W

ine: our region is soaked in the stuff. Head to any dog park and you’re likely to be swarmed by Vinos, Rosies and Champs. Talk to a doctor and it’s practically prescribed. Fly out of the Charles Schulz airport and you’re encouraged to ship a case for free. Whether you partake or not, wine is on everyone’s lips in Sonoma County.

The ambient buzz is inescapable for good reason. A full 60,000 acres of local agricultural land is dedicated to wine grapes, with more than 425 wineries generating over $14 billion in wine retail sales alone, according to the Sonoma County Economic Forecast. This requires employing some 54,000 industry workers, or a quarter of the employable county workforce. Faced with numbers like these, it’s easy to imagine a winery on every corner, a bottle on every table and a purplish stain on every tooth.

And yet, unless you’re an enology scholar, professional or connoisseur, the world of wine can be alienating, especially on a student budget. And living locally doesn’t make the finest regional wines any more affordable.

So, what about the world of cheap wine?

This spring and summer, whether you’re getting festive at home or headed to a BYOB barbecue, keep the following tips and tricks in mind and have no fear reaching for a bottle of the cheap stuff to rejoice in the region’s bounty. Who knows, you might even impress a wine snob or two.

Low Cost, High Payoff

In a restaurant it’s poured by the glass, often called “House Wine.” It’s sold in grocery stores at a massive scale. But that which draws in the novice wine drinker also raises suspicion. Sometimes you only know when you taste it. Too sweet, too tannic, just bad — is cheap wine worth the risk?

In short, yes. Admittedly, if everyone’s finances were infinite, there would be no bottom shelf. A high price tag connotes certain qualities that typically result in a higher quality drinking experience. Fortunately, the qualities of “cheap” and “expensive” wine are not distilled to simply “bad” and “good.”

Tasting the (Affordable) Rainbow

Maybe you’re the type of person to grab a bottle of wine based on label design and vibes alone, or maybe you just don’t have a taste for it. “Why bother?” you mutter as you drive past the fifth vineyard on your commute.

Most people in the region have basic wine knowledge, but it can be vague. They know there are whites, reds and sparklings. If you’ve ever been to a tasting, you know you’re supposed to swirl it around and sniff it before you sip. Then someone starts talking about oak barrels versus stainless steel and perhaps you nod your head and feign understanding.

With that in mind and not much else, The Oak Leaf assembled a crack team of wine tasters to “scientifically” assess some of the area’s more affordable, accessible wines from a novice perspective. These are “grocery store” wines — meaning that they’re easily found in locations like Safeway or Costco — and their prices range from about $7 up to $22, with one exception.