Barefoot Zinfandel

I wasn’t expecting great things from this bottle. Very inexpensive, no vintage indicated on the bottle and a logo of a big smelly foot…ummmm. Must be nice. But the thing with the label is that I notice it every time I go to the wine shop and I’ve been meaning to try it for a while. I’m talking about Barefoot Zinfandel from California. I thought it would be bad – it wasn’t, or isn’t as I have a rather full glass right in front of me.

Now – I’m not going to say this is a great wine. Obviously at $10 a bottle there is only so much quality they can stuff into it. The nose shows some promise with some nice red fruit, cherry and a hint of vanilla – already a big step up from the gasoline I was expecting. The taste, can I say moderately good, $10 bucks worth of good. Not much tannins, nothing complex or wow – but decent fruit, goes down relatively smooth, nothing really out of whack.

What really bothers me is the feeling of getting ripped off. When you spend $25 for a bottle of wine and it’s horrible. Or spending $50 and it’s just average. I hate when somebody takes my money and doesn’t offer anything of value in return. An off-balance trade. Well when you only spend $10 on a bottle of wine you can’t expect an experience akin to drinking a fine Barolo. You should expect a no nonsense drinkable table wine. Barefoot delivers on this. So if your budget is a little tight this week and a tenner is about your limit on wine spending then go ahead and pick up some barefoot. You will get your money’s worth.

It is what it is. An easy drinking, nicely flavored, fruit forward, balanced, red wine at a good price.

Jen Wall makes Barefoot wines