Cheap Wine with a Pretty Label

Here's what I know about wine:  

1. I like wine.  
   
2. Wine is good.  
   

And that's pretty much it.   

Wine aficionado's are going to hate me for this, but I judge wine based solely on two criteria.  

1. It's gotta be cheap (around $10 or under) 
2. It's gotta have an eye catching label.

And I have nothing against a bottle with a screw top.

So what do I plan to do with my extensive wine knowledge?  Create a weekly blog post feature of course.  More for my own records than anything else (I can never remember the ones I like).  And if you have a recommendation that fits within my criteria I'll happily try it out. 

So here we go, the first wine in my highly acclaimed series.  I purchased "Red Bicyclette" , a French Rose´ at my local wine distributor (a.k.a. Walmart Supercenter) for around $9.00.  I don't know if I had the Tour De France on my brain at the time, but that adorable red bicycle really caught my eye.  It's a simple, classic design, but it works.  I just want to put this pretty bottle of wine into the basket of my fictional bike and have a cheese picnic in the countryside.  Or enjoy it while watching an old cycling movie like "Breaking Away" or "Quiksilver".  In reality, I drank a glass while sitting on the couch watching "Stepbrothers" with my husband.  The wine paired nicely with an ice cream sandwich, a pretzel rod and a handful of trail mix.   I'll give it extra points for versatility.

As far as taste, it's a Rose´.  I loved the deep pink color, but as my husband pointed out "You know this is a Rose´.  You don't like Rose´".  And as it turns out, I don't.  I drank and enjoyed it, don't get me wrong.  But I would have preferred a glass of Chardonnay or Merlot.  I will definitely try out one of those Red Bicyclette wines in the future.

I know you're on the edge of your seat in anticipation of my next review, so here's my plan.  Shop for wine on Friday, try it out Saturday and write my post on Sunday.  I've already had a few suggestions I can't wait to sample, I hope you'll comment with your own recommendations.  I'd love to hear them!

(On a sidenote, I wasn't sure if wine varieties ought to be capitalized.  I googled looking for an answer and was surprised to learn there is a real division on this subject and no apparent answer.  I went with capitals.  Don't hate me for it.)