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Tim Lemke

Tim is the founder and chief reviewer at Cheap Wine Ratings since 2007.

Lucien Albrecht Cremant D’Alsace Sparkling Wine

Tonight we’re continuing our pre-New Year’s Eve exploration of sparkling wines with a double-header review of  crémant from Lucien Albrecht. For those of you who don’t know, crémant is a name for French sparkling wine that’s not from Champagne.  And there’s something I just like about the name, particularly when it’s crémant d’Alsace.  That’s just […]

Yellow Tail Bubbles Sparkling Wine

Yellow Tail, or [yellow tail] as they write it, is one of those brands that many people view as the epitome of cheap wine.  In fact, when I tell people about this website I’m often asked if I drink a bunch of Yellow Tail.  Actually, I don’t.  This is the first time we’ve reviewed a […]

Zonin Prosecco

Holiday season is upon us and it’s the time of year when many people have some sparkling wine, although you really can and should enjoy it year round.  Nonetheless, since I know many of you are looking for some good, cheap bubbles these days I thought we should do some reviews to help you out. […]

Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Claret

I imagine that for many American wine consumers, particularly those who are relatively new to wine, the question, “What is a Claret?” is the thought that crosses your mind as you see this bottle on the shelves.  “Is it a varietal?  Is it a location?  I know I’ve heard James Bond refer to a wine […]

Zonin Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso

One of the exciting things about wine is the almost endless variety you can find in types of wine.  I think too often we gravitate toward something we know well, like a cabernet sauvignon or merlot and don’t explore enough.  If you’re looking to branch out from the everyday wines and taste something unique, you […]

Re Teodorico and Il Casale Soave

This week we’re doing some odds and ends.  Reviews of wines that we don’t have a full line-up to do a full series, but we have one or two we want to highlight.  Today, it’s a double-header review with two wines from Soave. Soave is a relatively small wine appellation in the Italy’s Veneto region, […]

Renegade Wine, Ancient Peaks Winery

Today we’re taking a look at another Californian red blend.  This one is a blend of 46% syrah, 31% malbec and 23% petit verdot from Ancient Peaks Winery in Paso Robles. This wine is a deep, dark purplish-red color with incredible density.  It’s almost inky in appearance.  The nose is just as powerful as the […]

Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover

Some of the most interesting wines I’ve been coming across lately are blends.  Pure varietal wines are fine, but putting together a blend allows winemakers to leverage the characteristics of different grapes to create balance and complexity. The Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover is a new release from Concannon and is a petite sirah blend.  Concannon […]

Apaltagua Reserva Malbec

I’ve commented in previous reviews that not all malbec comes from Argentina.  Today we have the opportunity to check out one from Chile, the Maule Valley region to be more specific. This malbec is from Apaltagua, not an unfamiliar brand to us.  We’ve reviewed a few of their other wines and found them to be […]

Ricardo Santos Malbec 2009

Ricardo Santos is one of those brands that doesn’t do a lot of marketing, and doesn’t do a lot of storytelling.  Which means it’s a brand that we just don’t know much about, other than what the wines tell us. Last year, we reviewed the 2008 Ricardo Santos malbec and we weren’t blown away by […]