Best cheap wines for Thanksgiving New website introduces wine drinkers to affordable bottles available in B.C. Posted: Oct 03, 2014 6:25 AM PT Last Updated: Oct 03, 2014 9:11 AM PT New website cheapandcheerful.ca only reviews wines under $25, and will tell you where to find the best price on a bottle in Metro Vancouver. Best cheap wines for a Metro Vancouver Thanksgiving Although there's a large selection of affordable wines available in B.C., a bargain-hunting Vancouver oenophile says most of the frugal wine drinkers he knows keep going back to the same bottle. To help change that, Ron Wilson created the website Cheap and Cheerful, where he reviews affordable wines available in Metro Vancouver. "It's like a voyage of discovery, when you try something new, anything that just hits you where you live. That's why I enjoy trying new wines," Wilson told CBC Radio's The Early Edition. "I love being able to tell people about it too." A former CBC Radio host in Edmonton, Wilson produced a wine column for a decade.

His passion for wine followed him when he moved to Vancouver, where he has been excited to try locally-produced wines, as well as imported bottles. Wilson only reviews bottles under $25, and each of his posts tells readers where to find the wine at the best price in Metro Vancouver. Here are two of Wilson's reviews for affordable wines to pair with Thanksgiving dinner: Ron Wilson recommends the Tinhorn Creek Merlot as the perfect wine to accompany a traditional turkey dinner. Tinhorn Creek has produced a deep and delicious Merlot that can stand up to the savoury flavours of a traditional turkey dinner. I'd recommend decanting this wine for an hour to enjoy all that this Merlot offers to the big feast. Available for $20.00 at B.C. Liquor stores, Swirl Wines in Yaletown and White Rock and Village VQA Wines in Kitsilano and Dunbar. Wilson says the Road 13 Honest John's Rosé is "dry, with flavours of red berries." Road 13 Honest John's Rosé Many people think Rosé is a summer wine, but in fact it's one of the most versatile food wines you can put on the table.

This wine is made in the French style so it's dry with flavours of red berries. You can't go wrong bringing this wine to Thanksgiving dinner. Available for $17.00 at B.C. Liquor stores. Stay Connected with CBC News Severe weather warnings or watches in effect for: Vote Compass: Where are you in B.C.'s political landscape? B.C. Votes 2017: All the latest news from the campaign trail Opinions and analysis: Political thinkers unpack the issues Fact Check: We find the truth behind the politicians' promises Poll Tracker: The latest polling numbers and seat projections Latest British Columbia News Tragic collision renews calls for safety improvements to Lougheed Highway B.C. Liberals promise to repeal Vancouver 'natural gas ban' High-risk offender arrested for 'indecent act' in New Westminster, B.C. Vancouver playwright tackles Arthur Miller's darkest secret Look beyond the jesters, and you'll find real, live progressive conservatives in the CPC race: Neil Macdonald

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3 dead, including 2 children, after 'major' multi-vehicle crash in Coquitlam, B.C. How the B.C. election of '96 changed provincial politics Cocaine laced with fentanyl a growing concern: 9 overdoses in 20 minutes in Delta It's with some humility that we must change our stance on a long-held belief of ours:For years, we've insisted that you do not need to cook with great wine -- or even barely passable wine for that matter. And for years, leftover wine -- usually the dregs of bottles that we haven't finished for one reason or another -- have sat on our counter tops or in our cupboards ready to be used in our next foray into the kitchen. The reason for this long held belief is because a number of years ago, when Erin was a server at a leading Bay Street resto, she asked the chef his thoughts on cooking with wine. At the time, he was riding a wave of "It Chef" status, and was often quoted and featured in many of Toronto's foodie publications, so he certainly had the cred to give an answer Erin would adopt as her own cooking belief.

He told her even if a wine was left on the counter top for a year in a hot kitchen in direct sunlight, it could still be cooked with. His food was amazing, so that was all Erin needed to hear.Sharing her answer with me, her sister, we went on our merry culinary ways, saving the dregs of left over, unconsumed bottles, the wine's fate now redirected from wine glass to cooking pot.Qualifier: if we found a bottle to be corked or somehow undrinkable because of technically flawed reasons, we returned it or threw it out. Only wine that was once drinkable, but somehow forgotten about, went into the food we cooked. Usually there wasn't that much left over, and as almost daily cooks, wines rarely sat around for too long.However, something happened to Erin the other day that has forever changed her mind about this long belief. Reaching for the nearest bottle of "cooking" red, she happily added it to a coq au vin she was whipping up on one of the more recent rainy, cool days Toronto experienced a few weeks ago.

The aroma that wafted out was less-than pleasant: a sort of mix of vinegar, rancid walnuts & stale port (FYI -- the red did not begin life as a port). The resulting flavour not much better, and now laced through the dish. One bad ingredient, and hours of work plus the anticipation of yummy, soul-warming, comfort food on a cold day, down the drain -- literally. Uneatable, Erin dumped out the whole thing and had PB&J for dinner. Likely this particular bottle of cooking wine was somehow pushed to the back of the line and left for way too long -- and Erin should have given it a whiff just to ensure it was still palatable, but she didn't and suffered the consequences. Now, some will argue you should only use the best -- if you wouldn't put it in your glass, why would you put it in the pot? -- and we say please invite us to dinner if you're adding a nice Chateauneuf to your stew, but our budgets are a tad more meagre, so we get by with a bottle of something a little more modest.We now buy wines specifically designated for cooking: usually less than $10, but still something that will taste fresh and pleasant, with elevated acidity to add a nice bit of nuance and balance the flavours in the meal.