Jammy wine recommendations?

September 15, 2013 6:48 PM

Last year we found a cheap red blend that we liked that was on the sweet side and had a very jammy taste, all for $5. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to like it, as it's been discontinued (Flying Heart from Trader Joe's). Looking for something with that sort of flavor profile, preferably less than $10.
posted by curious nu to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Response by poster: Should add that we're looking for a level of sweetness that's somewhere below a dessert wine.
posted by curious nu at 6:50 PM on September 15, 2013

I have a soft spot for sweet wines. I've never had Flying Heart, but I like Jam Jar - sweeter than any wine I've ever had, but not to the level of being a dessert wine. It's 7.99 to 9.99 a bottle. There's a red (shiraz) and a white (moscato). I keep telling myself to try the white, but I keep buying the red.
posted by Xere at 7:03 PM on September 15, 2013

Man, I just finished a bottle of Dizzy Daisy Concord and thought in particular it was too sweet and jammy for my taste. Don't know if you can get this shipped to you or something, but it sounds exactly what like you're describing.
posted by mibo at 7:25 PM on September 15, 2013

I had one called Acronym wine a month or so ago; it wasn't super sweet, but it definitely seemed on the "jammy" end to me. (I didn't prefer it, actually, although it was easy enough to drink.)
posted by leahwrenn at 7:47 PM on September 15, 2013

Adesso Cagnina di Romagna is very jammy and very delicious.
posted by constellations at 8:01 PM on September 15, 2013

Here's the writeup of Flying Heart, so I know that you're looking more for the kind of concentrated jamminess of Syrah/Shiraz or Petite Sirah, rather than the "fruity sweets" of something like an Australian Grenache.

So I'd start there. Cheap Australian Shiraz blends are ubiquitous and sadly variable in the US; American ones are trickier, because the good stuff is expensive and more complex, but there are Syrah-first blends with a splash of sweetness if you do a bit of sleuthing. Spanish Syrah-Garnacha, perhaps? Or perhaps a full-on old vine Garnacha like Evodia?
posted by holgate at 10:02 PM on September 15, 2013

If you were in Australia I'd suggest you try a sparkling shiraz: a slightly sweet red, drunk chilled. The good ones are bottle fermented with champagne yeast and delicious. No idea if they're available where you are, but if you see one you should try it.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 10:14 PM on September 15, 2013

Layer Cake Shiraz is jammy and wonderful. List price is closer to $15 but I've seen it on sale a lot, so it might be worth looking for.
posted by jaguar at 11:02 PM on September 15, 2013

The market seems flooded with slightly sweet red blends right now. I tend to avoid these wines because I prefer the dry stuff unless we're talking about proper sweets like Port, Icewine and Sauternes.

Based on the reviews at Cellar Tracker it looks like Flying Heart might be sweeter than many of the suggestions above - you might want to check out a red moscato or a lambrusco.

If you head into any major wine shop and ask for a sweet red table wine they should be able to show you several options.
posted by FlamingBore at 5:39 AM on September 16, 2013

McMenamins Black Rabbit Red (I think you can buy a bottle to take home at any of their locations) might be up your alley. If you were on the East Coast I would heartily recommend Bully Hill Love My Goat red, which I loved back in my younger days when I disliked dry wines; I had some recently and it tasted too sweet to me, definitely the sweetest red I've ever had.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:55 AM on September 16, 2013

I came in here to say Jam Jar, and to suggest that you look for a cork-finished lambrusco in the 10 dollar range.
posted by ersatzkat at 1:07 PM on September 16, 2013