Cheap Wine That Doesn't Suck

A cheap buzz that will impress even cork dorks?

Where do I sign up?

At your local Total Wine & More, for one, where you can find a wine that, if it isn't the best goddamned value on the market, I'll put down my Cabernet and start drinking Bud.

The wine is the non-vintage Rene Barbier Mediterranean White, a Catalan blend of three Spanish grapes (if you must know, Xarel-lo, Macabeo, and Parellada) that goes for a downright skinflinty $4.99.

Now, we're not talking Corton-Charlemagne or anything; then again, you're not laying out a hundred bucks-plus a bottle either.

What you do get for your fiver is a well-made and easy to like wine that's simple, light, and refreshing ... think a bite of crisp green apple with a hint of pineapple sweetness.

Drink it at the beach, drink it with a platter piled with stone crab claws, pour it on your cornflakes. Hell, you can even toss ice cubes into it and the Wine Police won't mind. Try that with a glass of Corton.