Lucky Number...Duck?

Last week Veruca and I decided to switch things up a little and instead of going to our favorite evening hang outs and spending boat loads of moneys, we decided we were going to make our own gourmet lunch and share a bottle of vino, then pretend we were kooky old southern biddies swirlin' our wine, twirlin' our pearls and gossipin' about the neighbors.

It was mostly a success...I mean we had to make our own lunch of course -a super tasty and spicy vegetarian taco salad. We had picked up a bottle of Lucky Duck Malbec on a very frugal whim - we didn't expect much because our palates haven't quite fallen head over heals in love with reds yet and it was only $4.

Yeah - that's not a typo FOUR DOLLA WINE! And it ain't even boone's farm. (We of course purchased a few back up bottles of wine we were positive we loved, just in case.)

Veruca and I have a little bit of experience under our belts in regards to cheap wine. And it's usually never a good experience, but as we've learned in our vino adventures...just when you think you know what to expect - the unexpected kicks you in the teeth. This wine was more like a bitch slap, but whatevs, it wasn't as bad as the price tag led me to believe.

It was actually not too bad - kinda fruity, not super acidic, no weird minerally mouth feel. It was just wine...except for when you got a bite of zucchini with your swig. That was kinda weird. Almost like the zucchini was the anti-flavor, it sucked all the good out of the wine and left you with a bit of a skim-milk mouth feel. No real flavor, but sort of an almost filmy feeling on your tongue. (I can hear the obligatory "That's what SHE said!" comments going through everyone's heads now...)

I'm torn between Back in the Barrell and Cellar of Celebration - because it wasn't GREAT, but it wasn't bad either... so go scrounge the change from out of your couch, pick a bottle of this up from your local wally-world and let us know what you think: Exalted or Atrocious?