The Budget Wino -- no, not me.

Though I have become something of a wino lately. Well, I wouldn't seriously go that far--I do enjoy a nice Merlot in the evenings, but due to diet considerations I've cut back to a few nights a week. I hardly think that qualifies me as a wino. I hardly qualify as a connoisseur, either, though I've slowly but surely been improving my wine education over the last couple of years to where I know that there's more to it than white, red, blush or sparkling. I'm to a point where I can walk confidently into a liquor store (you can't get wine in the grocery store in OK), pick out a Merlot or a Shiraz or a Chianti, and have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting.

Wine can be an expensive hobby, though, and my budget keeps me in the cheap end of the spectrum. The first opportunity I had to try some pricier, fine wines was on my honeymoon, where we were both in the mood to splurge and be a bit spendy, and where we could buy it by the glass. I feared that this would ruin me for all of the wines available in my price range, but you know? Maybe it's because my palate is unrefined, but I couldn't really tell the difference. Most of the cheap stuff I've tried tastes just as good to me--sometimes, even better--that the expensive wines we drank on the boat.

So it's nice to know that I'm not the only one. The Budget Wino shares both my sentiment and my frugality, and blogs his experiences with wines costing $10 and under. His reviews are practical and descriptive in a way that even a novice can understand and know what to expect. He's giving away a free wine guide to anyone willing to offer up their mailing address, and he even created a wine ratings spreadsheet to help you quickly scan his ratings a select a wine.

And he's got me wanting to stop and pick up a bottle of Pepperwood Grove on the way home.

Another link snagged from Get Rich Slowly.