low cost wine that D’Aun and I often drink when we’re at home by ourselves because it is tasty and consistent.

Another discovery from the nickel sale is the ’08 Elena Zinfandel. Actually, any of the Elena wines are solid. These generally cost about $12 during the nickel sale (thus $12.05 for two bottles) and you can find them for about $9 at other times. For me the extra cost over the Challis Lane wines are worth it because Elena has a bit more character and depth. Still not a wine to cellar, but definitely worth drinking.

Give the ’09 Gnarly Head Chardonnay a try. A lot of inexpensive white wines can be on the bland side, so as long as you keep it really cold you can drink even lousy whites. But Gnarly Head is a cut above the other bargain wines and worth enjoying. Cost is about $9 a bottle, cheaper per bottle during the nickel sale.

I love how New Zealand creates Sauvignon Blanc, and the ’09 Discovery Sauvignon Blanc is a great example. The Kiwis don’t over sweeten their Sauvignon Blancs and instead give it a crisp, citrus taste. The Discovery wine is a good example. Cost is about $12 a bottle, cheaper during the nickel sale.

If you like the traditional California Chardonnays (the buttery or vanilla types that can be so overdone from Napa and Sonoma), try the ’09 Irony Chardonnay from Napa Valley. This wine is not one of my favorites because I’m not crazy about this style … but it is clearly a popular style and most folks really enjoy it. And at just $10 a bottle it’s a bargain.

Check out the ’08 Hahn Cabernet Sauvignon. I doubt this will be on the nickel sale anymore because they won the gold medal at the 2010 San Francisco International Wine Competition. But it’s still a bargain at $11 a bottle. It has a solid balance of tannins and fruit.

Another good one is the ’07 Hahn Syrah. Not quite as rich and deep as the Cabernet, but great for lighter meals and a bit sweeter. The ’07 is hard to find now, but the ’09 is in stock and reasonably priced at $10 a bottle.

The 2005 Hidden Cellars Petite Sirah from Mendocino County is well worth trying. I’m not sure you can get the 2005 anymore, but the 2006 is about $12 a bottle and that’s a good price for this wine. Petite Sirah is different than a lot of reds … the tannins are very high and the color is very dark. Most wineries use Petite Sirah as a blending wine, to add some character to softer wines. Seldom is Petite Sirah just right to be bottled on it’s own, but Hidden Cellars has pulled it off. As I said, well worth trying.

New Zealand creates some great white wines, and the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc is high on the list. It’s crisp, not sweet, and a good price at $15 (less during the nickel sale). In the same vein, the Kim Crawford Chardonnay is very good and well worth trying.

I have one bottle of 2005 Vichon Chardonnay left in my cellar. This was a nickel sale find: a good French white wine for just $7 ($14 regularly). You probably can’t find the 2005 anymore, but they do have the ’08 and ’09 vintages. Give them a try and see what you think.

Just recently opened a bottle of 2008 Bannus Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Really good for the $15 price (normally $20+ but it was on sale at BevMo). This is a wine I can enjoy at any time.

The 2006 Dynamite Vineyards Red Wine is a true bargain.  I’m not sure what I paid for it during the nickel sale, but you can get it for $8 a bottle at BevMo as I type this.  This is not a “fine” wine by any means, but it’s tasty, easy to drink, has a broad appeal, and is consistently good.

Here’s a longshot. I bought a case of 2006 Tintara McLaren Vale Shiraz from BevMo because it was so smooth and tasty. Now I find that BevMo doesn’t even carry it anymore. Too bad, because this is a really good wine. If you come across Tintara, grab a bottle. It’s not cheap at $18-20 a bottle but is a bargain when the nickel sale is on.

By the way … confused about Syrah vs. Shiraz? Don’t be. It’s the same grape. The Aussie’s got in the habit of calling it Shiraz for some reason … most of the rest of the world calls it Syrah. But it’s the same grape, same DNA, same gene pool.

If you’ve read this entry to this point, you deserve an award. Have you heard of Prosecco? It’s Italian Sparkling Wine. Think of it as French Champagne made by pragmatic and budget minded Italians. Prosecco is a type of wine, not a brand name. It makes a fantastic substitute for overpriced Champagne, which I’ve never thought was all that good anyway. Prosecco is a bit sweeter (though not much), a bit less alcoholic, and a bit fruitier. But it still has all those crazy bubbles. It’s perfect for the holidays. A good inexpensive one at BevMo is Dolce Vita ($10).

When all is said and done … inexpensive wines can be wildly irregular. By this I mean that one bottle can taste great and another just mediocre or even bad. The reason they are cheap is that they are mass produced, and that can lead to inconsistency. Plus cheap wine isn’t babied like higher end wines, so they often sit in warm trailers or out in the sun during transport. When Costco first came on the scene they had incredible bargains on wine, but they were often damaged goods and tasted awful (they’ve since fixed that).

My advice is simple. Go to BevMo during the nickel sale. Choose a wine you think has potential. Buy one at full price and another for a nickel. Open one up and taste. If you like it, go back and buy more. And if you don’t like it, give the other bottle away during the holidays. 🙂

*** Here’s a link to an updated review of the nickel sale wines.