Top 10 Under 10

I've known about this deal for a while, but tend to forget about how great it really is. Each month, Astor Wine chooses ten great bottles of wine that are under ten dollars. This is common among wine stores, and (if you live outside of New York) places like Whole Foods, which have sections for great finds under $10.

The unique deal at Astor, however, is that you can buy the 10 bottles all together for only $81.99, plus two extras to round out the case. This can be done online and they deliver within the next day or two (or you can heave the case home from the store on your own if you like that sort of thing). Really, an unbelievable deal - it rounds out to about $6.50 a bottle.

Last night, Wright's roommate Mike picked up another case. Although we thought that we'd whip through the previous case, it actually took a few months, because we still bought nicer one for nicer occasions, and 12 bottles is a lot! It's wonderful to know that you'll always have a bottle on hand that you don't feel bad about opening (particularly last night, when we were making a lemon-garlic-white wine sauce for our chicken piccata.

I do really enjoy trying new wines and particularly nicer ones, but it gets expensive; I always feel bad if we don't finish the bottle, or if I use a lot in a sauce or something. These bottles aren't aged for particularly long, so they can always go back into the refrigerator or corked back up for the next night. And, if you have roommates, they are great bottles to have around that you don't mind sharing with a group, or letting someone else take if they need a last minute gift - it becomes a friendly, shareable commodity. Astor wines even includes a description of each wine and what makes it a "top ten" versus a cheap bottle of wine - they really take time to find interesting, quality wines.

I should also mention that this isn't a subscription service, so if you try it one month, you certainly don't have to try it again if you don't want to. Also, the cases come with a mix of red and white - this round we even got a rose and a prosecco too!

For more information, or to order, see www.astorwines.com.

Sorry to the non-New York readership, you must be jealous. Wouldn't it have been great if this deal existed in Charlottesville?! Dangerous, probably.