You won’t see much marketing for Crane Lake wines out there, but you will find them in many supermarkets.  Crane Lake is another label from cheap wine mogul Fred Franzia and his Bronco Wine Company.  These are the same folks behind the legendary Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck) that you’ll find in Trader Joe’s stores.  The Charles Shaw label is exclusive to Trader Joe’s, and so Bronco Wine Company produced Crane Lake wines as a label to sell at similar rock-bottom prices at other stores.

I’ve seen Crane Lake around for a few years, but this is the first I’ve seen of the “Down Under by Crane Lake” label.  As you could probably guess, this wine comes from Australia (while most Crane Lake wines are Californian).

My general rule of thumb on this site is to only review wines priced between $5-20.  While I’m a fan of paying as little as possible for my wine, I’ve found that I’m generally dissatisfied with those under $5.  So, I usually avoid them.  But I received this $3 bottle of Down Under as a sample, so I threw it in the mix during my blind Chardonnay tasting to see how it would fare.

My first impression of this wine was that it was just an oak-heavy chardonnay. I was put off by the oak, but as I dug into it I found some interesting elements. The nose is filled with oak layered over buttered popcorn, honey and lime aromas.  The palate has quite a strong, crisp apple flavor, along with peach and lime.  But I do get punched in the mouth with the oak in the mid-palate and into the finish.  It’s not very elegant in that way.

While it didn’t wow me, it also didn’t turn me off as much as I would expect for a $3 bottle of wine.  If you like a lot of oak in your Chardonnay and aren’t as much of a snob as I am you might be OK with this wine.  In fact, my wife liked this one.  And for $2.99 it’s definitely cheap.

Wine: Down Under by Crane Lake
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 80
Price: $2.99

Find Down Under Chardonnay by Crane Lake with Snooth