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Tim Lemke

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

Barkan Classic Cabernet Sauvignon

Today we are trying another kosher wine, this one from Barkan.  The roots of the Barkan winery go back more than a century, but it was born into it’s current name and ownership in 1990.  The winery overlooks a 120 hectare vineyard at Kibbutz Hulda in Israel and has capacity for 12 million liters of […]

Yarden Mount Hermon Red

With Passover just around the corner, I wanted to post a few reviews of kosher wines over the next week or so.  The first kosher wine I’m reviewing comes from the Golan Heights in the Galilee appellation in Israel. Yarden Mount Hermon Red is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit […]

Seven Budget-friendly Shiraz

The Shiraz challenge is over (for now) leaving us with seven picks that won’t break the bank.  We ended up trying wines from several different regions for this showdown, including France, Chile, Australia and the US.  Shiraz is actually a challenging variety to find one that is both inexpensive and exceptional, but we did find […]

McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz

McWilliam’s Wines has a long heritage as a family-run winery in Australia since 1877.  They tout themselves as “Australia’s most awarded winery,” and they certainly have earned a number of awards over the years. McWilliam’s has vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales—the latter being the area where the grapes for this Shiraz […]

Sebeka Shiraz

Sebeka is still relatively new to the American wine market, as it first appeared here in 2007.  It’s produced in the Swartland Winery in South Africa, which dates back to 1948, and distributed in the US by E.J. Gallo. You can’t miss this wine on the shelf, as it stands out with a bright yellow […]

Chilean versus Californian Wine

Today is my favorite day of the month, Wine Blogging Wednesday.  It’s one day each month when wine bloggers around the world all blog about a common theme.  Today the official theme is North Versus South, which is intended to be a theme that gives bloggers some latitude with how they bring it to life.  […]

St. Hallett Faith Shiraz

The St. Hallett winery resides in the Barossa region in Australia and focuses on producing wines from this region.  They are best known for their Shiraz, of which they release a few different lines.  The Faith Shiraz is their most affordable Shiraz—other than a Shiraz Grenache blend they offer. The winery was established in 1944 […]

Tamaya Syrah from Chile’s Limarí Valley

The Limarí Valley is one of the northernmost winemaking regions in Chile, about 75 miles south of the Elqui Valley.  Remember, Chile is in the southern hemisphere which means that north is closer to the equator and therefore a warmer region than those further south.  And although north generally means warmer in this part of […]

Marquis Philips Shiraz

Critters on wine labels is often something that will steer me in another direction because it is often indicative of not-so-good wine. I’m not the first person to bring this up, others wine aficionados also avoid the critter.  But many shoppers are attracted to wine with cute little animals on the label and some winemakers […]

Barefoot Shiraz

One of the challenges with picking wines to review on this site is finding a balance between mass-produced wines that are easy for readers to find and hidden gems that may be a little harder to track down but often offer unique and interesting nuances. Another challenge is putting aside personal bias when doing reviews.  […]