ForestVille Chardonnay, 2019 (California)

“Chardon-NOPE”

Price at Purchase: $4.74

Location: Safeway

Coming in at under $5, this is a true Pour Choices selection. But unfortunately, we didn’t find the steal of the century. The label says that ForestVille is on the “quest for quality”…we recommend you keep looking, since your quest clearly ain’t over.

To be fair, we're basic and not huge fans of chardonnay to begin with, so the thought of drinking cheap chardonnay sounds as pleasing as agreeing to go on a Zoom date and finding out he believes in COVID conspiracy theories. Both make me question where we went wrong in society.

But alas, sacrifices must be made, so here goes:

As a plus, this chardonnay does have a pretty color, so it’s definitely Instagrammable on a budget. Hold it up to the light and it has a gorgeous gold hue all throughout. And it smells like it would have a nice balance of green apple, pear, and pineapple. But the fun stops there.

It also has a solid taste at first, but then it immediately dies, leaving behind a boring afterthought....kind of like my Zoom date? To me, it’s like the LaCroix of wine, where it’s a tease of what it SHOULD taste like. It’s like the flavor is intentionally staying 6 feet away from my taste buds. Social distancing to the max.

TLDR: This is a wine that you get what you paid for. It doesn’t taste bad per say, but it’s not ideal. Like Carol from accounting, who you always forget is on your team until the annual Christmas party rolls around. Don’t find yourself stuck in a conversation with her about her cats for the whole night, while the rest of your friends are hitting the dance floor with the good stuff.