As far as the wine goes, I found the Giant 47 Pound Rooster Pinot Noir to be a serious contender as a good, cheap pinot noir (I picked it up for about $10). It’s produced by HRM Rex-Goliath! Wines and comes from Central Coast, California. It’s subtle and well-balanced. It has a nice bit of raspberry and cherry flavor with slight pepper overtones. Nice acidity. Very drinkable. I gave it an 88.
What I didn’t like is the fact that there is no vintage on this bottle. The lack of a vintage makes my rating virtually worthless. I’m sure there’s going to be inconsistency from one year to the next and there’s no way to know what you’re getting. Perhaps there is so much bottle variation that vintages are irrelevant for this brand. Perhaps I just got lucky?
I have so many other wines to try that I may not buy this one again for a while, if ever. So, I may never know if this wine is consistently good. I’d say it’s worth the ten bucks to give it a shot. Let me know how your experience goes.
Wine: Giant 47 Pound Rooster
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 88 (I think)